Monza CEO Adriano Galliani shared his first impressions of coach Massimiliano Allegri ahead of their match with Juventus on Friday. The Biancorossi director spoke with La Gazzetta dello Sport ahead of a huge match in prospect, revealing that he still thinks about friend and former Monza president Silvio Berlusconi every day:
A dream that continues and a friend who remains, Massimiliano Allegri… What was he like when you first met him?
“Younger of course, but the same as now. He had all the technical characteristics and personality to become the coach of Milan. I met him when we went to play at Cagliari and I told him so. But he was under contract with Cellino: if I hadn’t been a friend, Massimo would never have released him at zero cost. He behaved like a gentleman.
And you were able to take him to Berlusconi’s examination….
“It was May 2010. Usually these meetings in Arcore were scheduled over dinner, but in the evening there was Bayern Munich-Inter and Max wanted to go back to Livorno and watch it on TV. So we had lunch. He and the president always talked, on the other hand I didn’t have much to say, I was already convinced of the choice. Berlusconi was also quickly convinced: Allegri won the Scudetto, then a second and a third place before being fired. And I remember that with us he always qualified from the group stage of the Champions League.
What did you immediately like about Allegri?
“It’s hard to say, you don’t judge feelings, you take note of them. I’ve always felt he was a friend and I think he feels the same about me. We love each other, we talk often and see each other at dinner.”
They say he has deteriorated as a coach. What do you think of the criticism he gets?
“I think if I were Juve I would hold on to him. People don’t remember that Juve got into the Champions League zone last season. Then there were the penalties, but for me the field is sovereign. Allegri hasn’t got worse, he’s someone who knows how to make the team play according to the squad he has. When Milan had top players, they played good football. I don’t want to belittle Juve’s current squad, but it has elements with different characteristics’.
Let’s talk about the game. What do you expect?
“It will be a fiery December. I divide the championship between the top eight, Juve, Napoli, the two Milanese and Roma, Atalanta, Fiorentina, and the others. In this month we will have five matches, four of them against the strongest. You see.”
Yet it all remains a dream…
“I repeat, it is a dream to see Juve at Monza, as well as going to the San Siro and playing against Inter. Last summer it was so hot it was cracking, I was sweating and sweating but I was there happy’.
Perhaps meeting AC Milan is more like suffering than a dream…
“No, this is happiness too. You can’t erase 31 years of life, but I’ve been a Monza fan since I was a child. I always go to the San Siro when I can and I was also there for the Champions League match.
There are dreams and there are goals: some expected Monza to end up downsized without Berlusconi, instead nothing seems to have changed.
“I have to thank Silvio Berlusconi’s sons, who have shown great respect for the things their father loved. I have seen Berlusconi’s happiest and most sparkling eyes twice: in Barcelona in 1989 against Steaua and in Pisa in 2022 for Monza’s promotion to the A league. Who, for twenty years had not even been in B. The respect of sons for their father’s passions is a guarantee for Monza’.
How much do you miss Berlusconi?
“I think about him every day and I always talk about him in the present tense. He was my teacher, he was always looking ahead of others. Now that in addition to being managing director of Monza I occupy the seat in the Senate that was his you can imagine how much responsibility I feel. When I have to make a decision, I ask myself what he would do and I act accordingly.”
What do you like most about this Monza?
‘The sense of belonging. It’s really the city’s team, and I like to remember that we are the team with the most Italians on the roster and we were the newly promoted team that scored the most points in the European championships.
And maybe you will play another trick on Juve….
“Look, a 2-0 or a 0-2 won’t change my relationship with Max. Of course, if he tells me which result I prefer…. But we’ll remain friends anyway.”
