Inative since June, when he controversially left FC Porto after seven seasons, in a break with former assistant Vítor Bruno, who would be promoted to ‘blue and white’ head coach, the former Portuguese international signed for a year and a half, until June 2026, with the ‘Rossoneri’, whose squad includes left-winger Rafael Leão, a regular starter in the ‘quinas’ team.
Sérgio Conceição, 50 years old, succeeded Paulo Fonseca, who was fired on Sunday, after the draw against Roma (1-1), in the 18th round of Serie A, leaving Milan in eighth place, with 27 points (one game a game). less), 14 behind leaders Atalanta and Napoli.
Fonseca recorded 12 wins, six draws and six defeats in the 24 matches played in all competitions in charge of the club with the third most Italian championship titles (19), which he had arrived at last summer, coming from French side Lille, after having completed two seasons at Roma, fifth in 2019/20 and seventh in 2020/21.
In the transalpine capital, Paulo Fonseca was replaced by José Mourinho, who had opened the door to Portuguese coaches in Serie A in June 2008, when he took over Inter Milan – after being fired from Chelsea in the first months of the previous season -, winning two championships in as many seasons.
In addition to remaining the only foreign coach to win Italy in the 21st century, the current leader of Turkish side Fenerbahçe added to his achievements an Italian Super Cup (2008), an Italian Cup (2009/10) and a Champions League (2009/ 10), a feat achieved only by the Nerazzurri in 1963/64 and 1964/65, in the European Cup format.
Mourinho, who had already been European champion with FC Porto in 2003/04, would join Real Madrid after winning the Champions League against Bayern Munich (2-0) in the Spanish capital, where he spent the next three seasons with Cristiano. Ronaldo.
Another trip to the Premier League followed, in which he coached Chelsea again and also worked at Manchester United and Tottenham, before returning to Italy to take over at Roma, from May 2021 to January 2024, although without any ‘scudetto’.
Two sixth places in Serie A were interspersed with the victory in the inaugural edition of the Conference League, in 2021/22, against the Dutch side Feyenoord (1-0), and the defeat against the Spanish side Seville (4-1 in the tiebreaker by penalties, after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time) in the 2022/23 Europa League.
Despite appearing in European finals in two consecutive seasons, José Mourinho would be fired in the middle of 2023/24, after losing in the visit to Milan (3-1), leaving Roma in ninth place in the 20th round of the Italian Championship, but only five points from the Champions League access places – an objective failed by successor Daniele De Rossi, who ended the season in sixth place, but did not make it past the ‘mids’ of the Europa League.
The previous edition of Serie A also had Paulo Sousa active, whose career at Salernitana, then 19th and penultimate classified and in the meantime relegated, lasted almost eight months, until October 2023, and continued in 2022/23, in 15th place. .th position.
Current coach of Shabab Al-Ahli, from the United Arab Emirates, the former Portuguese international midfielder had already coached Fiorentina, achieving fifth place in 2015/16 – the club’s best performance since then – and eighth in 2016/17, in the first experience on transalpine soil, where he had shone on the pitch for Juventus (1994-1996), for which he celebrated a ‘double’ in 1994/95 and won the ‘Champions’ in 1995/96.
Paulo Sousa also played for Inter Milan (1998-2000) and Parma (2000), at the time on loan from the Nerazzurri, playing for two of the three clubs represented on the pitch by Sérgio Conceição, of whom he was a contemporary in the Portuguese national team at the turn of the millennium. .
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