Every time he wins, he strives to improve what went wrong, rarely showing complete satisfaction. When he loses, he clings to what was done well to change the rest, but does not hide his frustration. Sérgio Conceição has this more tempestuous image of a coach who experiences every match as if it were a final, almost an extension of his playing days. Now, in Riyadh, it was indeed all that, and the Italian press recalled the cold handshake between the Portuguese and Simone Inzaghi during Inter’s visit to the Dragão for a goalless draw, carrying both teams in the quarter-finals of the 2022/23 Champions League. “We will definitely shake hands. These are episodes that happen, there was no lack of respect. We are Football men; we love each other. We will be friends before and after the match. During, we We are adversaries,” he underlined beforehand.
Francisco cried before, Sérgio smiled afterwards: the coach won his first match with AC Milan with a turnaround, his winger injured during the warm-up.
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After a turnaround 2-1 victory over Juventus in the semi-final, Sérgio Conceição arrived at his first final in charge of AC Milan with just a few training sessions (and a flu in between) against the rivals of Inter, a team alongside Atalanta that is most accustomed to the tactical schemes, playing ideas and training in Italy. While favoritism against the Old Lady was more evenly shared, the duel against his former teammate at Lazio, where they were champions in 1999/00, theoretically leaned in favor of the Nerazzurri, despite praise from Dario Marcolin, another of the champions of scudetto in Rome at the end of the century.
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“I expect an exciting final, completely open and balanced. It will be only the first of several derbies between Inzaghi and Conceição. Sérgio is a practical coach who does not make revolutions. He is someone who can start a cycle ; we saw it at FC Porto is… Simone, a winner who already started his cycle at Inter a while ago The title could be ‘A family affair’ because in terms. footballing, Simone and Sérgio are sons of the same father Starting with Sven-Goran Eriksson, Inzaghi inherited the management of the group, with great champions fully involved. just like at our Lazio Regarding Conceição, I would highlight the importance of wingers in 1v1 situations: they are fundamental to his style of play, just like him and. Nedved were for Eriksson. Sérgio is a man of few words, direct, and transfers his character to the teams he coaches. His Porto was solid and vertical, and AC Milan will probably become so too; This is what they need at the moment,” the former midfielder commented to Gazzetta dello Sport.
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“Until the 70th minute there was almost no match, but that didn’t surprise me. AC Milan have important qualities in their squad and are alive, which is the most important factor for Conceição is a good friend, a special and fun man He demands speed, rhythm, intensity and commitment from his players. He expects the best from them and does not forgive those. Who don’t invest everything,” added former striker Cristian Vieri, another Italian international who was teammates of the coach at Lazio, as was Simone Inzaghi, then later at Inter, where the former winger arrived after a brief stay in Parma.
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“I’m not here to make friends but to win”: Sérgio Conceição turned the tables, made his debut as head of the team, and only revealed what he said in the middle -time.
A major point of interest after the start? Sérgio Conceição’s half-time speech, which acted as a springboard for AC Milan’s huge improvement in the second half against Juve, managing to turn the situation around within five minutes with a Pulisic penalty and a Gatti autogoal . “That’s not how we do things; that’s the old AC Milan. If we want to win, we have to have courage and take risks. Don’t worry if we lose 3-0 or 4 -0; the responsibility is mine and only mine, but stop being afraid; put that into your heads,” the Portuguese coach reportedly told the players.
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“How can I be? I’m better, but I hope the team is better than me… We are preparing for the match. Inter is a strong team used to winning, with a coach and players who have been together for a while. It’s good for them, but we have to think about us. It’s been difficult, but in difficult times we all have to be men. We can’t forget that the fans are us. look We also can’t forget that we have four or five players. who are not at their best. Was the victory against Juventus luck? We are unlucky if we don’t work hard. Luck comes if we have talent, if we are serious. we have will. We have to work hard,” he commented before the match in Riyadh, amid expressions of respect for Inter and all the other teams.
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With Rafael Leão and Loftus-Cheek returning from injury but starting on the bench, Conceição made only one change to the starting XI from the team that faced Juventus, with Bennacer on the bench and Musah taking his place in midfield alongside Fofana and Reijnders. And the first minutes almost “ratified” this decision, AC Milan entering much more personalized and fearless than during their clash against Juventus, with Reijnders, the Dutch midfielder who “exploded” at AZ in 2022/ 23 before arriving at the Rossoneri, distinguishing himself with an early cross/shot following a combination with Pulisic which went just wide of Sommer’s goal (10′) and another attempt which passed the post after an individual initiative in the area (15′). Meanwhile, Inter showed their first warning through Taremi, who returned to the starting XI for this final alongside Lautaro Martínez and headed wide (12′).
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Despite having one less day of rest and very few days of training with work on the pitch (after the semi-finals the priority mainly shifted towards physical recovery), AC Milan showed a version that had nothing to do with what had been seen in the first half of the previous match and put Inter in difficulty with how the midfielders understood when to apply pressure intelligently, how they played through the three corridors to escape the blockage of Nerazzurri, and their ability to thwart the opponent’s quick exits on the flanks. Di Marco, with a powerful shot that went into the corner had not been for Maignan’s intervention, had the biggest chance of the first half (23′), but Sérgio Conceição’s side held on against the champions… until the stoppage of play: Di Marco quickly launched Mkhitaryan, Taremi assisted Lautaro Martínez, and the Argentinian did not miss in the area (45+1′).
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The Portuguese coach faced another daunting task in attempting another turnaround after conceding a goal at half-time, with the added difficulty of having little to criticize about the team’s performance in the first 45 minutes . The difficulties were already accumulating, and Taremi accentuated them: after a long pass from De Vrij into space, the Iranian “prepared” the finish with spectacular ball control before scoring to bring the score to 2- 0 (47′). Match over? No way. With Rafael Leão already on the field in place of Jiménez, a direct free kick from Theo Hernández left Sommer without a chance, making the score 2-1 and reviving the final (52′) which began to take on a more open game , similar to Inter’s victory against Atalanta in the Super Cup semi-final where the Bergamo team had several chances to score.
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Simple bad luck prevented AC Milan from equalizing. Already after a warning from a side free kick, Pulisic had an unmarked header in the area, but Sommer saved it (61′), Reijnders then approached, appearing free after a magnificent run from Rafael Leão on left to shoot on goal for the equalizer which didn’t happen only because the ball hit Bastoni’s head on its way to goal (62′) and Morata’s header on a cross from Pulisic coming from the right was deflected right on the line by the Swiss goalkeeper (64′). The attitude, faith and commitment demanded by Conceição were all there, amid scares as a Carlos Augusto header hit the post (71′), and the equalizer arrived with Abraham and Loftus-Cheek to a more physical game, following a cross-shot into the area from Pulisic after a pass from Theo Hernández (80′). Everything was open until the stoppage in play, when Rafael Leão was once again a beast in the area, assisting Abraham with the turnaround (90+3′).
