Get French Football News spoke exclusively to AC Milan and Italy great Massimo Ambrosini ahead of Italy’s World Cup play-off matches, to discuss Milan’s French contingent past and present and to discuss France and Italy being drawn against each other in the Nations League.
In this first part, we looked at French and Italian players swapping leagues, whether Italy are excited about meeting France in the Nations League – and where Ambrosini’s loyalties lay in last year’s Champions League final.
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You mentioned the difficulty of playing in another country. If you look at France’s 1998 World Cup squad there were a lot of players – Deschamps, Zidane, Thuram, Desailly – who were great successes in Serie A and who said that it was playing there that changed their mentality, that improved them physically. Did you notice this when French players arrived?
In that period, at the end of the 90s and the beginning of the new millennium, Serie A was the best league in the world. So for any player – French, Spanish, Argentinian, Brazilian – arriving in Italy was the top of their career and they realised that they needed to be at that level. So maybe it changed their attitude. If you want to play for Juve, like Didier or Zidane, the Juventus of the late 90s was the best – the best – so when you arrive in that team you know that you have to perform at the highest level.
There are not so many Italian footballers who go the other way, to Ligue 1?
At that time there was Fabrizio Ravanelli. What other Italians have come to Ligue 1?
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Well at that time there was also Marco Simone…
You know what, there isn’t one reason, one truth for everybody. We are all different and you need to find your place. And maybe you don’t know another’s situation. I played with Marco Simone and he was an unbelievable player. But playing for AC Milan when there was Roberto Baggio, George Weah, [Dejan] Savicevic, was not perfect for him in that period. That’s why he needed to change. But it was his situation in that moment of AC Milan, in that moment of Italian football. Right now it’s a different situation. And everybody has a different family situation. This could change your decision. Maybe you are in a moment of your life where you need something different because your wife wants to change country. I know somebody who made a decision like this because the wife wanted to find something different. So there is not just one reason.
The World Cup is coming up with Italy looking to qualify through the play-off. Then it’s the Nations League, with France and Italy drawn in the same group. Do Italy see France as a big rival and are they excited to be meeting les Bleus again?
I want to be honest with you. Here in Italy nobody is thinking about the Nations League. Nobody cares about the Nations League. Because we are so focussed on what will happen in the next seven days [the World Cup qualifying play-offs]. I think if you ask the players of the Italian national team who is in their group for the Nations League, they won’t even know!
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Right now they are perfectly aware that France is on a different planet to Italy, as a team, as a squad. They know that there are so many talented players in France that right now there is no way for Italy to compete against them.
Although in one of their most recent matches, France scored after 10 seconds but then Italy won the match comfortably?
Yes, but – well maybe I’m exaggerating a little – but right now if France plays Italy 10 times, France will win nine.
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Are you confident that Italy will qualify for the World Cup?
[Laughs] I don’t know. As former players, we feel the pressure. So I cannot be confident. I think that the only way is to stay united, as former players, as a country, to help these players, because they have the responsibility of bringing a country to the World Cup. There are a lot of 16-year-old guys who have never seen Italy playing in a World Cup. Here everyone is repeating this. And of course, if you’re a player and you’re going to play for this result, then you feel this pressure. So we’re trying to be like “calm down, calm down”. We’re good enough to beat Northern Ireland and Wales or Bosnia. That’s what they have to understand – we’re good enough.
I wanted to finish with a very cheeky question. Last year’s Champions League final was Paris Saint-Germain against an Italian team – but it was Internazionale. Who did you want to win?
I will tell you honestly – when I was an AC Milan player I had a very particular feeling against Inter. But when I finished playing – and I’m now a commentator, I work for DAZN, I work for Prime – I changed my mind. I don’t have any bad thoughts about Italian teams. And my wife is an Inter supporter – I have the enemy inside! And my son, who is 16, is for Juventus. So we have all the big teams covered!
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Massimo Ambrosini was speaking exclusively to Get French Football News courtesy of ToonieBet
This is an exclusive interview from Get French Football News and can be found HERE
