Chapter 30 29. Repay good with evil

One day in early December 1996, the city of Milan ushered in a proud guest, with brown eyes on the bridge of the nose, shiny forehead, and an unfathomable look.The guest was Sacchi, who had just been dismissed as head coach by the Italian national team.Because in the European Cup, the Italian team led by Sacchi was eliminated in the group stage, and his stubbornness made people uncomfortable, so he has been in an embattled situation in the second half of 1996. The Italian Football Association is also looking for his successor.Under such circumstances, he had no choice but to submit a resignation application and left the handsome position he had been studying for five years.Although Sacchi was expelled from the national team, he quickly found a new job. His old club, AC Milan, the place where he made his fortune, believed that he could bring glory to the club again, so he left the national team for the first time. On the second day (Saki resigned on December 1, 1996), he was invited to the Chinese military account to replace Tabarez, who had coached AC Milan for less than half a season.

The arrival of Sacchi is not good news for Baggio. The two met unexpectedly in Milan. During the 1994 World Cup trip, the pair of mentors and apprentices cherished each other and had a very close relationship. However, because the Italian team failed to win the championship in that World Cup, Sacchi, as the head coach, blamed Baggio for not being able to win the championship. Being able to score a penalty kick quickly deteriorated the relationship between the two, and later developed to the point where Sacchi prevented Baggio from entering the national team.Objectively speaking, it was Baggio who saved Sacchi. It was Baggio's outstanding performance that made the Italian team, which performed poorly in the group stage, step by step to the final and won the World Cup runner-up.But Sacchi repays kindness with grievances. From then on, he looked coldly at Baggio and was embarrassed everywhere.Maybe Sacchi really hasn't woken up from that penalty nightmare. When he took office in Milan, the first thing he did was to take a penalty.Baggio was denied the right to take the penalty and was replaced by Albertini.Gradually, Baggio was completely put on the bench, playing less and less, much less than before Tabarez coached.

Still, given the chance, Sacchi will push back against the notion that he has purged Roberto Baggio from his new Milan squad out of personal vendetta.One day, he suddenly countered those who held the above views: "I heard that some people said that because of Baggio's mistake in the World Cup final, I did not let Baggio play. In fact, it is not true. Baresi, Massa Rodriguez and Zola have made mistakes, but they still play under me. As soon as I arrived at Milan, people told me what to do, which is really unreasonable." However, Sacchi should prove that he does not use people with personal grievances. People have nothing to say. In fact, some of his actions later failed to bring him a better reputation.

Tabarez left many problems for Sacchi when he left office. On the third day after Sacchi took office, his Milan Legion faced a life-and-death battle. This is the final round of the European Champions Cup group stage against Norway. The life and death match of the Rosenberg team.Since they failed to get enough points to qualify in the previous games, AC Milan must at least draw with their opponents in the last game to ensure the group qualifying.The game is AC Milan's home court. It should be said that AC Milan has a favorable side, but the game did not bring any good results to the Milanese.Sacchi's employment problem brought negative effects to the game.

The game was played on December 4, 1996.Baggio started the field and performed very well in the first half. He had passed the ball with great deterrence three times. AC Milan once had a clear advantage on the field. One of the best Milan players in the half.After the intermission, Sacchi replaced Baggio, which puzzled the fans and most of the players present.Mentally, people said Sacchi was crazy and had a premonition that the result of the game might not be good.Sure enough, the Rosenberg team seized an opportunity in the second half to score a goal that the Milanese will never forget, and the score exceeded 2:1. AC Milan was eliminated and missed the quarterfinals of the Champions League.The sluggish performance of AC Milan in the league was worse, and the blow was very heavy. Since then, the Rossoneri has plummeted and fell into the lowest point in the past ten years, and this low tide has lasted for two years.Although Saki cannot take full responsibility for this, his stubbornness and narrow-mindedness are the direct fuse of this crisis.

AC Milan can be described as success and Sacchi, and Sacchi as failure.At that time, he pulled AC Milan out of the trough, created a brilliant AC Milan era, and made himself the head coach of the national team.This era began in 1987 and lasted for nearly ten years.Today, this era has come to an end in the hands of Sacchi.Sacchi was a capable coach, no doubt about it, but as his popularity skyrocketed he became more stubborn, self-righteous and smaller-hearted.This can be clearly seen from his attitude towards Baggio. He actually brought personal grievances to the team, making life difficult for Baggio and embarrassing Baggio.It is naturally very unfair to Baggio to do so, and it may not bring him any good news for Saki himself. The later development of facts strongly proves this point.