The former Rossoneri coach, now at Al-Ittihad, won the Italian Super Cup a year ago: “I celebrated by smoking a cigar in the locker room. I already know that I will return to Italy”
Sergio Conceiçao and Julius Caesar have something in common. More or less a year ago the former Rossoneri coach won the Italian Super Cup celebrating with a cigar in the locker room. He had signed with Milan eight days earlier. It took Caesar a morning to wipe out the armies of Pharnaces II of Pontus in Türkiye, at Zela. Two versions of “veni, vidi, vici”. Conceiçao, coach of Benzema’s Al-Ittihad since October, answers from Jeddah before training and laughs, pursuing humility and opening up a lot, not just about football. An hour of chat after two years of silence.
Sergio, last year… “veni, vidi, vici”.
“Indeed, yes. I remember days of intense work in terms of video analysis, motivations and speeches to immediately get into the minds of the players. We beat my son Cisco’s Juve and then Inter in a comeback. And I cried.”
And after the victory, a nice cigar.
“A promise. The players, who had seen some videos, asked me to smoke it in case of victory. With Porto I had done it 11 times, that is, after winning trophies. The coach who has won the most. And so I did it again”.
And who would you offer one to tonight?
“I have no favoritism, and I wouldn’t even want to talk about players because then they write that we’re interested in them for a moment. I’ll watch the match, Bologna and Napoli are beautiful to watch. The match between Conte and Italiano is an advert for football. Antonio is obsessed, like me, and in fact obsession beats talent. Vincenzo, on the other hand, plays good football, so much so that last year we lost the Italian Cup final against him. A big regret.”
A summary of your six months at Milan?
“Positive. From 2016 to today only two coaches have won trophies with the Rossoneri: Pioli, with the scudetto, and me. If we add up the points from our period we had a Europa League pace, fifth place. The results were there: I think of the two derbies won and the success against Roma. I’m sorry about the Italian Cup final, but I didn’t like some things.”
“There was instability at the club level, the environment around the team wasn’t good. That’s why I hold on to what we did. Furthermore, the management didn’t support me. I’ll give you an example: after winning the Super Cup we played against Cagliari. In that period there were already rumors that the club was following other coaches. I thought about working and winning, with the weight of the results. I didn’t have time to work at all levels.”
“Yes, but with some changes.”
Did the players betray her?
“Never, in fact, they were with me. Theo also said it in the interview you did: after Feyenoord, when people said that he did it on purpose to get himself sent off, I defended him. Many wrote to me when I left. I demand rigor, exigency and then relaxation when it’s time to relax. If someone shows up with an extra kilo, arrives late or the like, I can’t tolerate it. For me, in the end, the players they are all the same.”
Can you tell us the most significant speech?
“In 2012, at Olhanense, I studied the passions and hobbies of my players, something I always do. Before a match, for Father’s Day, I showed a video in which the fathers talked about them. There were people crying, then they went onto the pitch and… 2-0 for the opponents. When I returned to the dressing room I changed my version and went back to being a sergeant: we drew 2-2”.
Chapter Saudi Arabia. Did Inzaghi greet him this time?
“Yes, we played against each other in October and he won. I had just arrived. After Porto-Inter, where his team had a lot of luck, I didn’t say goodbye to him because basically that’s how I am, during matches I go into a trance, but he’s a great coach. We won the scudetto in 2000. The relationship is good.”
There too, she was immediately decisive. With scraped knees.
“I had made a vow to Our Lady of Fatima, I did the last 500 meters on my knees and then I showed up at the retreat. It was 1998, I scored against Juventus in the last minute and we won the Super Cup. Faith is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a practicing Catholic, I can’t here but in Milan I went to church every day. A few months ago the Pope invited me to the Jubilee to talk about my journey and my difficulties.”
Where does your faith come from?
“I lost my father at 16 due to a motorbike accident, my mother at 18 after a long suffering and then also a brother, I was the seventh of eight. Faith gave me strength, tranquility. I want to show my parents that I am there and I have made all my dreams come true. But inside me, deep down, hidden, I have and will always have something “black”, like a shadow”.
And is it for his parents?
“Yes. I have the photos with me and I pray for them every day. I am a serene man, I have five children, I played and now I coach, but I know that I will never be completely happy without my parents. That’s the hole I have inside me.”
His children fill it up a bit, though.
“Of course. Francisco is now at Juve and is doing well.”
Do we talk about football at home?
“As little as possible. The important thing is that they leave their phones in their pockets at dinner. I also demanded this at Porto and Milan. Cisco made his debut with me in Portugal. In 2020, during the lockdown, I told him: “If you’re hungry… then drink water”. He was a bit chubby. To make a difference you need sacrifices and mentality. If I could, I would lend him my hunger. Not that he doesn’t have it, on the contrary, but in any case, at 16 years old I wore my money at home to eat, it was different, I always believed in it.”
Porto Chapter: 11 trophies in seven years.
“The relationship with Da Costa was top. When I arrived the club hadn’t won for four seasons. We made 600 million in transfers and also did well in the Champions League, where the teams said ‘ah, Porto are in the round of 16…’. And instead we also managed to hurt the Italians: Juve, Roma, Lazio…”.
How many have looked for it?
“I had contacts with Lazio, but not only that. And even before signing for Al-Itthiad I had offers. Here the championship is competitive, the ambitions are high, you train in the afternoon and not in the morning. You have to adapt to the cultural dynamics. But this is a challenge, and I love challenges like this.”
The phrase that best represents you?
““In fresh water you can’t achieve great conquests, you need the storm”. Mihajlovic, speaking of Benassi, said that the difficulty was not being a captain, but getting up at four in the morning and working. My parents taught me that. And you shouldn’t settle. I enrolled at university at 51. I’m doing a master’s degree in sports training.”
The greatest satisfaction in Italy?
“As a footballer, the 2000 scudetto with Lazio, the most incredible ever. Me, Sinisa and Stankovic listened to the radio in the dressing room. It was a group of personalities, full of little fights every day, but Eriksson knew how to manage us. I also remember the 1999 European Super Cup, with United: Ferguson said that his biggest regret was that defeat.”
“The Scudetto lost to Inter on 5 May 2002. I consoled Ronaldo in tears on the bench, I was next to him. Nobody could believe it. In Milan I had difficulties: Cuper didn’t trust me, but they were a group of champions.”
And would you return to Italy?
“Of course, I already know I will.”
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