There did seem to be a real family atmosphere in and around the squad during Milan’s conquest of te 2021-22 league title, a season in which the team perhaps overcame the odds and performed above the sum of their parts.
Those days are long gone now though, with the Rossoneri now languishing down in ninth place in the table and nine points off the top four. Inter are in a league title fight, as well as the Champions League quarter-finals and with a Coppa Italia semi-final to come.
Meanwhile, Tonali headed off for a new experience at Newcastle United and Pioli left the club at the end of last season, with both Paulo Fonseca and Sergio Conceicao failing to get close to the levels he reached.
Tonali spoke to Cronache di Spogliatoio ahead of the Coppa Italia derby between the two Milanese clubs, which will take place over two legs. Calciomercato.com have relayed his comments.
What was it like under Pioli?
“Inter today reminds me of my Milan under Pioli. In addition to being good on the pitch, he has always been very good at creating the group: he built it.
“When you find players who never play, but who love coming to the pitch and who celebrate on the bench for a 2-0 goal even though they know they won’t come on, it’s not a given.
Because it’s beautiful to watch, there are players like Frattesi, who doesn’t play much, but when he’s on the pitch he ‘makes holes’ because he leaves fire behind him. Our group was like that.
“There was never a problem. And if something happened or there was a long face, the coach resolved everything immediately. Pioli was good at managing and entertaining everyone.”
Can you give an example?
“The Rebic of the moment was happy: against Juventus he came on and scored because he was carefree. Even after the 5-2 defeats against Sassuolo or 4-0 against Lazio. Pioli, I don’t know how, was good at pampering all the players without breaking the group.
“He asked you a lot on the pitch, but at the same time he asked you if you had problems or if everything was going well at home. He was a father. When I scored against Lazio, he tore up celebrating.
It was partly due to the heat of the moment, partly due to my age. Once he left me out because I had skipped both breakfast and the meeting. I was 40 minutes late, but waking up in the morning is my problem… I will always have it.”
