IT WAS the first Milan manager to conquer Manchester United, Giuliano “Gipo” Viani, who established his club’s reputation for skilful, attacking football half a century ago. Viani was a man of considerable experience, as would be those among his successors – Nereo Rocco and Carlo Ancelotti – destined to continue the habit of inflicting disappointment on the Old Trafford club. Leonardo, by contrast, is still an unknown quantity.
Many remember him as a dashing left back in Brazil’s 1994 World Cup-winning squad – although after fracturing Tab Ramos’s skull with his elbow in a second-round match against the USA, he was banned from the rest of the tournament.
British television viewers, admiring his charm and good looks in his occasional appearances as a pundit, would find it hard to credit him with such an act of violence, which he claimed was inadvertent and for which he apologised to the victim.
Tonight, however, will show what the 40-year-old is made of as an embryonic coach thrust into the very top level of European club football.
His playing career, which took him to six different clubs on three continents, demonstrated his intelligence and adaptability. It was in Japan he was converted into an attacking midfield player, a transition so successful he wore Brazil’s sacred No 10 jersey during the final phase of his 60-cap international career. He retained the role while scoring 22 goals in 97 Serie A appearances during four seasons as a Milan player.
Hanging up his boots in 2002, he switched easily into the role of the club’s international ambassador, playing an important role in the signings of his compatriots Kaka and Pato. Given his complete lack of coaching background, however, there was great surprise when he was chosen to replace Ancelotti.
Milan’s lavishly resourced backroom operation functions so efficiently the new man was not required to undertake internal reforms. But Silvio Berlusconi likes his teams to attack, even to the point of extravagance, and the way Milan were sent out to play against Alex Ferguson’s United in the first leg three weeks ago, with a formation in which no fewer than three players – Ronaldinho, Pato and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – had neither the inclination nor the instruction to undertake defensive duties, suggests Leonardo is more of a man after the owner’s heart.
Once United’s players had twigged what was going on, they did their best to respond in kind and the match became a ceaselessly entertaining spectacle.
With slightly less of the possession – 48 per cent to 52 – but an emphasis on counter-attack, Milan made the majority of the evening’s chances.
As representatives of both sides noted afterwards, they could reasonably have been at least three goals up at the interval, had all three forwards and the full back Luca Antonini made better use of their opportunities.
A Pato header from an unmarked position should have restored their lead just after the interval, Edwin van der Sar produced marvellous saves to deny Ronaldinho on two occasions, and even after Wayne Rooney had given United a 3-1 lead there were late opportunities for Ronaldinho, Pippo Inzaghi and Massimo Ambrosini before Clarence Seedorf produced what the next morning’s Gazzetta dello Sport described as “the goal of hope”.
Milan’s best chance of eliminating United tonight would be with a 2-0 win, since a goal for the home side would require the Italians to win while scoring at least four times.
“A 2-0 win would be a normal result,” Leonardo said after the match at San Siro. Given the position in which his side found itself, the return leg will represent a great test of his coaching acumen.
Like Ferguson, defence appears to be his greatest problem, given the marked lack of co-ordination in the central area as Rooney helped himself to two headed goals, but he seems likely to continue his attempt to mask the team’s deficiencies by concentrating on their strengths in attack, with an emphasis on the bewitching trickery of a remotivated Ronaldinho.
“His magic can make the difference,” Berlusconi announced this week.
Whether Leonardo will persist with a 4-3-3 formation remains to be seen. Pato, returning from injury, may be kept on the bench, while Huntelaar, the scorer of 44 goals in 47 matches in the Netherlands in 2005-06 and beginning to seem less of a misfit with Milan than he was during his half-season with Real Madrid, could form a twin spearhead with Marco Borriello, ahead of the four-man midfield of David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo, Ambrosini and Ronaldinho.
As good as the prospects look for United, Ferguson is well aware Milan’s players have more than enough big-match experience to make tonight’s match a real challenge.
