Massimo Ambrosini explains the stress and fire that fuelled the triumph of Milan’s Scudetto nine years ago, including the Zlatan Ibrahimovic-Oguchi Onyewu brawl.
The former player spoke to Sky Sport Italia about the most recent Series A title won by Rossoneri under Max Allegri in 2010-11. “It feels like more than nine years have passed, but it was a well-deserved and enjoyable Scudetto run,” said Ambro.
To add to the chaos were A-lister footballers all wanting a shot to shine on the field:
“The coach had to deal with so many talents and big characters in the dressing room, it was really not easy to keep them all working together. We had Ronaldinho, Antonio Cassano, Kevin-Prince Boateng
“There were also players who wanted to prove themselves all over again, such as Ibra, Pato, Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo. Allegri did it his own way, not with a single idea, but adapting to what was needed at that moment.
“We all wanted to play, so each training session was a fight to the death. Those who remained on the bench were furious, the level was so high. It was a form of respect, really, as we wanted to play all the time.”
Occasionally, the fight for places was a little too heated, for example in the notorious training ground battle between Ibrahimovic and Onyewu: “I tried to get split them apart, but it was like trying to prise open a locked car boot with my fingers, there was no movement whatsoever. I only later realised Rino Gattuso was down there”
“There were three or four flashpoints that we still remember to this day,” laughed Ambrosini about the brawl.
