Antonio Conte, the Champions League, the return to Italy: what can happen? – Corriere.it

An armchair for two, like in that much-quoted film they always show at Christmas. Antonio Conte and Tottenham on one side, Stefano Pioli and Milan on the other: the seat is obviously in dispute for the place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the very good living room of world football, which offers glory and money to those who manage to enter it. Passing the round is worth at least twenty million euros: ten in UEFA prizes and as many between box office, marketing and sponsors. At stake tomorrow in London, however, there is also a good piece of history, because both the English Spurs and the Rossoneri are in dire need of dusting their international showcases.

An 11-year journey

The Diavolo has not reached the quarter-finals for eleven years, the 2011/12 season, when Allegri’s team was eliminated in the two-legged match by Guardiola’s Barcelona. The journey back to the elite of European football was long and complicated, from 2014 to 2021 it took seven infinite years to replay the Champions League, the big-eared cup that Milan has raised seven times in its history. Qualifying for this year’s round of 16 was rightly celebrated as a first major milestone, but now it’s clear that everyone’s mind wants to take a further step, joining the very select club of the best eight teams in Europe. Ismail Bennacer, one of the key men of the Rossoneri gang, didn’t hide from the UEFA website: We want to try to get to the end, nothing is impossible. the right mentality: in Europe you only win if you believe in it, if you play to win. This is why tomorrow the Diavolo will not have to make the mistake of playing for a draw, aiming to keep the 1-0 lead from the first leg at San Siro. But above all, he won’t have to play like last Saturday in Florence, where he was put down by a Fiorentina team that hadn’t won at home for two months. A small alarm in the infirmary: Giroud did not train on Monday due to a fever.

Goal a thousand benches for Pioli

It will be a whole other game, Pioli said with conviction, who knows he is playing a lot even on a personal level. He has a long contract, until 2025, renewed last October, a sign that the owners and management have trust and esteem, but it is clear that the next round would represent for him and his staff a further milestone achieved, after the sensational scudetto of the last May. I dream of reaching a thousand benches with Milan, he smiled when he cut 801 against Atalanta. His goal is to definitively enter the history of Milan, on a par with great masters such as Rocco, Liedholm, Sacchi, Capello, Ancelotti.

Goal Italy for Conte

Who, on the other hand, does not seem to have any intention of staying Antonio Conte, who in June could say goodbye to Tottenham after two seasons. To go back to Italy? Maybe at Juventus, maybe to contribute to a new reconstruction project? The truth is that he was actually fueling the rumors himself, when a few weeks ago he publicly admitted to feeling homesick, his wife and daughter, who remained living in Turin. Mihajlovic, Vialli and Ventrone had just disappeared. Losing three people I knew very well in such a short time was not easy – his words -. I am making important reflections on my future. Having my family in Italy is not good. Tomorrow Conte will return to the bench after his gallbladder surgery at the beginning of February. His Tottenham are not doing well, coming from two consecutive defeats, fourth place in the Premier League at risk and remained out of all cups with the exception of the Champions League, which could therefore represent the lifeline of a disappointing season, despite the 170 million invested in the market. I only play to win one of Conte’s cult slogans, which has made ambition an existential rule. That’s why he wants to get as far as possible in the Champions League, stealing the seat from Pioli in his very personal derby. To say goodbye as a winner, as he loves to do.