Sacchi recalls how Leao’s assist vs. Napoli reminds him of Gullit: “Galliani called me”

Arrigo Sacchi has recalled how the run by Rafael Leao to set up Olivier Giroud on Tuesday night reminded him of one made by Ruud Gullit 35 years ago.

Giroud’s goal at the Maradona in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League between Napoli and Milan came after Leao’s extraordinary run down the left wing, in which he beat three players and laid it on a plate.

It seems to have turned on a lightbulb in the minds of many who remember Sacchi’s Milan, who scored their third goal against Napoli in the game on 1 May 1988 (which finished 3-2 for the Rossoneri) in a game that was decisive in the Scudetto race in a similar way.

Back then it was Gullit who found space on the left, accelerating past Renica and crossing into the middle for Marco Van Basten to score and seal victory. Sacchi spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport to recall the goal.

Do you remember that moment?

“And how can they be forgotten? Galliani called me and said: ‘Did you see, Arrigo? Leao and Giroud did just like Gullit and Van Basten!’.

Yes, I replied, but we played an attacking game, we forced Napoli into their half, this Milan defended itself above all. Back there they were perfect. And the goal is exactly the same: they are the coincidences of football.”

You said it on the eve of the game: if Napoli don’t push up on Leao, they risk a lot…

“And this situation happened on time. There are two ways to stop Leao: advance or double the mark. Napoli made none of these moves and conceded. And then Spalletti’s team were stretched, too stretched: how do you organise the pressing and defend well in those conditions?”

Let’s go back to 1 May 1988. A goal by Virdis in the 36th minute of the first half and equalizer by Maradona from a free-kick in the 46th minute, right in the added time.

“What the hell, Diego! He confessed to me a few years later that he didn’t trust himself to shoot over the barrier because we had very tall players.

“So he decided to take as a point of reference the last man of the barrier who was Gullit, and he shot touching his ear. A true magician’s stroke.’ Long faces and disappointment in the dressing room at half-time.”

What did you say?

“The players were downcast, sitting on the benches. I uttered a few words: ‘I’m so convinced of winning that I’ll put on an extra striker’. And so I did: I replaced Donadoni with Van Basten and placed Gullit as playmaker.

“However, now I can say, I wasn’t so convinced of winning: it was a trick to raise the morale of the boys.”

In the second half Gullit looked like a UFO, an extraterrestrial…

“Assist from the right for Virdis’ goal and assist from the left for Van Basten’s goal. It was impossible to stop him. One day I spoke to Ciro Ferrara who told me: ‘Ruud was unstoppable’. That’s right. Then Napoli closed the gap with Careca, but by now we had the game in hand.”

At the end of the game something incredible happened…

“Yes, we left the field to the applause of the vast majority of the Napoli fans. It had never happened to me, it was an emotion that I still keep as one of the greatest successes of my career: the opponents had given us credit for the victory.

“Just as Maradona did, in the interviews given at the end of the match. He said: ‘Milan deserve to win the Scudetto’. He was a champion, Diego. And also an honest boy.”