"I lived 5 years with the Milan shirt in a team that was preparing to win and then won everything. I'm very lucky." Manuel Rui Costa has given a long interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport, in which he talks about Gattuso's new Milan: "He has changed management, he needs time. Now he is in a position to return to the top, with a coach who knows the history of the club. Rino will have a great future. Milan did well to choose him and I think he will reach the finish line, which is first of all going back to playing in the Champions League."

Among the secrets of the Rossoneri revival is Lucas Paquetà, the January purchase was also a blow to Rui Costa's Benfica: "I followed Paquetà in Brazil, given the job I do, I know him well. I wanted to take him to Benfica, but I could not sign him: already too expensive for a Portuguese club. He has quality and age to grow and evolve into a difficult football like the Italian one. Does he look like Kaka? Not at all. Kakà was a playmaker, but he also had a power that was rarely, perhaps never, seen in a player in that position. It was anomalous, it was Kakà. He has a wonderful, velvet left-foot ".

 

The other January purchase, Krzysztof Piatek, has also settled with great results: "I know him less than Paquetà, but it doesn't take much to say that he is a great striker. I was surprised by his ability to adapt: ​​he had a few months in Genoa, so many goals, one could think that the move to Milan, a different club with a different history and enormous pressure, was complicated, or at least that it needed time. Instead nothing: he arrived, he scored a lot, even in important games. He seems to have been there for a lifetime. Impressive. But even in this case, making comparisons is useless. Piatek is not Sheva or anyone else, but he brought different solutions to the Milan attack and solved many problems. I was lucky enough to play with great strikers and I can say that having them in the team calms the nerves. When the game didn't work out, with Sheva, Kakà or Inzaghi you knew you had someone on your side who sooner or later put it in, because one of them scored the goal Piatek is not Sheva or Inzaghi, but he scores goals and solves problems."
 
Rui Costa could not miss a chance to comment on Cristiano Ronaldo, with whom he played in the 2004 European Championship: "Let's think back to the Juve match with Atletico, the moral is: if Cristiano is in the evening, you can do it. Sure Juve is not just him, theirs is a team of champions, but having someone like Cristiano gives you confidence, a phenomenon, a baby has arrived, a very good boy, you looked at him and knew what he was going to become. You don't know where, it goes beyond all limits. We immediately realized that he would become a star, but he continues to amaze us: if you think about what he does now that he is 34 years old, you understand that he is crazy. With his mental strength difficult to make predictions."
 
Can Juventus win the Champions League with him? "Juve were among the favourites even before, now even more so. There are so many strong teams at stake, but with Cristiano everything is possible. Because for him everything is possible."