Van Basten: 'I loved AC Milan but not Sacchi, he seemed dishonest...'
- Apollo Heyes
"In Milan I felt like I was part of the family. Together we lived a whole life. You saw me born, as a player and as a man. You saw me grow up. And unfortunately you saw my end. I was convinced I would last forever, I told my teammates I'd quit at 38. At first I didn't understand. I was too focused on getting sick. I wondered why I had to go through all that pain. I never had an answer."
Van Basten then spoke about his relationship with former AC Milan coach Arrigo Sacchi.
“There was never a personal feeling between me and him. He never gave me the impression of being honest in human relations. When he wasn't happy with the way we trained, he took it out on the young people, on the weaker ones, who were perhaps in the lead to pull the group up.”
Finally, he touched on an early meeting he had with AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
"I went back to Ajax as a coach and a guy teased me. You're van Basten, he said whilst passing me the ball, let me see what you got. But I couldn't move my ankle anymore. Who was he? I'm sure you know him. His name was Zlatan, last name Ibrahimovic.”
Van Basten was one of the famous Dutch players at AC Milan in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He spent the last eight years of his career with the Rossoneri, retiring at only 30 years old, after playing his last match two years earlier. The Dutchman made 201 appearances for the Milanese club in his career across all competitions, scoring 125 goals and providing 23 assists in that time. He won three league titles with the Rossoneri, as well as two European Cups, a European Supercup, an Intercontinental Cup and two Supercoppa Italiana.
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