GdS: Coach, stars and synergy – Milan Primavera aim to end 15-year wait for cup success

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·8 April 2025

GdS: Coach, stars and synergy – Milan Primavera aim to end 15-year wait for cup success

AC Milan’s Primavera side are in the Coppa Italia final for the first time in over a decade, and they will face Cagliari on Wednesday afternoon.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport writes, Milan Primavera are in the cup final after a 15-year wait. It is a competition they have won twice in their history: the last time was in 2010, when the Rossoneri – then led by Giovanni Stroppa – beat Palermo 2-0 in the return leg thanks to goals from Simone Verdi and Gianmarco Zigoni.

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This year’s team have had a clean run, beating Genoa, Inter (on penalties) and Lecce. Tomorrow at 15:00 CEST, at the Arena Civica in Milan, it is the final against a Cagliari side who knocked out Juventus to qualify.

The season

Federico Guidi’s team are one of the youngest in the league, with a very low average age (18.2 years) and some players who are up and down with Milan Futuro.

Despite this, the young Rossoneri are seventh in the league, fighting for a place in the play-offs, and in the final of the Coppa Italia. Now, with six games to go, they are on 51 points which is the same as the Primavera achieved last year.

So, definitely a step forward in that regard, but the UEFA Youth League was a regret. In the last two seasons things had gone very well (a semi-final and a final), this time they were out in the groups.

The stars

The frontman of Guidi’s team is definitely Mattia Liberali, a No.10 who has so much class and vision that he convinced Paulo Fonseca to call on him. Then there was the retreat with the first team, even making his debut in Serie A with Genoa in December, before the decision to let him grow calmly.

The other two players in the front three will probably be Filippo Scotti and Alessandro Bonomi, the top scorers so far. The former has 12 goals, including the one that knocked out Lecce in the cup semi-final, while the latter has 10 playing both out wide and down the middle.

In midfield, however, the tempo is dictated by Christian Comotto and Emanuele Sala. The one who shuttles with Milan Futuro is Demirel Hodzic, an elegant Swedish midfielder who has amazed with his work rate, quality and tactical awareness.

Speaking of personality and soul in the dressing room, Victor Eletu and Mattia Dutu stand out above all as leaders. They speak up when there is a need to make themselves heard, which has helped Guidi in managing the group.

Other interesting profiles are the goalkeeper Alessandro Longoni and full-back Vittorio Magni, also often used by Milan Futuro. In the squad there is also Maximilian Ibrahimovic, who did very well in the first part of the season (6 goals), but who from January onwards has been tormented by injuries.

The coach

Born in 1976, Federico Guidi arrived last July to replace Ignazio Abate. As a footballer he did not play at a very high levels, but as a coach he found his calling, starting in 1999 in the youth sector of Empoli.

His first exploit was with Fiorentina: after having coached in various youth categories, he reached the Scudetto final in 2016-17 with the Under 19s, which La Viola lost against Inter. He won a Scudetto with their Under 15s in the 2010-11 season.

Subsequently, he was called to coach the U20 Italian national team and then the U19 national team. Guidi also coached in Serie C at Gubbio, Casertana and Teramo before in July 2022 he joined Roma’s Primavera.

With the Giallorossi he won a Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa Italiana, also developing young players such as Pisilli, Cherubini and Joao Costa. Milan liked what they saw and brought him in, with a 4-3-3 his preferred system.

The Futuro

The synergy between the Primavera and Milan Futuro is very strong. Magni, Hodzic and Sia – permanently with the U23s – didn’t bat an eyelid when they ‘dropped’ to play with the youth team, always enthusiastic and professional in giving their best.

Jovan Kirovski (head of the Futuro) and Vincenzo Vergine (head of the Rossoneri youth team) are in constant contact, exchanging ideas and choosing based on needs (injuries, experience, minutes played etc.) who to call in their respective categories.

Without Camarda, Zeroli and Simic, three pillars of last season, the Milan Primavera had to make a virtue of necessity this season, resorting when necessary to some more ‘experienced’ figures from Milan Futuro.