🎯 Ricci: Modric already a leader, on Milan, Allegri and Italy | OneFootball

Samuele Ricci, midfielder for Milan and the Italian National Team, gave an interview to the microphones of ‘Cronache di spogliatoio’.

MILAN – I’m really enjoying myself at Milan. I’ve been welcomed in a big way by everyone from the very first moment, and that really struck me. Both by my teammates and by those working behind the scenes: real friendships are forming.

COACH ALLEGRI – There was an immediate great connection with Allegri, he really likes to joke around off the field and always makes us smile, but when he’s on the pitch, he’s very focused on working and pays attention to detail. His main quality is that he knows how to win and he’s passing that on to us. Being one from Pisa and one from Livorno gives us the same sense of humor. His assistant is from Lucca, so it’s a Tuscan trio that’s really funny. A great relationship is developing with all the guys.

FIRST MONTH WITH THE ROSSONERI – What struck me most in this first month at Milan is the intensity in training. There’s a really healthy internal competition developing that makes you raise your level. We noticed it even during the friendlies, where I scored—which is nice—but above all, we got minutes in our legs, and I have to say, on Sunday against Bari, it was exciting to walk into San Siro as a Milan player and not as an opponent.

MODRIĆ AS A MIDFIELD PARTNER – I talked with Modrić about various things, even off the pitch. I asked him about Spain and he asked me about various things related to Italy. But above all, we talked about houses (he laughs, ed.) because we’re both looking for one at the moment! He’s very humble and is already an important figure in the dressing room. I can see that many of us already rely on him. Honestly, I never imagined I’d share a locker room with him! He does certain things with such ease, it’s impressive.

A BUSINESS WITH FRIENDS – It started because one of our friends wanted to set up something of his own. He had a dream where this idea appeared to him and he told us about it. We said: ‘Let’s give it a try.’ And we all started together. Buongiorno joined a few months ago. It’s a clothing brand that does everything: shirts, hats, swimwear… we discuss things every day on WhatsApp and soon something cool will be coming out.

GUITAR AND PIANO – My passion for musical instruments started during the Covid period. I was at some friends’ house in Pisa and we were supposed to go out, but it started raining. So we locked ourselves in a room where there were guitars and pianos. I tried it and got hooked: I got the guitar teacher’s contact and started strumming. Now I’ve let it go a bit, but if you give me some chords, in a few minutes I’ll play you the song. At Torino, sometimes I even played during training camps, I did duets with Toro’s doctor who plays very well. While the others sang. Now I’d like to take up piano lessons again, which is a bit more complicated as an approach: after a couple of months, you can play the guitar, but piano is more complex.

GROWING UP AT EMPOLI – They’re among the best at launching young players and letting them play, they’re not afraid to put them in, whereas elsewhere there’s often this fear. I was lucky to join the first team when they were in Serie B, where you can get more playing time, we even won the championship and I made it to Serie A. I spent a few years before leaving that comfort zone. In the youth teams I was decent, but I wasn’t some phenomenon… but little by little, with work and always staying focused, without getting distracted by other things, I made it. I had a straightforward path, they also gave me the chance to do it and to put myself to the test. That was my luck.

ARRIVING IN SERIE A – The step up from Primavera was abrupt. It’s not even comparable to training with the seniors. I had some difficulties at the start, I noticed I was still experiencing football as a game and not entirely as a job. That switch happened when I arrived at Torino: before, I lived football like a kid, the call from Toro made me say ‘Now it’s getting serious’. I started taking better care of myself, going to the gym, working on my weaknesses. This change also came thanks to Jurić. Leaving the comfort zone helped: in my opinion, the sooner you do it, the better. I did it at the right time, but I told myself: ‘Now either I change, or I’ll never play’. And from that moment, I carved out my space.

JURIĆ – He was a coach who went against the grain compared to those I’d had until then. I arrived at Torino from Andreazzoli at Empoli, where I played as a holding midfielder in a three-man midfield. With Jurić I had to fit in right away and try to become a different kind of holding midfielder, a box-to-box midfielder, because in a two-man midfield you basically have to know how to do everything. I also had to grow physically, in terms of build, working especially on those things. And also mentally, especially defensively. Staying focused on your opponent, playing man-to-man. He improved me a lot in that respect.

SECOND FOR “PLAYING UNDER PRESSURE” AFTER KIMMICH – I really like having the ball at my feet, I like going to get it in moments of the match when it comes less. In Serie A it’s complicated because there’s a lot of tactics and teams play closed: it’s hard to find space. Although I’ve noticed that in Serie B it’s even more complicated from this point of view, it’s a particular league because, as we’ve seen this year, you don’t need big names but more group unity. In B it’s very hard to play with the ball because you’re pressed a lot and you find teams, especially away, that are very closed, and you get “ugly” and scrappy games. It’s a general characteristic of Italian football and foreigners who come here struggle with that. I’ve had the chance to talk with guys coming from the Premier League, for example, and they find this difficult, maybe they’re ahead in other aspects. Adams at Torino confirmed it to me, and for strikers it’s even harder because in Italy the defenses are really tough and especially the way of defending is tough.

NATIONAL TEAM – I’ll be honest: every time you feel a little shiver. I’d call it a bit of anxiety. In the end, you’re out of your comfort zone, at the club you’re in a total routine. But in the National Team, especially the first times, you don’t know what to expect and you have little time to prepare for the matches, so you have to get into the part quickly. You don’t have much time to think. It was great when I played against France and there were Griezmann and Mbappé, I thought: ‘What am I doing here!?’ These are experiences you carry with you for your whole career. Even though you play in Serie A, when you go to the National Team you feel that shiver that you’re doing something different, that you’re playing something different. You’re going up against the best.

EXPERIENCE IN THE NATIONAL TEAM WITH SPALLETTI – I haven’t had the chance to work with Gattuso yet.  Spalletti often told me I was good with my body posture. It’s something many coaches talk about, but many don’t even notice. Coach Spalletti told me this as the first thing: when I go to get the ball I have to be positioned sideways, between the two strikers, and look ten times, because four is never enough, be attentive to details, to how you position your body when you receive the ball, which makes all the difference in the world. It’s something he really focused on with midfielders. Vanoli was also very attentive to details. He showed me videos of how I positioned myself compared to other players, how a meter can make a difference. These are things that are easy to see on video but, in a match, because of the pace and speed, I can’t perceive them.

YOUNG PLAYERS IN ITALY – The perception of young players is changing. I watched a bit of Serie B this year and many young players are being put on the field. Before, in my opinion, this was less of a focus. I was lucky to grow up at Empoli, where if you make a mistake, the next time you’re still on the field because they don’t care and they believe in you. But there was a phase of stagnation for young players in Italy, now the wind is changing. You can seize opportunities better, but a lot also depends on the luck of where you are: maybe you do well in training camp, maybe you go on loan to a team that’s struggling that year and you find yourself in the wrong place… you also have to be in the right place when you’re young. Many have great qualities but maybe have a coach who doesn’t see them in a certain position and little by little they get lost.

AFRICA – This year I went to Uganda, about two weeks. It’s the fifth time I’ve been to Africa. The first year I went to Namibia, then Kenya, then Madagascar, and now it was Uganda’s turn. Every time I’ve tried to choose very different destinations, to complete my “circle” of African experiences. I go with my family. I always like to carve out time to be with them. I see them during the year too, they come to all the matches, they never miss one. But the trip is different: you’re together calmly, without frenzy. It’s a way to live a real and deep moment with them, away from routine. They were all beautiful, honestly. Each in its own way. But a lot depends on how you do them. For example, if you go to Kenya and lock yourself in a resort, in my opinion, you lose the sense of the trip. Africa is an experience to be lived on the move, traveling, exploring. They’re intense trips, maybe a bit tough – many hours in the car, rough roads – but they really open your mind. You find yourself in a totally different reality, and you learn to look at things from a new perspective. I came into contact with the local reality, even if it’s not easy. When you come back here, you immediately pick up your own pace again. But there you realize their normal is different. They live with much less, but maybe they also have fewer distractions. We’re surrounded by constant stimuli. There you reconnect with reality, with the essentials.

PLAYING BAREFOOT IN AFRICA – There are many stories. I remember in Namibia, it was one of the most “free” trips: we rented a jeep and traveled around on our own. Once we stopped at an Englishman’s place who had opened a sort of café, maybe the only “bar” for miles around. He told us his story, how he ended up there. He made coffee filtered in a particular way. It was one of those moments when you realize every person has an incredible story behind them. I happened to play a match with some kids in a village in Madagascar. It was wonderful. There, all you need is something round, not necessarily a Serie A ball, and they immediately start playing. I saw myself in them: even as a kid, as soon as I had a ball in my hands, I played everywhere. It’s a passion that unites, that overcomes any barrier.

WILD EXPERIENCES IN AFRICA – Many. In Madagascar, for example, we slept two nights in a tent on a boat. Every evening we’d dock, set up the tent and sleep like that. We met local people, very authentic moments. I always try to avoid experiences that are too “constructed”. I like to experience places in a wild, real way. Sometimes you get a bit scared, especially at night, when you sleep in a tent and hear animal noises. There it’s normal, for us a bit less. But there was always a ranger with us during safaris, so it was safe. I particularly remember a night safari: we came across a huge giraffe. It was dark, you could only see with the red light of the off-road vehicle. An incredible impact. In terms of landscape, Namibia struck me the most, for sure. It has something unique. It’s basically a desert that reaches the sea – the Atlantic Ocean. Obviously, you can’t swim, it’s freezing and rough, but you see dunes that go down to the beach. It’s surreal. We did jeep excursions on the dunes: experiences that stay with you. I visited local villages. Often they’re used to seeing tourists, so it’s not always easy to find truly authentic places. But when it happens, you realize how little you need to live. Poverty there has a different meaning compared to how we see it. There’s a lot of poverty, but also a lot of dignity.

AFRICAN CUISINE AND NEW DESTINATIONS – In Madagascar, everything was zero-kilometer. They don’t have import-export, so they only eat what they grow. Lots of dishes based on rice, meat, vegetables. And they’re good, very good. Flavors different from ours, more intense. There’s a family friend who has an agency and has also opened schools in Africa. We rely on him to organize everything, and we try to help out in that sense too. I’d like to take all the trips possible. Asia, for example, really inspires me, but I haven’t been yet. It takes a bit more time, because just the trip takes days, and then you have to come back and get back in shape right away. But it’s definitely among the next destinations. Maybe when I stop playing, I’ll be able to experience it more calmly.

OFF SEASON – I have a trainer who follows me remotely. When I can, I run at dawn. In Kenya, for example, I did several runs there: breathtaking landscapes. But often the equipment is missing, a gym, weights… so I can’t do everything. For this reason, I try not to stay away too long: you have to come back ready for preseason. It’s fundamental, even if it’s actually getting shorter and shorter. The off-season is the time when you can work on things you can’t do during the year: you can really focus on maximum strength, do heavy loads. In season, instead, you tend to do more explosive, more conservative work, maybe more focused on prevention. But in the off-season you have time to structure everything better, and it’s work that pays off during the year. Every year you learn something new. In the end, you try to balance everything, to understand what works best for you. Of course, I always rely on trainers: you can’t just make up exercises, even though by now I know when and what to do, I know how to manage myself. But these are all things you learn with experience.

RELATIONSHIP WITH HOME – I can’t go back to Pisa much, unless I have three days off. But I’m always in touch, especially with friends at the bar, I have many friends older than me, or family friends, so I always try to find an hour to go see them. They’re all big football fans and work in the local amateur clubs. I have a good laugh. As a kid I often went to watch Pisa at the stadium with my dad, I was happy when they got promoted to Serie A.

THE BOND WITH MY FIRST COACH – Romano Marinari was my first coach, along with another guy named Marzio. Back then we played five-a-side, I was a child, so I didn’t understand many things yet. But he was the first to really believe in me. Throughout my career, I’ve always kept in touch with him, always kept him in mind. He’s someone who played an important role in my journey. Lately, no, because I’ve never really managed to go back. I go back for a short time, two days and then I leave again, so it’s complicated. But we’re always in touch, especially with my family, who see him much more often than I do.

NEXT PERSONAL STEPS – I need to improve in many things. Technically, of course, but also in terms of presence on the pitch. I’m not talking so much about grit, but really about being more “in” the game. Sometimes I like to drop deep to get the ball, but maybe I lose something in the defensive phase, the tougher part. But compared to how I was before, also thanks to the work I’ve done recently, I’ve improved a lot, especially physically. I worked a lot on strength in the early years, and every season I keep improving. There’s always room for growth, in many ways: physically, mentally, but also off the pitch, like approach and preparation. Tactically, maybe that’s a bit harder if you don’t have a natural predisposition, but it’s still an area where I try to grow. Then, everything that concerns the athletic side, you can train even off the pitch, and that’s where you can make a difference.

ROLE MODELS – I really like Rodri, even though he plays a slightly different game. In Italy I really like Lobotka, I think he’s very strong in both phases and manages to combine them very well. There are many midfielders I admire, even box-to-box players who maybe don’t play my position, but from whom you can learn a lot. I remember Sergej Milinković-Savić… it was Empoli-Lazio, the day of my debut, we lost 3-1. He really impressed me and I immediately thought: ‘If everyone else is like this…’. It was a strong impact!

VANJA MILINKOVIĆ-SAVIĆ – We’ve kept in touch, he grew a lot in his last season at Torino. _And between you and Vanja, who was better at set pieces?_ Definitely him! Every second of training, if you turned around, you’d see him blasting shots. He’s a goalkeeper on loan… he says he needs to let off steam, so he smashes free kicks, and if anyone else did it, they might even get hurt! But he’s really a great guy.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

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