Zidane hoping to match Milan maestro Sacchi

I take Sacchi. He is staying. I’m still not sure about you.”

It worked, and Sacchi was able to implement his methods — ably assisted by the likes of Franco Baresi, Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Donadoni and the Dutch trio of Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten.

Sacchi used to arrive at the Milanello training ground in his silver Porsche and would take sessions while wearing aviator-style sunglasses and with a megaphone in his hand, to compensate for his quiet voice.

With him, Milan won the ‘Scudetto’ in 1988, its first in nine years, and then those successive European Cups, hammering Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in the final in 1989 and retaining the trophy with a 1-0 defeat of Benfica the next year.

He later led Italy to the 1994 World Cup final, where they lost on penalties to Brazil, and followed that up with a groupstage exit at Euro 96 before returning for a second, unsuccessful spell at Milan and a brief stint at Atletico Madrid.

Sacchi then worked as a youth-team coordinator for the Italian Football Federation and remains a reference point for the new generation of Italian coaches, such as Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri.

Now 71, the “Prophet” has never disappeared from the landscape, regularly appearing in the Italian media to voice his opinion, without a megaphone this time.

Last year he was overtly critical of the work done by Allegri at Juventus, saying: “The only verb they can conjugate is ‘to win’. That might be enough in Italy, like for Rosenborg, who always win in Norway. But not in the Champions League.”

On Saturday, then, Allegri has a chance to both prove Sacchi wrong and allow him to remain the last coach to win consecutive European Cups. Otherwise, Sacchi will have to pass that honor on to Zidane.