Inside the Feud between Marcel Desailly and Johan Cruyff, and how Fabio Capello used it to his advantage

EXCLUSIVE: Marcel Desailly was nothing short of furious with Johan Cruyff. And it played into Fabio Capello’s hands.

In the 1993-94 Champions League final, the French sensation produced a remarkable performance, dominating the midfield and scoring a fantastic goal in a historic 4-0 victory against Barcelona. However, he might not have exhibited such exemplary skill had his Italian coach not constructed a genius method to motivate him to do so.

Fabio Capello used Johan Cruyff’s trash talk to motivate Marcel Desailly

Ahead of the final in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, Johan Cruyff, who was the Barcelona manager at the time, was vocal about Marcel Desailly, claiming that his side never would’ve had the footballer playing in midfield.

However, rather than letting the war of words get under his skin, Fabio Capello concocted a tremendous plan. With the help of his assistant coach, he plastered every article he could find that referenced the Dutchman’s comments and put them all over the locker room, which had a massive impact on Desailly, who wanted to punish Cruyff with a spectacular showing on the pitch.

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In an exclusive interview with Sporf, via BetVictor Casino, he explained: “I think Fabio Capello was very smart to tease our ego. I remember, he didn’t do the meeting at the hotel, he gave it to the squad in the dressing room. His assistant had gotten photocopies of the newspaper with exactly what Johan Cruyff said: that Milan was not up to the level, we were poor, we were just a defensive side, and the Champions League win was for them. Capello knew we were leaders and this would push and motivate us. Cruyff had the expertise, guaranteeing that Barcelona would win over AC Milan.

“It was a new era where AC Milan was playing a little bit defensively in a 4-4-2, pressing the opponent all over. Inside the team, we had amazing talent: Roberto Donadoni, Paolo Maldini, Dejan Savićević and Daniele Massaro. We had already won the league that year, earlier than Barcelona, because they won the league the week before in the last match. They had a drop of adrenaline, and with that belief that Milan was going to be an easy task, they were not able to match the energy and motivation we had. We were willing to die on the pitch.”

Marcel Desailly’s Champions League performance still makes fans cry

While a very long time has passed since that spectacular evening in the Greek capital, AC Milan fans still hold Desailly very close to their hearts for what he did for their club.

The legend reminisced: “It’s a great memory. I finished Man of the Match. I was 24. The year before, I won the Champions League with Marseille against Milan. Now, I’m wearing the Milan shirt, and I scored the last goal. Sometimes, you remember the last moment. It was a dream. I brought Milan to the top of the roof of the football world — it’s amazing. I remember it as if it were yesterday; you are talking about something that is 32 years ago—it’s still in the memory. To this day, I have people stopping me on the street in Italy, with tears in their eyes, thinking about it. Football is just magic. How important it is in the eyes of the people is just incredible.”

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