Fonseca: "I want to experience Rossoneri passion"
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00:00Mr. Fonseca, welcome.
00:02Thank you very much.
00:03It's the first hours, the first days in the Milan environment,
00:06Casa Milan, Milanello.
00:08I ask you for your feelings.
00:09I have to thank the people because they received me here very well.
00:16I really enjoyed meeting the people who work in the club.
00:22I really liked Milanello.
00:26The feelings are very positive.
00:29Do you feel a responsibility and also a different atmosphere
00:33to coach such a winning club, such a historic club,
00:36which, by the way, this year will reach the prestigious goal of 125 years?
00:41Yes.
00:43Being a Milan coach is a great responsibility,
00:51but it is also a great pride.
00:54We must know that when we arrive at a club like Milan,
01:01we have the responsibility to defend a club with a history
01:07that everyone knows.
01:11We must also have the ambition to win,
01:15because when we are at Milan, we have to work to win.
01:22This is important to know.
01:25What image do you have of this history?
01:27What do you remember about Milan?
01:29Many things.
01:30I remember so many players.
01:33First, I must say that Milan is a universal club.
01:38Everyone knows the history of Milan well,
01:45but I remember following Milan,
01:50the team of Gullit, Rijkaard, Van Basten,
01:56many, many players.
01:59Baresi, Costa Curta, Tassotti, Maldini,
02:02all these players that I admired a lot.
02:08Milan's history is fantastic.
02:12I think it is difficult not to remember
02:17these great moments in Milan's history.
02:20Through this chat, we want to try to get to know
02:24the man Paolo behind coach Fonseca.
02:26What does he tell us about his childhood and his past?
02:29I had a happy childhood.
02:33I grew up in a humble family.
02:38I always wanted to play football,
02:41to be a great football fan,
02:46but I grew up in a normal, happy way.
02:52The times were different.
02:55We had the chance to have a childhood on the road,
03:00to play football.
03:02I took a normal course at school,
03:07but always with my head in football.
03:10You were born in Mozambique,
03:12then you grew up in Portugal,
03:14you lived in Ukraine, in Italy, in France.
03:17How did you enrich yourself in this experience
03:20as a citizen of the world?
03:22I was born in Mozambique.
03:24Mozambique is a former colony of Portugal.
03:29We have a history with Africa,
03:32with the war.
03:37I was born there,
03:40but I returned to Portugal with my family
03:43a year later.
03:44I don't remember anything about Mozambique.
03:47Eight years ago, it was the first time
03:50I left Portugal.
03:52It was a great experience.
03:56First because I got to know different cultures,
04:00and then because I had the chance
04:03to start speaking different languages.
04:08The experience in Ukraine was fantastic.
04:12Here in Italy, I think everyone understood
04:16how I like the country.
04:18And in France, it was also a good experience.
04:23But I'm very rich after being in different countries,
04:29getting to know different people,
04:32different cultures.
04:33It's a great reward that I won.
04:36I'm going to touch on a topic you just mentioned.
04:39You've already been to Rome,
04:40you got married on Lake Como.
04:42What is your relationship with our country
04:44and how happy are you to return to Italy?
04:46I got married to a Ukrainian woman.
04:49I have to say that one day when I stop,
04:54I don't know if I'll return to Portugal or Ukraine,
04:59but it's in our heads to live in a different country.
05:03I have to say that I'm passionate about Italy.
05:08The country is beautiful.
05:10You eat well.
05:12The people are very emotional, very nice.
05:16When I left Rome, I seriously thought
05:21about having the opportunity to live here in Italy.
05:25Today I'm very happy to return to Italy
05:31because I feel very good here.
05:35I really like the Italian culture, the Italian people.
05:39We'll see what happens in the future.
05:42Maybe I'm a person who can stay here and live.
05:46You've been to many cities related to football.
05:49I think of Porto, Rome, Donetsk.
05:51But how do you imagine Milan,
05:53which is historically so attached to this particular sport?
05:58I think all Italians are passionate about football.
06:04What I felt when I played here in San Siro
06:09was an incredible atmosphere.
06:13I expect to be able to live these feelings with our fans.
06:22I expect to build something here that makes the fans proud
06:29and to have this feeling of being just one
06:33when we play here in San Siro.
06:37Unfortunately, in Rome, the pandemic has forced us
06:40to spend most of our time at home,
06:42between home and the sports centre.
06:44How much do you want to discover the Italian city?
06:49Milan, the capital of fashion,
06:51which we know is one of your passions.
06:53Milan is so dynamic, so projected into the future.
06:55When I arrived in Rome, I decided to live in Rome
07:02because I like the atmosphere of the city.
07:09Here, I expect to do the same.
07:13When we have the opportunity to live in a city like Milan,
07:18which is beautiful,
07:20we have to take advantage of what is the most beautiful city.
07:26I want to live here in Milan
07:31because I don't know Milan well,
07:34but I want to get to know it well
07:36because I know it's a beautiful city.
07:38If you feel like a curious person,
07:41what is your biggest curiosity in approaching this new adventure?
07:45Yes, I am a curious person.
07:49There are so many things that I want to feel,
07:51that I want to know,
07:53that it's hard to say.
07:57What I want is to see the passion of our fans
08:05here in San Siro and with the team.
08:09You often talk about the fans.
08:12I go back to the Biennial,
08:14where unfortunately most of the games were played in empty stadiums,
08:18without the audience.
08:20How much do you want to see the Italian championship with the fans' energy?
08:24A lot, a lot.
08:25I want to see this energy in all the Italian stadiums,
08:32especially here in San Siro.
08:35Is it correct to say that in your life,
08:37both in your choices off the pitch
08:39and in the way you play for your teams,
08:42you often had a lot of courage?
08:44Yes, yes.
08:45I think that in life, if we want to win,
08:49we have to take risks.
08:51And in order to take risks,
08:53we have to have the courage to be different.
09:00I think that we, the coaches,
09:02have an obligation with the people who love football.
09:08We don't just have to win.
09:11We have to have a way that the fans are passionate about.
09:17We have to create a spectacle.
09:23And to do this, we have to have courage.
09:26We have to have people who work with us with courage
09:31and live football in a passionate way.
09:34This is my way of thinking.
09:37Speaking of this,
09:38I ask you if the process of creating an identity is a further challenge,
09:42an identity that you and Zlatan Ibrahimović often talked about
09:46on the day of your signing,
09:48to create an identity in this group.
09:50Yes, yes.
09:51I think it's fundamental to create a strong identity in the team.
09:59This is what I want to do,
10:01to have a very strong identity
10:04that allows us to have quality in our game
10:11but also to have the ambition to win every game.
10:15Among the qualities that Zlatan Ibrahimović emphasized,
10:18there is also his experience.
10:20I ask you how he approaches young people.
10:22You, who have often trained teams with many young people,
10:25and finally Illil,
10:26this is a group that also lost some leaders last year.
10:29How do you approach the younger guys?
10:32In a normal way.
10:33For me, players have no age.
10:37If a young player has the courage and the quality to play,
10:42I let him play.
10:44I know that we have young players in Milan with quality.
10:51If they show that they have this courage,
10:55they have this competence,
10:57I let them play.
11:00Age is not a problem for me.
11:04I ask you if your wife Gaterina will follow you on this adventure in Milan
11:08and how important is her and her family,
11:11with whom she also lived special moments in Ukraine.
11:15I see that she also has a pin on her jacket.
11:17How important is their support in everyday life?
11:20For me, my support is my family.
11:25For me, it is fundamental to bring my family here.
11:30Gaterina loves Italy.
11:34I think she will be very happy here in Milan,
11:40also with the children.
11:43For me, it is fundamental to have my family with me.
11:48We know that you have many passions.
11:50We mentioned fashion, but also music and more.
11:53How do you manage to stay away from football
11:56and spend your time off the pitch?
11:59I work a lot, but when I get home,
12:03I find time for my family.
12:07It is true that I really like music.
12:11The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up
12:17is listen to music to start the day.
12:22I am a very simple person.
12:26I have time for my family,
12:28time to watch some series on Netflix.
12:34But for me, for my balance,
12:37it is important to have these moments with my family,
12:42with the children, with my wife.
12:44It is very important.
12:46What is the biggest football lesson you have learned?
12:52I have learned a lot.
12:54I have to say that I believe a lot in honesty.
12:58When we do things with passion and honesty,
13:03we are rewarded for it.
13:06What happened in my life has shown me
13:09that when we are honest with ourselves,
13:14with the people who work with us,
13:17it is easier to achieve our dreams.
13:22In an old interview, you said you were lucky
13:25to be what you wanted to be.
13:27The last thing I ask you is,
13:29what do you want today, Paolo Fonseca?
13:31To win with Milan.
13:33Good luck and thank you.
13:34Thank you very much.