Adriano Galliani reveals that while Silvio Berlusconi loved AC Milan, he did not bear any ill will towards Inter Milan.
The veteran football executive spoke to Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview published in yesterday’s print edition, via FCInterNews.
Former Italian President, business mogul, and AC Milan President Berlusconi was certainly a man who made his mark in Italian football.
It was under Berlusconi’s ownership that the Rossoneri enjoyed some of their greatest success.
After a miserable start to the 1980s that even saw Milan relegated, Berlusconi brought them back to the summit of the Italian game. And even in all of Europe.
And part of this means that in Berlusconi’s three decades in charge of Milan, the derby against Inter had more significance than ever.
The two city rivals played no shortage of high-profile matches. There was plenty of tension and heightened emotions to go with the quality and glamour.
But while it was not exactly a friendly rivalry, the sense was that the two teams needed each other to really elevate themselves at times.
For that reason, Galliani says, Berlusconi was never truly anti-Inter. He always appreciated what the Nerazzurri brought as great rivals to the team he loved, Milan.
Adriano Galliani: Silvio Berlusconi Loved AC Milan – But Wasn’t Anti-Inter
Galliani still works in football. He is the CEO of Monza, who Berlusconi had owned prior to his passing earlier this year.
And the executive explained that “Maybe I’ll tell you something that will surprise you.”
“Berlusconi was certainly a huge fan of Milan. But he was never anti-Inter, because he felt that he was a citizen of Milan,” Galliani explained.
Of Inter’s 5-1 thrashing of Milan in the most recent derby, Galliani said that “He would have suffered for Milan.”
“But he also would have given credit to Inter, who played a perfect match.”
“He was an aesthete. Even in football,” Galliani said of Berlusconi.
“And so it would have made him happy to see a team play so well,” he said. Even if that team were the Rossoneri’s great derby rivals Inter.