“Spalletti? Better not to talk… he was the worst coach we had in Italy”

The former player of Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid, Miranda, gave an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport, quoted by abola.pt, prefacing the duel between the two teams on Wednesday, in the UEFA Champions League. The former Brazil international also recalled the defensive pairing he formed with Diego Godin at the colchoneros, which he claimed was the best in the world at the time.

Miranda: “Incomparable. I'll be honest: at the time, there was no one like us”

“Incomparable. I'll be honest: at the time, there was no one like us. Neither Ramos-Varane at Real nor the BBC [Barzagli, Bonucci și Chiellini] from Juventus. Individually, maybe, but together we were extremely powerful. We were Simeone's first soldiers, and I really feel like laughing defining myself like that… If I hadn't been a footballer, I would have joined the army. But with us there, in the back, no one was passing,” the Brazilian said, according to abola.pt.

Miranda worked in Madrid with Diego Simeone, a coach for whom he has nothing but praise: “Simeone was exactly as we see him now. He was someone who gathered us in midfield with his speeches: 'If you are the best on the pitch, I don't care if you lose'. Although when we lost, it was a drama. It was like saying goodbye to a relative at a funeral. He gave us hunger and determination.

I remember his attitude on the bench: always dressed in black, full of adrenaline, passionate. On the field is one person, off it is another. When we would meet him around Madrid, maybe at dinner, he would hug us and joke with us all, but in training he would massacre us. It was an hour and a half of pure intensity. And we had to give 100 percent, otherwise it would “eat us”, Miranda said.

Miranda: “Spalletti lived in terror that someone would speak ill of him”

Miranda then moved to Inter in 2015, where he spent four seasons and was named the best defender in Serie A in 2018.

And if at Atletico he only has words of praise for Simeone, at the Milan team he confesses that he did not particularly like working with Luciano Spalletti, the coach who recently signed with Juventus.

“As a coach, nothing to say: he is a winner. He brought Inter back into the Champions League and laid the foundations for the future, but as a man… better not to talk. He was the worst coach I had in Italy from this point of view. Mancini was a gentleman, De Boer was misunderstood. But Spalletti lived in terror that someone would speak ill of him. If we notice, there are few players who had a good relationship with him.

We fought over land issues. He does not like those who contradict him and have different opinions. After this misunderstanding, which happened in my last year at Inter, I started playing less and less“, concluded the Brazilian.

• Miranda has 178 appearances in all competitions for Atletico Madrid, 13 goals and 4 assists. For Inter he has 121 appearances, 1 goal and 2 assists. The Brazilian also played in Sao Paulo, Coritiba, Jiangsu and Sochaux-Montbeliard. For Selecao he has 58 matches and 3 goals.

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