From Ronaldo to training timers: Four curiosities on Ralf Rangnick who is set to become the new coach of AC Milan.
Ralf Rangnick is set to become the new coach of AC Milan replacing Stefano Pioli at the end of the season. Much has been said and written about the German manager, but there are some anecdotes little known to the general public. Here are some reported by MilanNews.it.
-Rangnick was the first who tried to bring Ronaldo in Europe
VfB Stuttgart wanted to buy Ronaldo in 1994. Ralf Rangnick, youth squad coordinator at the time, met the future superstar in Rio de Janeiro and even gave him a Stuttgart jersey. As confirmed by Ronaldo himself in an interview: “Stuttgart was the first club in that period that was interested in me“. The transfer of Ronaldo to Stuttgart did not materialize due to the too high demand of his club at the time, Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte wanted about five million dollars for the Brazilian striker.
-Knowing local language is key
For Rangnick speaking the language where you live is very important to integrate better. For this reason at Red Bull Leipzig he ordered a language course for everyone who did not speak German. Those who did not attend the course were put out of the squad.
-Lack of punctuality and mobile phones are not tolerated
Rangnick left out of the team Nordi Mukiele and Jean-Kevin Augustin because they arrived late in the locker room before a Europa League game against Salzburg. The two arrived late because they were busy on their cell phones, and therefore had broken both the rule of delay and the use of mobile phones from the moment you enter the stadium.
Rangnick was interviewed a couple of days later on the episode: “There are some rules that must be followed. For us, the case ends here. I’m sure the two young players understood the reason for my choice. This may seem tough, but they don’t know how bad their behavior hurt the team“. In addition to the penalties imposed by the club, there was also a reaction within the team.
–Training timers
Rangnick in training uses two machines with timers. A clock that has an eight-second countdown, this is the time players have to recover the ball when they have lost it. The other clock has a 10 second countdown, this is the time that players have to finish the action with a shot after recovering the ball. He explained that with these training, after a couple of weeks, changes have been seen in the games, because the players are used to the unnerving countdown in the training sessions.
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