Rijkaard, Albertini, Pirlo and AC Milan’s Great Playmaking Tradition

Some of the most beautiful sights in football emanate from the deep-lying playmaker.

The position, known in Italy as the “regista” (which literally translates as “director”), is one generally occupied by the sport’s most gifted technicians. And the marriage of player and role can produce wonderful results.

Registi are often responsible for the line-breaking pass, decisively penetrating the opposition with a single touch. They are also the primary purveyors of the perfectly weighted diagonal ball switching play in order to attack from another angle, as well as the chipped pass over the top that forces the defending team to quickly turn and face its own goal.

AC Milan have a fine playmaking tradition. Indeed, some of their greatest teams have been powered by extraordinarily creative deep-lying midfielders. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Frank Rijkaard, Demetrio Albertini and Andrea Pirlo undertook some form of the regista role, becoming pivotal players in multiple domestic and continental successes along the way.

“Football is not a sport of specialists,” Arrigo Sacchi told the Guardian’s Paolo Bandini in 2011. “If someone does just one thing over and over, they will get better at that thing. But is football just one thing?”

The question was strictly rhetorical.

Sacchi led Milan to two consecutive European Cups during his first coaching reign between 1987 and 1991. He did so with a 4-4-2 system in which every player was interconnected, individuals within a highly cohesive whole. There was no real sense of speciality in his teams, and consequently, when it came to playmaking, no one man could be viewed as the sole instigator.

Rijkaard, a powerful former centre-back, joined the club in 1988 and was utilised in central midfield. As a Dutch footballer, his defensive origins were virtually irrelevant; he had the elegance and technical quality of a purebred playmaker. However, in line with Sacchi’s vision of the game, he shared creative duties.

He and his midfield partner, Carlo Ancelotti, would move simultaneously, one covering the other, to ensure balance. They defended, moved and passed in tandem, supporting and combining. Centre-back Franco Baresi would also get in on the act, starting and joining attacks when appropriate.

The multifunctional nature of players within Sacchi’s Milan meant there was no out-and-out regista. All were expected to play their parts in building attacking moves, though Rijkaard, with his sophisticated touch and probing passes, was the closest thing to a deep-lying playmaker present in the team.

This was the perfect environment for a young Albertini to develop within. After making his debut for the club in the 1987-88 campaign at the tender age of 17, he spent one year on the fringes of the first team and one year on loan at Padova in Serie B. However, …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com