Stefano Pioli
Stefano Pioli (; born 20 October 1965) is an Italian football manager and a former footballer who played as a defender. He is the head coach at Serie A club AC Milan. Playing career. Pioli, a native of Parma, started his own playing career for his home city team, Parma. Successively, he was signed by Juventus, with whom he made his Serie A debut in 1984, winning the league title, the European Cup, the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup during his three seasons with the club. After being sold to Hellas Verona in 1987, Pioli moved to  Fiorentina in 1989, where he spent six years of his career, before spending two seasons with Padova. After successive season-long spells in Serie C with Pistoiese and Fiorenzuola, he ended his career in 1999 with Colorno of Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna (the sixth-highest level of Italian football at that time; the top level of the Emilia-Romagna regional league system), playing alongside his brother Leonardo. Style of play. An elegant, tenacious, physical, and mobile defender, Pioli was capable of playing anywhere along the back-line, although he performed best as a man-marking centre-back, or "stopper," in Italian . Considered to be a promising and consistent player in his youth, his career was affected by numerous serious injuries. Coaching career. Early career. From 1999 to 2002 Pioli coached Bologna's youth team (winning a championship with Allievi Nazionali's team), and Chievo's in 2002–03. In 2003–04, he was appointed as head coach of Serie B club Salernitana. He moved to Modena, still of Serie B, in 2004. In 2006, Pioli was named as Parma's head coach, therefore returning to his home city and marking his Serie A debut as a manager. However, he was sacked on 12  February 2007 after a 3–0 loss to Roma which brought Parma down to second-last place and replaced by Claudio Ranieri. On 11 September 2007, Pioli was unveiled as new head coach of Serie B club Grosseto, replacing Giorgio Roselli, who was sacked after three consecutive defeats in the first three league matches, and managed to lead the Tuscan minnows to an impressive mid-table finish in their first season in the Serie B. He then served as head coach of Piacenza for their 2008–09 Serie B campaign. In July 2009, he left Piacenza to join Sassuolo as new head  coach of the "neroverdi". Chievo. On 10 June 2010, Pioli was named head coach of Serie A club Chievo on a 12-month contract. Palermo. On 2 June 2011, Pioli was named head coach of Serie A club Palermo, but he was relieved of his duties just 90 days later. Bologna. On 4 October 2011, Pioli was named new head coach of Bologna in Serie A, replacing the sacked Pierpaolo Bisoli. After two troublesome seasons with Bologna, both ended with the team struggling in the bottom half of the Serie A table but always escaping relegation, he was removed from  his managerial duties on 8 January 2014, with Davide Ballardini appointed as his replacement. Lazio. On 12 June 2014, it was confirmed Pioli's appointment as new head coach of Lazio in place of Edoardo Reja. In his first season at the club, he led Lazio to a third-place Serie A finish. On 11 June 2015, he was offered a new 2-year contract with an additional year option. On 3 April 2016, Pioli was sacked after a 4–1 home defeat to city rivals Roma. Internazionale. On 8 November 2016, Pioli was appointed as the new head coach of  Internazionale on an 18-month contract. On 20 November, Inter drew 2–2 against AC Milan in a Serie A "Derby della Madonnina" match, Pioli's first competitive match as head coach of the club. He was sacked on 9 May 2017. Inter had won 12 of the first 16 Serie A matches that Pioli was in charge of (draw with Milan, losses to Napoli, Juventus and Roma), but this was followed by two draws and five losses in their last seven Serie A matches prior to his sacking. Fiorentina. On 6 June 2017, Pioli was named new head coach of  Fiorentina. He signed for two years with another optional year. Pioli was in charge of the team when on 4 March 2018 central defender and captain Davide Astori died unexpectedly; to honour the memory of the player, Pioli got a commemorative tattoo. On 9 April 2019, Pioli resigned as manager. AC Milan. 2019-2021 Building the team 2019-2020 One day after Marco Giampaolo sacking, on 9 October 2019, Pioli was appointed as the new coach of AC Milan, on a deal to the end of the season. Milan's Pioli finished the first season on the sixth place in  Serie A, the team scored 63 goals in the competition, their highest total since 2013. On 7th of July 2020, Milan defeated Juventus 4-2, Milan have scored four Serie A goals against Juventus for their first time since March 1989 (4-0). It was Milan's first win against Juventus since 2016. On 21 July, Pioli reached an agreement with Milan for a two-year deal extension of his contract as head coach that will now expire in June 2022. 2020-2021 Second place finish On 17 October 2020 against Inter, Milan won 2-1, it was the first  Serie A win for Milan against Inter since 2016, also Milan have won their first four games in a Serie A season for the first time since 1995/96, with Fabio Capello in charge, Milan have scored in 24 consecutive Serie A games for the first time since 1973 (29). On 6th of December as Milan beat Sampdoria 2-1, the team have set a new Rossoneri record for goals scored in successive Serie A matches (30). On 16 December after drawing 2-2 with Genoa, AC Milan was unbeaten in their last 24 league games: their longest run since 1993 . On 23 December after beating Lazio 3-2, AC Milan became the second side in the history of Europe’s Top-5 leagues to have scored 2+ goals in more than 15 successive games in a single calendar year (after Barcelona, 18 in 1948). On 9 May 2021, Milan managed to win 3-0 against Juventus, their first away win against the latter since 2011. three days later, his side squashed Torino 7-0 in an away game, winning by seven-goal margin for the first time since June 1959 - v Udinese (7-0). After 2-0 away win against  Atalanta On 23 May 2021, he secured a return to the Champions League for Milan for the first time in seven seasons,as Milan finished second in the league table, also Milan have set a new all-time record for away wins in a Serie A season: 16 – no side has ever done better in Europe’s Top-5 leagues in a single campaign (16 also for Real Madrid 2011/12 and Manchester City 2017/18). In UEFA Europa League, Milan reached round of 16, and was eliminated eventually by Manchester United. 2021-2022 As of August 2021, Pioli held the second highest  win percentage in Serie A among Milan coaches, behind only Lajos Czeizler. On 3rd of October Milan defeated Atalanta at Gewiss Stadium 3-2, the team have recorded two successive wins away to Atalanta in Serie A for the first time since 2013. on 31 October after a 2-1 win against Roma, AC Milan have become the fourth team in Serie A history to win ten of their first eleven games of the season, after Roma, Juventus (twice) and Napoli (twice), also by that win Pioli ended Mourinho's 43 unbeaten home games run in Serie A. On November , Pioli reached an agreement with the club to extend his contract until June 2023. On December, AC Milan under Pioli's guidance became the second team in Serie A history to win at least 17 away league games in a single calendar year (after Napoli, 18 in 2017). In Champions league the team was knocked out from the group stage, however the group had Europe giants of Porto, Atletico and Liverpool. On 6 January 2022, Milan beat Roma 3-1, managing to win in three consecutive league games against Roma for the first time since 1996. On 5 February, Milan  managed to defeat Arch rivals Inter 2-1 in Derby della Madonnina after trailing by 0-1, it was the first comeback for Milan in the derby since 2004.On 13 February after defeating Sampdoria, Milan have picked up 55 points in the league this season: in the three-points-per-win era, only in 2003/04 have they had as many after 25 games (64). On 6th of March, Milan beat Napoli 1-0 in Stadio Diego Maradona, moving to the top of the league table, Milan have won two consecutive away games against Napoli in Serie A for the first  time since 1981, also Milan have picked up at least 60 points from the first 28 matchdays of a Serie A season for the first time since 2011/12. On 12 March, Milan defeated Empoli 1-0, reaching 63 points on the top of league table, Milan didn't collect more points after 29 matches since 2006. 7 days later, Milan beat Cagliari 1-0 , by that win, Milan have scored at least one goal in 15 consecutive away matches in a single top-flight season for only the second time in their history - also doing so back in 1967/68 in  Serie A. Pioli's tenure at Milan brought him the praise of several italian football personalities and pundits, such as Zaccheroni, Capello, Ranieri, Sacchi and Galliani. Style of management. Pioli usually uses a 4–2–3–1 formation, or a 3–5–2 formation, with full-backs or wing-backs who actively take part in the team's attacking plays. During his time at Lazio, he often used a 4–3–3 formation. Due to his passion for basketball, he attempted to bring strategic elements of the sport into his own tactical approach as a football manager. As a head coach of AC Milan, Pioli made use  of an archaic WM formation, also known as 3–2–2–3. Although presented officially as a 4–3–3, the formation featured the left full-back, Theo Hernandez, in a more advanced position, whereas the right full-back, Davide Calabria’s, attacking presence was significantly limited. Another key feature of this formation was in the center, where two pairs of holding and attacking midfielders formed a square, supporting each other offensively and defensively. However, with the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimović in January 2020, Pioli switched Milan's formation to his long favored 4–2–3–1, primarily in order to accommodate for the Swedish ageing yet prolific  goalscorer, in which he would play up front without much of a defensive work other than pressing, alternating between the roles of a classical striker, a target forward, and a false 9. The switch of formation also allowed Hakan Çalhanoğlu, an attacking midfielder in a number 10 role, to return to his preferred position as a playmaker behind the main striker, out of which he had been playing for years in various other formations. Ante Rebić and Ismaël Bennacer, the two high-profile new arrivals struggling to fit into the previous coach's system, were given a few more opportunities  to prove themselves; as a result, the former got to play in his favorite position as a left winger and quickly topped the club's seasonal goalscoring chart, while the latter formed an efficient double pivot with Franck Kessié, who also significantly improved the quality of his performances. Personal life. On 14 November 2020, Pioli, alongside his assistant Giacomo Murelli, tested positive for COVID-19 amid its pandemic in Italy. While in quarantine, Pioli continued to be in charge of the team via Zoom and with the help of another member of his coaching staff, Daniele Bonera. Despite these setbacks, Milan  had a 3–1 away victory over Napoli in Serie A and a 1–1 away draw with Lille in Europa League.