Before the Milan derby, the Italian media pointed out that AC Milan and Inter Milan were two teams with very different personalities, practices and habits.
Take Marotta and Gazidis, for example. The former is AD (L'Amministratore Delegato, Executive President of Athletic Affairs), Inter's absolute brain, much higher than DG (General Manager) and DS (Sporting Director), such as Osirio (DS) is Marotta's subordinate. Gazidis is nominally the CEO, but in the field of athletics, his power is divided a lot by Maldini and Masala.
Take Brozovic and Casey, for example. Both were on summer contracts and were mired in rumors of departures, but there was a difference. Ronaldo emotionally wants to stay in the team, and the rumors are just a tool for his team to win a big contract. Casey's desire to leave the team was even stronger.
More people are talking about the differences between Maldini and Zanetti.
In recent years, many Inter fans have been discussing two issues.
First, what is the specific matter with Sanetti, the vice chairman?
Second, is Zanetti really a real power figure at Inter?
Most people don't know.
Take the opportunity of derby to talk about the difference between Maldini and Zanetti.
Maldini's role at AC Milan is DT (Direttore Tecnico, Technical Director), in Serie A, which is one level lower than CEO and DS (Sporting Director). But because the horse team enjoys Elliott's absolute trust, in fact, he has great power, together with Gazidis and Masala and called the "Big Three", these three people can not talk about who is the biggest official and who is smaller.
After retiring, Maldini copied the domineering spirit of the player era - in the player era, Maldini said one thing in terms of locker room management.
After retiring from polo in 2009, AC Milan has been hoping for him to return to his post. But it wasn't until 9 years later, in 2018, that the horse team returned to the team. The main reason is that Maldini's request is: if he wants to go back, he must have the final say, and it is meaningless to say it!
In short, Maldini in the executive era, like the player era, is a real power figure.
After Totti retired, he also had the same idea as Maldini: I love Roma, but if I want to return to the team, I must give real power, otherwise I will not serve!
During the Pallotta era, Rome invited Totti to be DT (Technical Director), the same rank as Maldini, who is now in AC Milan. But Totti didn't get absolute trust, and there were three roma people at a higher level than Totti (DS Sabatini/Munch, DG Baldini, AD Fennga), and Totti became the lowest of the four executives.
Whether it counts or not, Totti is angry and does not wait.
Zanetti's situation is different.
In the player era, although Zanetti has been the captain of Inter for many years, he has never "won the trust with authority", but "led by example", and is accustomed to doing a good job of infecting teammates, not relying on voice and authority.
On the pitch, Zanetti also plays the auxiliary. The most prominent example is that after McCone arrived in the team, Sanetti, at the age of 33, gave up the full-back position that he had played for many years, and instead played at the back to wipe the ass of McCone, who was crazy to assist. Years later Mancini pointed out that With Zanetti's credentials, no one could force him if he didn't want to. But Sanetti did it, which led to the later McCon's "World Wing" good story.
Zanetti is such a person, regardless of personal gains and losses, and the assistants also go all out.
In 2014, after retiring from the army, Zanetti became Inter vice-chairman.
Some people have tried to describe him as a character who is "above ten thousand people under one person", but in fact, Zanetti is not a real power figure in Inter's power, and has never been.
What did Zanetti do over the years? The answer is: do anything.
"Fire Fighter". "Mr. Universal". Where there is a need to move towards which.
The main business is three, one of which is business promotion and image endorsement. Many of Inter's sponsorships and business plans have his hard work.
Second, external liaison. From official power (FIFA, UEFA, Italian Football Association) to the media, from Chinese to white turbans, he has an active posture.
Third, youth training, women's football, global football schools. It wasn't easy to do, but it was tiring, and Zanetti had a great time.
Of course, Zanetti's work doesn't stop there.
In Conte's day, he would occasionally go to the training ground to communicate with the players and conduct psychological counseling.
In little Inzaghi's time, there was a small thing that was very telling.
According to the Milan Sports Newspaper, Marotta was ill and could not go to the training ground overseer, Zanetti to fight the fire to do this job, he went, and after a conversation with several technical staff of the coaching staff to win respect, since then he often helped them to do something, support, relying on ability rather than authority to win trust.
One of Inter's priorities over the years has been to increase its online presence and expand its social networking site business, with Zanetti being the biggest helper among Inter's top brass. If you are interested, follow his account and can often participate in his live broadcast of events.
He is also involved in transfer matters, such as Inter's introduction of Lautaro, "hooking up" Dybala, and some important youth training and women's football signings, all of which have his participation.
He did much more than that. For example, after the sale of Lukaku and Ashraf, Inter once had a tense relationship with die-hard fans, and Zanetti helped a lot in the crisis public relations moment. For example, Inter renovated the youth training base, and Zanetti also ran to work as an overseer. Like what......
Bottom line: Zanetti is not a real power figure at Inter, but he helps Inter in every way and is very active in many areas.
Don't think that Sanetti is easy to do "universal patches".
In fact, Sanetti could not have done this without diligence, fairness, humility and learning spirit.
After retiring from the military, Zanetti received his master's degree from Bocconi University in Milan. Now nearly half a hundred years old, he is still learning new knowledge such as markets, finance, business, and the Internet.
"I keep learning because new knowledge is constantly emerging, and more importantly, I know that I have to start from scratch after I retire," Sanetti said: "After retiring, I want to play a more diverse role in management, not just stay at the competitive level.".
For 8 years, someone has described Zanetti as a "mascot", a "dispensable person", "whose value is not much higher than a poster".
Yes, for 8 years, Zanetti's job at Inter seems less prominent than his restaurant and charitable foundation. But now, 8 years later, people have to admit that Zanetti has contributed a lot to Inter in the executive position, but because he has separated mostly work that is complicated and laborious, but not easy to shine, so there is a lack of sense of existence. But in fact, in any unit, such talents who "do not fight for power, want to be officers, can be officers, are willing to learn, and can fight fires in all links" can be said to be the treasure of the town team.
In a word: Maldini is a real power figure in AC Milan, and Zanetti is an executive who does not fight for power at Inter, but both are the humerus of their respective teams, and both have contributed a lot to the team.