'Thanks, Milan, thanks'. Leonardo said farewell to AC Milan in a press conference on the eve of the last match of the season against Juventus. The Brazilian coach, together with vice-president Adriano Galliani, said: “I’m here today, together with Adriano Galliani, to announce consensually that we will separate, in a tranquil and serene way, just like our rapport has always been during the years. There’s nothing surprising, it’s all very clear, today as always. We have arrived at the end. The Champions League objective, which I cared a lot about, has been reached and this morning, at Via Turati, we have decided to make the decision official. The moment to end it has come, but in a calm way.”
And Galliani commented: “Obviously I’m very sorry. I must say that I had to work very hard last year to convince Leonardo to be the coach. Now we arrive at this decision, naturally it was a common decision, agreed with respect, affection and friendship like we always had. It’s not one leaving the other. The termination is absolutely consensual. Leonardo is 40 years old, he was a footballer, director and coach at Milan, he had all the possible roles in a football club. With Milan Leonardo did all the path. It’s something that also Cruijff did at Barcelona, but he’s much older than Leonardo. With us Leo started his path in 1997, and apart from a few months in 2001, when he returned in Brazil, our rapport has been going on for 13 years. Apart from the three aforementioned roles, Leonardo was fundamental for Milan Foundation, another great and important thing, which he did for us. And so we have arrived up to today.”
