Ruben Amorim has been backed by AC Milan’s owner who used a famous Top Gun reference.
Amorim joined Milan this summer after he was sacked as Manchester United boss. Despite sitting seven points from the top of Serie A, he has received backing from American owner Gerry Cardinale.
Asked by Gazzetta if he still supported Amorim, Cardinale said: “Yes, and I have full faith in him. At the end of Top Gun — ‘my’ movie — Tom Cruise says a great line: ‘I’m not leaving my wingman.’ And I’m not leaving Ruben.
“He is in no danger whatsoever. I will stand by his side. I won’t make the mistakes made in recent years. He is my manager, and we’ll keep working together until we manage to make the step up. You can’t win if you keep switching managers. I chose Amorim. If I had made a mistake, I’d admit it, but I don’t think I did. He learned a lot from what happened at Manchester United, and I hired him because he explained the mistakes made there to me.
“He has the right culture; he’s a leader, a manager and a well-prepared coach. At Milanello, the atmosphere is different from the last four years. That is down to him. He’s learning, and the team needs to find cohesion, understand how to rotate players, and keep scoring plenty of goals and winning. For me, a draw is a defeat. A point isn’t the aim of the game: three points are. Only with wins can we bridge the gap with the leaders.”
Milan lost their first Serie A game of the season on Wednesday night, 4-2 against Bologna. They were also beaten 3-0 by Bournemouth in the Europa League as Amorim returned to England.
– Sources: New Milan, Inter stadium gets $725M naming rights deal with Generali
– Sources: USMNT’s Christian Pulisic set to sign new AC Milan contract
– Inspired by Wrexham and PlayStation: How ex-Brazil star Pato ended up investing in Northampton Town
They sit fifth in the league ahead of this weekend’s derby against leaders Inter, a key chance to cut the deficit.
Cardinale insists his side can still win the Scudetto: “It’s absolutely possible, 100%. And I say this without meaning to sound arrogant. I wake up every morning hoping for a small glimmer of hope, that Inter will start drawing instead of winning and that we’ll start putting together a series of victories. Winning is the only thing that matters to me, but let’s take it one game at a time, gaining ground on those ahead of us, day after day.”
