Football is the most important of the less important things in the world.
The owner or president is the person who controls the club. The coach's job is to keep him happy. But the key to success, as a manager, is your relationship with the players. Important clubs and important players succeed when the environment is correct. The players must enjoy their work and feel free to express their talents.
I have never seen a talent like Ronaldo. He always scores, scores, scores. The first game he played for Milan, Sienna away, I said to him, 'I can't put you on the pitch. You are 100kg.' 'Mister,' he said, 'don't worry, I will score.' I put him in, and he scored twice.
I have worked with some of the most important players, like Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Kaka, Zidane, but the best are easy to work with because they are so professional. Their winning mentality, professionalism, helps the manager. Of course, sometimes I become angry, but usually my relationship with the players is calm.
Usually, a Brazilian doesn't like to work hard in training, doesn't like to stay focused. I trained a lot of Brazilian players. I had a problem with Ronaldo at Milan. It was not easy to get him fit! Ronaldo was 100kg but was the quickest in the 10 metre test!
I like to be funny. I can't stay all the time focused, disciplined, controlled. Behaviour like that is impossible. If the players are too nervous before a game, I have to relax them, calm them.
I started this job in 1995, and I felt the same pressure in my first day, with my first team, Reggiana, in the Second Division, as I feel now. Nothing has changed, but what changes are the number of games, especially for top teams. For this reason, the work has pressure. But only this.
Firmino is the most decisive player because he comes to play between the lines and opens the spaces to his team-mates.
Usually, the most intelligent player is a midfielder.
When I arrived at Juventus as the manager in 1999, Antonio Conte was the captain of the club, an Italy international, and a player who had a lot of influence in the dressing room - and when I needed a leader in the team, he was the obvious choice.
I have a lot of power. Here, I can decide: training at six in the morning! Training 11 in the night! But my style is not to impose. I would like to convince the players of what they are doing. This takes more time.
I think it's actually more difficult to come to a club where everything is going great and everyone is happy. When you take over from a guy who has been sacked because things weren't going well, it's more straightforward.
The formula to beat the press is simple; it's the execution that's tough. If you have the quality to do so, you pass your way through it. And if you don't, you just boot it over the top. And then it becomes a game of winning 'second balls'.
You, as a manager, are judged on results and not on the work you do and the performance of the team. Imagine paying a guy a huge amount of money and then judging him not on the things he can control, but on those he can't.
I love my job. I don't find it stressful, and I only took a rest because I didn't find another club after Real. It was not something that I needed because of stress, because that is not a problem for me. I don't have pressure. I like my job, and I know how it is. I have experience.
In Italy, football is too important. There is more pressure on coaches, teams, directors. Now is not a good moment for football in Italy. The stadiums are not full. There are problems with violence; it's very difficult with the ultras. People don't go to the stadium just to enjoy 90 minutes of football. People go to the stadium to fight, to win.
I spent eight years with Berlusconi, and I still have a good relationship with him.
The fact that these owners sacked me doesn't mean that our relationship is broken. I still get on well with Florentino, and although I haven't spoken much with Abramovich since I left Chelsea, I have no problem with him.
At the start of my two years at Juventus, I had big plans for the club, but it turned out that the Intertoto Cup was the only medal in my desk drawer when finally they told me to pack my bags. We started the first season really well, and Conte was so important for me.
That is what a good manager does - you study and think and discuss, and you come up with a model of playing.
