“Forty years, dear Rino,” Ancelotti wrote in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“That deserves a serious letter of congratulations, not just a phone call, our usual chatter, our usual jokes.

“Forty is a moment for reflection, there’s enough time behind you to remember and enough in front to build new feats.

“Now I look at you on the Milan bench and you act crazy; you scream, you shout, you incite your players. I think you’re the right person in the right place.

“There’s a need for passion, your character, your spirit of sacrifice to overcome obstacles. There’s also a need for your joy to defuse certain tensions, and some of your solemn rage to wake up someone who is sleeping.

“In a team, in a group, there’s always someone who sleeps…

“On the pitch you were my warrior. I never once saw you give up, never once saw you leave the pitch with a clean shirt, never once saw you refusing to battle.

“That’s what I always admired about you, the ability to reach your objectives despite the fact nature didn’t bless you with great technical gifts. Because - can I say this? - your feet are not exactly the most educated!

“But the grit that you gave us no-one else had, and you had something unusual - you knew how to pass it to others.

“How many times did I see you talking to a teammate, to help him, to encourage him, to support him in difficult times?

“That’s football. Beyond schemes, formations, diagonals, pressing and counter-attacks there are people. And it’s people who make the difference.

“You, dear Rino, for me and for our Milan, you did it. Eight years, give or take a few days, I coached you for. And I endured you.

“Before games you were unapproachable: angry, grumpy. It was your way of preparing yourself, and since I played the game well in advance I knew how to approach you: a joke, just to lower the level of anxiety. A laugh. A walk out of the dressing room.

“Do you remember when we were at mid-season training in Malta in 2007? [Kakha] Kaladze drove you crazy because he was making fun of you on your birthday, and the other teammates supported him.

“I pretended not to do anything, but I knew it was necessary to exaggerate with you because otherwise, as we say between us, ‘ignorance is released’.

“And in fact one night you went after Kaladze in the restaurant, and I don’t even want to know what happened. I know, however, what happened a few months later.

“In those days in Malta I made you a promise: I’ll take you to the Champions League final. You thought I was crazy.

“But then we got to the final, and we won it too. And you, Rino, you were the soul of that Milan. I hope you stay on the bench, you deserve it.”