Hernan Crespo: Al Ain's manager looking to go intercontinental after Asian success

Argentine guided UAE club to AFC Champions League glory in May and now readying his side to take on Auckland City in Intercontinental Cup

Al Ain manager Hernan Crespo celebrates with his players after being crowned champions of Asia. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Hernan Crespo, Al Ain’s coach, knows how to handle pressure. His past as a world-class striker helps. Argentina’s fourth highest international goalscorer behind Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Batistuta, the 49 year old was briefly the world’s most expensive footballer when he left Parma for Lazio in 2000, before Luis Figo moved to Real Madrid two weeks later.

Asked by this writer if he felt pressure, Crespo replied: “Pressure? No. For me, nothing. Zero. I knew it was the record. And even now it’s the record between two Italian teams [£56 million], but I never paid attention to the price. I just paid attention to my football. To learn to handle the pressure you must watch the past.

“Let me give you an example. I was 20 years old in that Copa Libertadores final for River. We played in Cali, Colombia, two years after the death of Pablo Escobar. Going to Colombia was difficult. There were security problems and we never knew what was going to happen. The media spoke about the drug cartels, about Medellin and Cali. That felt like pressure, it was fear for weeks before the game. And yet, the reality was they treated me very well. So the big transfer fee, no problems. It was a matter of pride that I was I worth it. It was a positive.”

Crespo is a rarity among footballers, one from an upper middle-class background, the Florida barrio in Buenos Aires.

“Florida is a good barrio,” he said. “Middle class, high-middle class. I lived well. I went to a private school; I grew up with no big problems thanks to the economic conditions of my family. Buenos Aires is beautiful, it’s my city and Argentina is my country and I’m happy with that.”

Crespo enjoyed a stellar career, first at home in Argentina where the high point was scoring two goals to win River the Copa Libertadores in 1996.

“It was the crowning of a dream,” he said. “River had won their first Copa Libertadores in ’86. Then, I was a young player at the club, watching the final inside the Monumental [stadium]. After seeing this, I dreamed of winning the Libertadores.

“Ten years later, we played the same opponents in the final, America of Cali. Yes, I scored twice, but I also scored 10 goals in the whole of the Libertadores that season. The win had a huge impact on my life. I was only 20 years old; I’d been River all my life, I was a local boy and I won the biggest trophy. Look at the video on YouTube of the parties. Crazy!

“Just two years before, at 18, I was still at high school – a respectable school. I finished what I had to finish there but I didn’t start university because I was a footballer. In those two years my life changed suddenly.”

Crespo left Argentina for Italy, where he’d spend most of his football career, age 21.

“My love for Italy started when I was a kid, watching Italy in 1982 against Brazil and Argentina. When Argentina won the World Cup in ’86, the only game we drew was against Italy.

"In 1990, the World Cup was in Italy. Italy was in the semi-finals against Argentina. Italy was always there in my formative years. [Diego] Maradona played in Italy, with Napoli. The best players of that age were in Italy. I watched only Italian football. I never saw the English or Spanish league; it wasn’t on television. I was 21 when I came to Italy and I was comfortable straight away. Not everyone settles immediately in a new league, but I did.

“You must understand the moment. Parma had a great team but imagine the rest; Juventus were the best in the world. AC Milan had been the best, Inter had Ronaldo. It wasn’t easy. That Parma team didn’t play for three or four years together to improve, there were a lot of changes. But we did win three trophies in 100 days: the Super Copa, the Copa Italia and the Uefa Cup. We also qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. But at the same time, we were still Parma, a small team from a small city.”

He made a huge impact.

“It was an honour for me when Franco Baresi was asked to man mark me,” he said. “I’d watched him on television, he was great, one of the best. Then I found myself being marked by him in San Siro and thought ‘Wow, how did I arrive at this?’”

He’d arrived and moved to Lazio, then Inter Milan over two spells where he’d partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front.

“He’s a person who matured a lot. He’s a very strong character. Strong, yet fragile at the same time. But I have very happy memories of him. For me, he had the bad luck to be playing at the same time as [Cristiano] Ronaldo and Messi. Even though there’s a lot of respect for him as a player, he’s not at the same level at Messi and Ronaldo. It’s almost unfair on Zlatan to be fighting against two extraterrestrials. He would have won Ballon d’Ors without them being around.”

Two spells at Chelsea in England’s Premier League were sandwiched between Crespo’s five Italian clubs (Parma, Lazio, Inter, Milan and Genoa).

“I had very difficult personal problems during Chelsea,” he said. “My family lost two children. Emotionally, it was very, very hard to go through that on a personal level. Professionally, it was great. The fans were great. They sang ‘Crespo! Hallo, hallo.’ I wanted to give something back to them. I felt I had their respect. I had fun. The English have respect for the footballers.”

While in London, Crespo finished a management degree where in his thesis he explained that he had the chance to play football in Argentina and that led to him going to Italy and then England, adapting each time.

“I learned that you had to keep improving before I could make a difference. I learned a lot, I had to evolve and I did. And I made it in England. Football is 11 v 11, but the culture is completely different in each country. You have to adapt, physically and mentally.” He usually did. He speaks Spanish, Italian and English.

Crespo played under great managers including Marcelo Bielsa, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho.

“When Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea, he wanted me to stay. I said I’d stay, but I also said: ‘But Jose, Milan called me’. I had a chance to go to Milan. From my point of view, I grew up watching [Marco] Van Basten for Milan. The coach was Carlo Ancelotti, he was calling me. There were many important components for me to go to Milan. So I said: ‘Look, Jose, this is very difficult but if I have to choose between Chelsea and Milan then I’m going to choose Milan.’”

He played in the Champions League final with Milan, a defeat to Liverpool when his side led 3-0 at half time in Istanbul.

“What happened in Istanbul was destiny,” he said. “It’s football. And that’s the sadness and beauty of football. But that night, firstly it was a dream to be playing in a Champions League final with Milan. The first half was great, we played very well. Everything happened as we wanted it. I felt in form and scored two, but ended up on the losing team. Even today I can't believe it.”

Crespo would take all these experiences into his career as a coach, first at Parma’s reserve side in 2014, then at Modena in Serie B. The young coach learned and made mistakes. He was dismissed at Modena and Banfield back in Argentina, then he led Buenos Aires side Defensa y Justicia to their first ever international trophy, the Copa Sudamerica in 2021.

Weeks later, a big move to Sao Paulo, a huge club in South America’s biggest city, followed for Crespo in 2021. Sao Paulo lifted the regional championship for the first time since 2005, but Crespo lasted only 10 months before being replaced by the club’s legendary goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni.

Crespo's next job was at Al Duhail in Qatar where, in his 16-month spell, his team won the treble of the league, cup and Stars Cup. Al Duhail also reached the semi-final of the Asian Champions League before a horror night when his side were 4-0 down after 27 minutes and 7-0 after 90 against Al Hilal. They couldn’t recover.

Crespo learned. He departed Qatar nearly a year ago, joining Al Ain to some scepticism from fans. While domestic form was patchy, the club won the AFC Champions League for only the second time in the club's history, defeating Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in the quarter-finals and fellow Saudi side Al Hilal in the semi-finals, a revenge for Crespo after the humiliation a year before.

Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos were hammered 5-1 in the final second leg after a 2-1 defeat in Japan in the first. There, Crespo’s side were leading 1-0 deep into the second half and the Argentine warned Harry Kewell’s side to expect “hell” for the return game in terms of a hot atmosphere. It was, as he lifted his most important trophy as a manager.

The reward is a chance at the 2024 Fifa Intercontinental Cup and Sunday’s first-round game against semi-professional side Auckland City amid the domestic and Champions League fixtures. The winners will play African champions Al Ahly and after a further play-off, Real Madrid in the final.

Crespo has travelled the world in a professional capacity. Football has surprised him enough times as a player and a coach to know that anything can happen. His side are clear favourites, just as his AC Milan side were against Liverpool 19 years ago. He’ll be ready for the unexpected.