Jo Squillo berates Leao, extols Modric and calls out Lewandowski

Popular Milan VIP fan Jo Squillo, in an exclusive interview with Sportal.it on the occasion of the event “Tennis and Sky Sport’s Summer,” held Monday, May 4, at the Foro Italico in Rome, spoke about her experience in Beijing Express, before dwelling on the situation of the Rossoneri team in a complicated year.

“I had a lot of fun. It’s a touching reality TV experience, real, authentic,” she explained. “Actually you see very little, but we suffer a lot. And we also have a lot of fun. It’s all very extreme, that’s the word. Extreme.”

“What is happening at Milan? I’ve been a milanista since my grandfather when I was 8 years old used to take me down that staircase in San Siro that led to the populars, as a real fan precisely. Then over the years I went down more and more until I got on the field, when we won one of the first scudetti of the Berlusconi era I also sang on the field and it was a great pride.”

“We suffer, we suffer as always. Milan never makes us miss the emotions of the ups and downs, the merry-go-round. This is a very dark period. I, by the way, also met Leao, who I liked very much, because he is a guy who you can see that he enjoyed winning, playing, above all, and having fun with the ball. For me that idea is healthy. But then over the span of the Milan experience, guys have to grow. And I found that Leao, I have to say the truth, has little grown up from the point of view, maybe just as the boy, as the man, mentally, because from playing, the passion, there are also however responsibilities for a whole team.”

“And I think that this dangling of his, sometimes, in the field, gives us a little bit to annoy, a little bit to bore. But it’s also an attitude of his, in the sense that maybe he surprises himself, he’s a whimsical, he wants the beautiful ball, the cleat, the neat thing, finished well. And instead, the game of soccer is not just that, it is also just rolling up your sleeves and working in humility for the team.”

“Humility that instead has shown us the extraordinary Modric. He’s a pleasure as a man, even before he’s a player, because he’s really steered the team, he’s given them rules, he’s given them that sense of the beautiful game, but also the technique that you have to have.”

“Inter wins the championship but we beat them though, we remember. And so probably on the one hand we understand this because we are superior, let’s face it, when we know how to play we do it well, it’s nice, from the Sacchi era to today. But it’s true that there are too many gaps of players and also maybe a quite uncertain buying campaign, there are let’s face it some scraps that could have stayed at home and without spending all that money…”.

“Who would I rely on in attack? Lewandowski? Yes I as an old woman would bet on the safe used all my life. After the Modric experience I would reevaluate that age group, let’s call them oldies who then are the new youngsters, who give that experience, that seriousness and above all they are not old anymore, I mean, once at 40 you were old, now they are young. I saw it in Beijing Express, Michelle and I are from two completely different generations and I see how important it is to compensate for each other.”

“It’s also right that we really make Milan’s youth team up to standard, that is, Milan’s youth nursery had always been cultivated with great care. Today, where is this Milan youth nursery? Where is this Milan youth nursery? I say where is it? It is no longer there. And so this is a big mistake, because probably the economic concept of buying, selling is stronger than sowing instead, new players and new young people, but then afterwards Italy makes the consequences. So maybe let’s tell the truth there is a need to review the whole Italian soccer. Anyway Lewandowski then? Yes, Lewandowski.”

Beijing Express 2026 airs from March 12 every Thursday at 9:15 p.m. exclusively on Sky Uno and streaming on NOW. The journey, which runs through Indonesia, China and Japan, is also available on demand on Sky. Thereafter, the episodes are broadcast free-to-air on TV8.