Former AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati has revealed that the Rossoneri had his replacement lined up 12 years ago in Hugo Lloris.
“I was Milan's third goalkeeper behind Lehmann and Sebastiano Rossi. When the season started I thought only of improving. I certainly did not think of playing it and having opportunities. I never thought I could be the Scudetto goalkeeper. And instead it went just like that,” he said.
Abbiati recalled that in the summer of 2008 Milan could have signed Hugo Lloris.
“I had a great season at Atletico Madrid, I was confident and I was convinced I could get back in at Milan. I had started talking to President Zamparini to go to Palermo, if I had gone Milan would have taken Lloris from Nice, but I felt too safe that time, I thanked Zamparini and stayed at Milan.
“Ancelotti said that Dida and Kalac would leave on an equal footing. Dida was in his last year, Kalac conceded five goals against Chelsea in a friendly match, I won the TIM trophy in Turin against Juventus and Inter and went back to the starting line-up.”
On the current state of his former club, Abbiati said: “In recent years as a goalkeeper and coach I have suffered a lot, because I no longer saw my Milan, because I saw that the new generations of players are different from ours. This is also why I stopped being a coach.”