What do you remember about your playing career?
"I'm happy with my 20 years as a professional player, which included Casino Salzburg's first Austrian league title and a UEFA Cup final in 1994. It was a dream final, eliminating Figo's Sporting, Frankfurt and Oliver Kahn's Karlsruhe before losing to Inter."

Does that experience help you today?
"Becoming captain taught me about communication and taking responsibility. Before coaching, I finished my playing career at the age of 37, helping the youngsters in the Salzburg reserve team. But in 2009, when I was coaching at Altach [Austrian D2], I realised that I needed to work differently, to forget my life as a player. I took on a personal coach, who helped me a lot. Even today, I work with a media specialist."

Because now you're at the top European level...
"That's for sure! I'm Austrian and I coach AS Monaco! But it's been a long road getting here."

'You have to know what to do when you lose the ball'

You only stayed with RB Salzburg, your first major club, for a year (2014-15)...
"Ralf Rangnick [then sporting director] had a very clear idea of how to play without the ball and he thought my team was sometimes too bad in that area. Despite the league and cup double, he wanted to make radical improvements. It was too much for me. We had a frank conversation. I said: 'I want to look at myself in the mirror, recognise my ideas, without too many outside influences'. It didn't make sense to carry on."

Have you been influenced by this philosophy?
"Yes, it helps me to have a different approach. Generally, a coach tries to use the ball well. This philosophy is the opposite: what do you do when your opponent has the ball? For me, the ability to react and recover the ball as quickly as possible as soon as it's lost is essential. In 1992, my coach at Graz (Milan Miklavic) was a fan of Sacchi's Milan. He instilled in us this way of pressing as soon as the ball was lost. Since then, I've always been convinced that you have to know what to do when you lose the ball. Today, my philosophy combines the two approaches. Because while it's easy for eleven athletes to win the ball back, technique is still the key to scoring."

After seven years in Switzerland and Germany, have you reached maturity?
"I think so. When I arrived in Bern [2015-2018], I found the football boring, with no verticality. We've changed that. At Mönchengladbach [2021-22], the problem was more complicated. The team had sterile possession. We weren't able to make the transfers we'd hoped for. The sporting director changed. The squad wasn't hungry enough any more."

'I'm not interested in working with 28 players on a daily basis'

Is it any different at Monaco?
"Thiago Scuro [director of football] and Paul Mitchell [sporting director] come from Red Bull. It's much easier: we have the same vision, we speak the same football, without wasting energy trying to convince the other. I'm happy with the group. Some of them are becoming key players, like Takumi Minamino. The quality of the young players is far superior to that of Mönchengladbach."

What did you ask for at the transfer window?
"I'm not interested in working with 28 players on a daily basis, it's too much. It makes relationships more complex, even though one of my strengths is that I'm empathetic and I invest time with those who aren't playing. I hate saying to someone who trains well during the week: 'You'll be in the stands'."

Can Monaco aim higher than the podium?
"The most important thing is to get back into Europe. The president, the sporting directors, the coach and the team are all aligned, with a high and difficult objective: the podium. Above that..."

The title?
"[Laughs] Yes, we can dream, of course! Sometimes dreams do come true. But PSG are still very strong!"

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