What do you remember about your playing career?Adi Hütter: I am satisfied with my 20 years as a professional player, including the first Austrian championship title at Casino Salzburg and a UEFA Cup final in 1994. A dreamed epic, eliminating Figo’s Sporting, Frankfurt, Oliver Kahn’s Karlsruhe, before losing against Inter.

Does this experience help you today? By becoming captain, I learned communication and taking responsibility. Before coaching, I also finished my career at 37, helping the youngsters of the Salzburg reserve team. But in 2009, when I was coaching at Altach (Austrian D2), I understood that I had to work differently, to forget my life as a player. I took a personal coach, who helped me a lot. Even today, I work with a media specialist.

Because you have reached the top European level…That’s for sure! I’m Austrian and I coach AS Monaco! However, the road to get here has been long.

You only stayed for one year at RB Salzburg (2014-15), your first major club… Ralf Rangnick (then sporting director, editor’s note) had a very clear idea of ​​how to play without the ball and he found my team sometimes too bad in this area. Despite the cup-championship double, he wanted to improve that radically. It was too much for me. We had a frank conversation. I said: I want to look at myself in the mirror, recognize my ideas, without too many outside influences. Continuing made no sense.

However, have you been influenced by this philosophy? Yes, it helps me to have a different approach. Generally, a coach seeks to use the ball well. This philosophy is the opposite: what to do when the opponent has the ball? For me, the ability to react to recover the ball as quickly as possible when it is lost is essential. In 1992, my coach in Graz (Milan Miklavic) was a fan of Sacchi’s Milan. He instilled in us this way of pressing as soon as we lose the ball. Since then, I have always believed in knowing what to do with loss. Today, my philosophy mixes the two approaches. Because if for eleven athletes, it is easy to recover the ball, technique remains key to scoring.

After seven years in Switzerland and Germany, have you reached your maturity? I think so. When I arrived in Bern (2015-2018), I found this football boring, without verticality. We changed it. In Mönchengladbach (2021-22), the problem was more complicated. The team had a barren possession. We were unable to make the expected transfers to progress. The sports director has changed. This group was no longer hungry enough.

In Monaco, is it different? Thiago Scuro (football director) and Paul Mitchell (sporting director) come from Red Bull. It’s much easier: we have the same vision, we talk the same football, without wasting energy convincing the other. The group satisfies me. Some become key, like Minamino. The quality of the young people is much higher than that of Mönchengladbach.

What were your requests during the transfer window? Working on a daily basis with 28 players doesn’t interest me, it’s too much. It complicates relationships, even if one of my strengths is to be empathetic and I invest time with those who don’t play. I hate to say to anyone who trains well during the week: You will be in the stands.

How are you handling the Ben Yedder case, indicted for rape? I only talk about football with him, never about his personal problems. His performance is not affected and his attitude is professional. There is no doubt. I put the best on the field. Wissam is one of the best. And I don’t have the feeling that this subject is discussed in the locker room.

Can Monaco aim for better than the podium? The most important thing is to get back to Europe. The president, the sports management, the coach and the team are aligned, with a high and complicated objective: the podium. Above…

The title? (laughs) Yes, we can dream, of course! Sometimes dreams come true. But PSG is still very strong!