History of A.C. Milan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 Foundation and early years
2 Fabulous '50s
- 2.1 The 60's with Nereo Rocco
3 The 10th scudetto and the first Serie B
4 Berlusconi presidency

[edit] Foundation and early years

Milan's first a championship team, 1901.

The team was founded December 16, 1899 by Alfred Edwards as the Milan Cricket and Footbal Club. Edwards, a former British vice-consul in Milan and well-known personality of the Milanese high society, was the club's first elected president. Initially the team included a cricket section, managed by Edward Berra, and a football section managed by David Allison.

The official colours chosen were red and black. Immediately the team gained relevant notability under Herbert Kilpin's guide. The first trophy to be won was the Medaglia del Re (King's Medal) on January 1900, and the team later won three national leagues, in 1901, 1906 and 1907. The triumph of 1901 was particularly relevant because it ended the consecutive series of wins of Genoa, which had been the only team to have won prior to 1901.

In 1908, issues over the signing of foreign players led to a split of the team's "progressive" faction, who formed F.C. Internazionale Milano.

In 1916, AC Milan won the Federal Cup, a national trophy which had replaced the Italian league, suspended because of World War I. This cup was never recognized as an Italian title.

In 1919, the team changed its name to Milan Football Club. After their first triumphs, Milan was unable to continue with their former high-level success, obtaining only a number of half-table placements, even if always playing in the top Italian division.

In 1938 the fascist regime imposed a new italianized name, Associazione Calcio Milano, for the team. However, that name was abandoned immediately after the World War II, but maintaining the initial part: the team was called Associazione Calcio Milan, which is the current official name.

Gunnar Gren was a mainstay of A.C. Milan in the 1950s.

[edit] Fabulous '50s

In the post-war period, AC Milan was among the three top Italian teams, and won the Scudetto in 1951 - the first time since 1907. Il Grande Milan included the famous Gre-No-Li, a trio of Swedish players composed by Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm who were Olympic winners. That team also fielded quality players such as Lorenzo Buffon, Cesare Maldini and Carlo Annovazzi.

Perhaps the most resounding victory of this period was the 7-1 defeat of Juventus in Turin on February 5th 1950, with Gunnar Nordahl bagging a hat-trick.

After the 1951 Scudetto, AC Milan won another three Serie A seasons, in 1955, 1957 and 1959, and two Latin Cups, in 1951 and 1956. In the end, AC Milan always placed among the top three teams from 1947/1948 to 1956/1957.

[edit] The 60's with Nereo Rocco

AC Milan returned to win a football league in 1961/1962. Its manager was Nereo Rocco, an innovative football coach, known as inventor of the catenaccio tactic. The team included a young Gianni Rivera and José Altafini. The following season, thanks also to Altafini's goals, Milan won their first European Cup (later known as UEFA Champion League) by defeating Benfica 2-1. This was also the first time an Italian team won the European Cup.

Despite that, during the 1960s Milan won less than they deserved, mainly because of the heavy concurrence of Helenio Herrera's Inter. Its next Scudetto arrived only in 1967/1968, thanks to the goals of Pierino Prati, the Serie A topscorer in that season, as well as the Cup Winners' Cup, won against Hamburger SV thanks to the two goals of Kurt Hamrin. The next season AC Milan won its second European Cup (4-1 to AFC Ajax), and in 1969 won its first Intercontinental Cup, after having defeated Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina in two dramatic legs (3-0, 1-2).

[edit] The 10th scudetto and the first Serie B

In the 1970s, AC Milan won three Italian Cups and its second Cup Winners' Cup; however, the real goal of the Rossoneri was the tenth Scudetto, which would have awarded the first stella ("star") to the team. In 1972 they reached the semi-final of the Uefa Cup losing to eventual cup winners Tottenham Hotspur. A strong 1972/1973 season provided their first opportunity for the tenth Scudetto, but ultimately proved a failure after a humiliating defeat against Hellas Verona F.C. on the last day of the season.

AC Milan had to wait until 1978/1979 to win their tenth Scudetto, primarily being led by Gianni Rivera, who, to the loss A.C. Milan, retired from football after this final triumph.

However, the worst was yet to come for the Rossoneri: after the 1979/1980 season, AC Milan was relegated to Serie B by the Football Federation, together with S.S. Lazio, because of a match fixing scandal. In 1980-81, Milan easily won the Serie B, and returned to Serie A, where it would suffer its worst season ever, in 1981/1982, being relegated once again.

[edit] Berlusconi presidency

[edit] Dream team

After several different financial troubles had caused bad times and a lack of success, AC Milan was bought on February 20, 1986 by Silvio Berlusconi, a Milanese enterpreneur. Berlusconi brought in a rising coach, Arrigo Sacchi, and three Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, to return the team to glory. He also signed some Italian stars: Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Giovanni Galli.

Sacchi won the 1987-88 season after a great recovery over Diego Maradona's S.S.C. Napoli. In 1988-1989, AC Milan won its third European Cup, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 in the final, and its second Intercontinental cup against National de Medellin (1-0, goal in the last minute of extra time). The team repeated their triumph the following season, against Benfica (1-0), and earned its third Intercontinental Cup in a row beating Olimpia Asunción in 1991.

With Sacchi leaving Milan to coach the Italy national football team, Fabio Capello was hired and under him, the Rossoneri came to be known as Gli Invicibili ("The Invincibles") or the Dream Team. With an unprecedented 58-match run with no defeats the Invincibili team had the likes of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini commanding one of the best defences in history, with Marcel Desailly and Roberto Donadoni in midfield and Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, and Daniele Massaro playing in attack.

In addition to three consecutive scudetti (from 1992 to 1994, including the feat of not losing a single match in the 1991/1992 season), AC Milan reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years: in 1993 they were defeated by Olympique de Marseille; in 1994 this match was heavily disputed for cheating on Marsseille's half. It was FC Barcelona who experienced the taste of defeat, after a famous 4-0 thrashing at the hands of the rossoneri; and in the 1995 finals, Milan were again defeated, this time by Ajax Amsterdam. Then, in 1995-96, led by famous world-class players such as Roberto Baggio, Marco Simone and George Weah, AC Milan gained their fifteenth Italian Championship.

[edit] Tabarez to Terim

Milan players celebrate winning the 1993/1994 Scudetto

1993-1994

After the departure of Fabio Capello in 1996, Milan recruited Oscar Washington Tabarez but they struggled under the new manager and were winless in their first few opening matches. In an attempt to regain former glories they brought back Arrigo Sacchi to replace Tabarez. Milan signed new players like Ibrahim Ba, Christophe Dugarry and Edgar Davids.Milan struggled and shockingly ended the Season 1996-97 in eleventh place in Serie-A.

1997-1998

Sacchi was replaced with Capello in the following season. Capello's new Milan signed many potential players like Christian Ziege, Patrick Kluivert, Jesper Blomqvist, and Leonardo but the results were even worse than the season before. The team suffered their worst Serie-A defeat, humiliated by Juventus FC at their own home of San Siro with a 1-6 score, although they ended Season 1997-98 an improved tenth place. This was still unacceptable and Capello, like Sacchi, was fired.

1998-1999

In their search for a new manager, Alberto Zaccheroni attracted Milan's attention. Zaccheroni was the manager of Udinese who had ended the Season 1997-98 on a high note in 3rd place. Milan signed Zaccheroni along with two of his players at Udinese, Oliver Bierhoff and Thomas Helveg. Milan also signed Roberto Ayala, Luigi Sala and Andres Guglielminpietro and with a 3-4-3 formation, Zaccheroni brought the club's 16th Scudetto back to Milan. The winning line-up was: Rossi (then Abbiati); Sala, Costacurta, Maldini; Helveg, Albertini, Ambrosini, Guglielminpietro; Boban, Weah, Bierhoff.

1999-2000

Despite success in the previous season, Zaccheroni failed to transform Milan to the great team it used to be. The following season, despite the emergence of Ukraine's great Andriy Shevchenko, Milan disappointed their fans in both the Champions League and Serie-A. Milan exited the Champions League early, only winning one out of six matches (three draws and two losses) and ended the Season 1999/00 in the 3rd place. Milan was never a challenge to the top two contenders to the Scudetto, S.S. Lazio and Juventus FC.

2000-2001

The following season, Milan qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2000-01 by crushing Dinamo Zagreb to a 6-1 aggreggate. Milan started the Champions League at a high note, defeating Besiktas JK from Turkey and Spanish giants FC Barcelona, who at the time consisted of international superstars Rivaldo and Patrick Kluivert. But Milan then started to lose, including losing by a shocking 3-0 scoreline to Juventus in the Serie-A and 1-0 to Leeds United.In the Champions League second round, Milan only won once and drew four times. They failed to beat Deportivo de La Coruña from Spain in the last game and Zaccheroni was fired. Cesare Maldini, the father of team captain Paolo, was appointed and things immediately got better. Maldini's official coaching debut at Milan started with a 4-0 demolition of A.S. Bari. It was also under Maldini's leadership that Milan defeated their city rivals Internazionale with an outstanding score of 6-0, a score which has never been repeated and in which Serginho starred in the match. However, after this peak of form, Milan started losing again including a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Vicenza Calcio. After these results, the Milan board of directors gave Maldini a target of fourth place at the end of the season but Maldini failed and the team ended 6th.

2001-2002

Milan started their 2001-02 campaign by signing more star players including Javi Moreno and Cosmin Contra who took Deportivo Alaves to the final round of the UEFA Cup. They also signed Kakha Kaladze, Manuel Rui Costa, Filippo Inzaghi, Martin Laursen, Gianni Commandini and Andrea Pirlo. Fatih Terim was appointed manager, replacing Cesare Maldini, and had moderate success. However, after five months in the club, Milan was nowhere near the top five in the league and Terim was sacked for failing to meet the board of directors' expectations. He was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti, despite rumours that Franco Baresi would be the new manager. Despite the injury problems of full-back Paolo Maldini, Ancelotti was successful and ended the Season 2001-02 in fourth, earing a place in the Champions League. Milan's starting line at that point was Christian Abbiati; Cosmin Contra, Alessandro Costacurta, Martin Laursen, Kakha Kaladze; Gennaro Gattuso, Demetrio Albertini, Serginho; Rui Costa; Shevchenko, Inzaghi.

[edit] Right at the top: Ancelotti years

2002-2003 (3rd in Serie A, Champions of European Cup)

AC Milan was a much improved side. Milan ended the season with their sixth Champions League trophy in 2003. On route to the final in Manchester, England, Milan beat their cross city rivals Internazionale in the semi-finals and they ended the competition on a glorious note by beating their other Italian rival, Juventus, in a dramtatic penalty shoot-out. That same season, Milan placed third in Serie-A. They also won the Coppa Italia and European Super Cup. Champions League winning starting line-up was: Dida; Costacurta, Nesta, Maldini, Kaladze; Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf; Rui Costa; Shevchenko, Inzaghi. Then the following season, Milan signed Kaká.

May 2004: celebrating the 17^th scudetto in piazza del Duomo

2003-2004 (Champions in Serie-A, Quarter Finals in European Cup)

Milan set a points record to win the scuddetto with a team that is largely still in place today. An attack spearheaded by Shevchenko, playmaking by Kaká, and defence with Nesta and Maldini. Unfortunately, Milan's season was not perfect as they were destroyed by Deportivo La Coruna 0-4 in the quarter finals of the European Cup after winning 4-1 in the San Siro. Despite being Italian champions, Milan showed weak midfield character that would repeat itself in the European Cup final in the following season. Further, Milan had allowed their defence to become one of the oldest in Europe with Maldini, Stam, Cafu, Serginho, and Costacurta all well past their prime.

2004-2005 (2nd in Serie A, 2nd in European Cup)

Hernán Crespo proved to be a solid signing. Massimo Ambrosini scored an incredible late goal against PSV Eindhoven. However, the season ended in disastrous defeat in Istanbul's Ataturk Stadium. In 2005, Milan let a 3-0 half time lead in their Champions League Final against Liverpool F.C. of England slip to a 3-3 draw. They conceded 3 second half goals in a span of 6 minutes, before losing on penalties. The nightmare of La Coruna was now replaced with a new nightmare of Istanbul. Milan ended the season being 2nd in the League and won the Italian Super Cup, defeating Lazio. 2004-2005 could be summed up as another solid season, but Liverpool won the European Cup and Juventus was the champion of Italy.

2005-2006 (2nd in Serie-A, Semi-Finalists in European Cup)

On the 8 March 2006, Milan defeated FC Bayern Munich of Germany in the first knock-out round of the UEFA Champions League and became the only club in Europe that has participated in the quarter finals of the tournament in every season between 2002-03 and 2005-06. Thus, the club affirms its status as one of the powerhouses of European football, and has arguably been the strongest team in Europe during this time period. Milan was defeated by FC Barcelona of Spain 0-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, five AC Milan players suited up for Italy's victorious squad. In the domestic league, Juventus used a sensational start to build a point's lead that not even a late season Milan surge could overcome.

[edit] Match-fixing allegations

Milan were named in the Serie A scandal of 2006 but were spared the drop to Serie B. A preliminary court decision deprived Milan of 44 out of the 88 points they gained in Serie A 2005-06 and made them start the 2006-07 season with minus 15 points. Later, however, these point deductions were reduced, to 30 and minus 8 respectively, giving Milan the chance to compete in UEFA Champions League 2006-07.