AC Milan pre season review
By Sunshine
September 9 2004
A look ahead to the new season and a chance to speculate on the fortunes and the comings and goings at Italy's biggest clubs. Likely starting line up's formation and of course the old Italian favourite of who to play where and why exactly.
A.C. MILAN
Milan share the Giuseppe Meazza stadium (commonly known as the San Siro) in Milan with ‘cousins’ Inter. Their shirts have red and black stripes (hence the nickname "rossoneri") and the rest of the kit is white. No club side has won more silverware on the international scene (Milan are equal top, together with Real Madrid).
President
Silvio Berlusconi (also Prime Minister of Italy and the richest man in the country, with a personal fortune on an equal footing with Roman Abramovich’s)
Vice-President
Adriano Galliani (Berlusconi’s right hand man and the guy who runs the club whilst his boss deals with more pressing issues)
Manager
Carlo ANCELOTTI
Squad
Goalkeepers
Christian ABBIATI (’77)
Nelson DIDA (’73)
Valerio FIORI (’69)
Defenders
Marcos CAFU (’70)
Fabricio COLOCCINI (’82) – from Villareal
Alessandro COSTACURTA (’66)
Kakhaber KALADZE (’78)
Paolo MALDINI (’68)
Alessandro NESTA (’76)
Giuseppe PANCARO (’71)
Dario SIMIC (’75)
Jaap STAM (’72) – from Lazio
Midfielders
Ignazio ABATE (’86)
Massimo Ambrosini (’77)
Cristian BROCCHI (’76)
Vikash DHORASOO (’73) – from Lyon
Gennaro GATTUSO (’78)
Andrea PIRLO (’79)
Manuel RUI COSTA (’72)
Clarence SEEDORF (’76)
KAKA’ (’82)
SERGINHO (’71)
Forwards
Hernan CRESPO (’75)
Filippo INZAGHI (’73)
Nicola POZZI (’86)
Andriy SHEVCHENKO (’76)
Jon Dahl TOMASSON (’76)
Players sold/released/loaned
LAURSEN to Aston Villa
BORRIELLO to Reggina, forward
How they’ll play
Carlo Ancelotti is a pupil of Arrigo Sacchi, so his team will never wander from a flat back four and zonal marking. After a poor result or two last season, Berlusconi stamped his authority (in quite an ignorant manner) on the club and ‘ordered’ the Manager to play with two forwards, after Ancelotti had obtained admirable results throughout the autumn and most of the winter. As it happens, Berlusconi was right, but his dictatorial views went down like a lead balloon with anyone who saw the brief interview on TV and can’t have done his political aspirations any favours.
Ancelotti likes his team to play football and with very few exceptions (Gattuso and now Stam), they all know how to play the ball a bit, especially in midfield, where Pirlo may be the font of play, but where the likes of Seedorf and Kakŕ (or Rui Costa) can also deliver the defence splitting pass with consummate ease.
The First XI will line up as follows:
Dida
Stam – Nesta – Maldini – Pancaro
Gattuso – Pirlo – Seedorf
Kakŕ
Shevchenko – Inzaghi
Actually, picking a first XI is quite embarrassing, since how do you leave out the likes of Cafu, Kaladze, Crespo, Ambrosini, etc?
Dida has been a revelation in goal over the last two seasons, a revelation to the point that many put him on an equal footing with Buffon, generally regarded as the best keeper in the world.
This year, as usual, Milan have changed very little and elected to add just the one first choice player to the squad, but what a player he is: Stam. When fit, Pancaro is a probable starter in the Italian national team, whilst Nesta and Maldini certainly need no introduction from me. Add Stam for strength, or Cafu for his attacking ability down the right and you’ve got what is arguably the best rear guard in club football.
In midfield, nothing has changed and a relatively young unit (the eldest first choice being Seedorf, at 28) which has already played together for two years is just going to get better and better. Bar a couple of games last season (at home to Udinese before the Xmas break and, more notably, away to Deportivo La Coruna in the Champions League knoc out stage), the team hardly put a foot wrong until they’d reached their league title objective.
Up front, Shevchenko is partnered by Inzaghi in the ideal formation. Inzaghi is still recovering from a nasty injury, so Crespo or the ever-ready Tomasson may get an early opportunity, but when he makes his comeback, the Italy striker will be automatic first choice and so, given his goal scoring record, he should be. ‘Sheva’ and ‘Pippo’ aren’t suited to each others’ game, but both are such lethal, quality players that it would be a travesty to leave one of them out. Shevchenko has been incredibly prolific in Serie A since his move from Dinamo Kiev, whilst Inzaghi is simply known as ‘The Cannibal’, since he devours everything in his path when it comes to scoring goals: Shevchenko keeps up, but even the likes of Del Piero (when Inzaghi was at Juventus) were put firmly into the shade. Inzaghi gives the team a depth which other strikers simply aren’t capable of doing. Always on the verge of being off-side (he’s so quick, he’s often given off-side by mistake), he’s a nightmare for defenders: A real penalty box predator to boot.
Shevchenko, on the other hand, is more dangerous when he gets the ball thirty to thrity-five yards from goal. His pace, control and razor sharp footballing brain make him one of the most feared strikers on the planet. He, too, literally lives to put the ball in the back of the net.
They may not be suited to each other, but they make an awesome pairing.
I can’t see beyond Milan for the Serie A title and they must be serious contenders for the Champions League, too. The squad is just jam packed with quality, so much so that speaking, above, of just some of the players does an injustice to the others. In most other teams, the likes of Rui Costa and Ambrosini (a Gattuso-like player who is much better in the air, better at playing the ball and notches the odd goal, too – doesn’t get into the Milan team, but gets called up to the national team anyway!) would be first choices.
Milan have won the Champions League and the Serie A title in successive seasons and, by their own admission, their confidence is sky high. This could be yet another great season for the rossoneri.
Trophy Cabinet
League Titles
17 times Serie A champions:
1901, 1906, 1907, 1950/1951, 1954/1955, 1956/1957, 1958/1959, 1961/1962, 1967/1968, 1978/1979, 1987/1988, 1991/1992, 1992/1993, 1993/1994, 1995/1996, 1998/1999, 2003/2004
Italian Cup
5, in the seasons:
1966/1967, 1971/1972, 1972/1973, 1976/1977, 2002/2003
Italian Supercup (Community Sheild equivalent, a quite recent competition in Italy)
5, in the years:
1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004
European Cup/Champions League
6, in the seasons:
1962/1963, 1968/1969, 1988/1989, 1989/1990, 1993/1994, 2002/2003
Intercontinental Cup
3, in the years:
1969, 1989, 1990
European Supercup
4, in the years:
1989, 1990, 1994, 2003
Cup Winners’ Cup
2, in the seasons:
1967/1968, 1972/1973