AC Milan Football Club
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AC Milan Football Club
Italian Name: AC Milan
Club History & Facts:
AC [Associazone CALCIO] Milan were founded by two Englishmen in 1899. They werefounded as a cricket club by an Englishman from Nottingham, Alfred Edwards. They share the San Siro stadium with bitter rivals Inter Milan in Lombardy, Milan. Their home strip is red and black stripes, and their nickname is Il Diavolo which is Italian for the devil. The owner is Mr. Silvio Berlusconi and their head coach is ex player Carlo Ancellotti.
Ac have won 17 league titles second only to Juventus who have an astonishing 27. Their first championship was two years after their inception in 1901, and their most recent was the 2004 title under Ancelotti. The 1991-92 season was record breaking for Milan under Fabio Capello as they went the enitre serie A season unbeaten, a run that concluded after 58 games with defeat against Parma in March 1993.
Arguably Milans greatest side was of the between the late 1980's and 90's. A side which included legendary dutch trio Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rjikard. Their last serie A title was thanks to the likes of Ukranian striker Andriy Shevchenko and 4 time European champion Clarence Seedorf, they have weakened their grip in Italy though with just 2 scudettos in 10 years now and none for 5 years. Milan's tally of Coppa Italias reaches 5,not quite as impressive as some of their Italian conterparts.
European Performance:
Real Madrid are the only side to have won more European cups than Ac Milan, Milan have won an astounding seven trophies. In 1963 AC won their first European title and 44 years later they defeated Liverpool in a revenge match from the 2005 champions league final. Folf hero Pipo Inzaghi etted twice in a 2-0 win in Athens. Perhaps their finest European victory was the 4-0 defeat of Barcelona in the 1994 final. 4o year old club captain Paolo Maldini holds the appearance record for Milan, his first Serie A game came in 1985 and 23 years later he's still going strong. The all time record goalscorer is the Swede Gunnar Nordahl whose incredible record stands at 221 goals in 268 games.
Ac suffered the embarassment of failing to reach this years Champions League tournament after a disappointing fifth place finish in the 2007/2008 season. This could be attributed to their ageing squad featuring many big names in their mid-30's , names such as Andrea Pirlo, Ambrossini and company may have had their best days. Brazillian playmaker Kaka is probably the team's biggest star and was the fifa world player of the year for 2007.
Big changes took place in the summer of 2009 with the departure of star player Kaka and manager Carlo Ancelotti. Brazillian legend Leonardo has been brought in as boss, but with the loss of such key components in their european glories, AC may well have taken a backwards step.
They are back in the Champions League this year and are still among one of the favourites due to their outstanding recent record in the competition.
more to follow