Sacchi's AC Milan 1987-91

On February 20, 1986, AC Milan was bought by Italian businessman Silvio Berlusconi. He wants to revive the Italian club and restore its place as a European leader. Disagreeing from the start of the adventure with Rivera, the latter resigned and handed over to the rich businessman to lead his project.

Berlusconi has been a fan of the club since he was a child when his father took him to watch matches at San Siro. Under his aegis, the club modernized: computerization of ticket sales, reevaluation of salaries, modernization of club structures. He also retains the captaincy of the team to the club kid: Franco Baresi. At the same time, Berlusconi is the opposite of being cautious since he is investing 100 billion lire in the club.

Upon his arrival, he brought in Daniele Massoro and Roberto Donadoni, and the following season, he gave coaching to an unknown player in Serie B: Arrigo Sacchi, an Italian coach, passionate about football since a young age and having turned towards the tactical aspect since his adolescence.

The year 1987 appears to be that of the launch of a major project by recruiting Marco Van Basten, then one of the most prolific and promising attackers in Europe, as well as Ruud Gullit, one of the the most complete players in history, able to play as attacking midfielder, central midfielder, central defender, second striker, winger or even false 9.

Arrigo Sacchi is a coach who has clear ideas. Its objectives are precise. It has 7 principles:

- Improve the man and the player.

- Play team football.

- Play total football.

- “Grow through protagonism, because achieving it otherwise is impossible”.

- “Be the dominus of the situation”.

- Be the master of the ball and the field.

- “Win ​​with respect, lose with dignity”.

At the start of the 1987-88 season, Sacchi was faced with a complicated first few months, with the many tactical methods being difficult for the players to grasp and adopt. The Lombards were eliminated in the round of 16 against Ascoli after a first match which ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of Ascoli, a return match with an equivalent score but in favor of AC Milan and a session of shots on goal which gives Ascoli an advantage.

In the UEFA Cup the situation is the same, despite a success in the first round against Sporting Gijon (3-1 in total), the Lombard club collapsed against Espanyol who closed the match in the second match ( 0-0) after winning 2-0 at San Siro.

As for the championship, AC Milan hung on from the 13th to the 27th day in second place before stealing 1st place on the 28th day. In total, it took a little over 6 months of adaptation for the players.

The club's players had struggled with the two daily training sessions, while the average at the time and in the championship was four training sessions per week. Van Basten will admit "As a player, it was hard to evolve under his orders, because he was a perfectionist who demanded that we give everything in each training session".

The other thing that Sacchi is shaking up is the footballing principle of the team in a country dominated by catenaccio. For him, “a victory without merit is worth nothing”, in this vein, he imposes a game geared towards the offensive.

Thus, we find a 4-2-3-1 composition with the wingers Colombo and Donadoni who will make numerous runs on the flanks, providing both defensive support and an additional offensive solution. As for the full-backs, they are more defensive-oriented like Paolo Maldini's play, which is more in the vein of the great Italian central defenders rather than offensive full-backs like Facchetti.

Rijkaard is the defensive midfielder of the team providing this defensive support and shaving spaces in the midfield. Ancelotti is a complete midfielder, linking defense and attack. Ruud Gullit is in a forward attacking midfielder role, in the sense that he projects into the heart of the area to head crosses. Van Basten is the jewel of the team, tall, elegant and technical, he is the classic center forward of the era in the ultimate version.

Sometimes playing in a 4-4-2 for more balance, the game proposed by Sacchi is physical. With him, no individual marking but zone marking so as not to distort the team block too much. With his block, he forces his players to exert pressure very high on the pitch, with a defensive line located almost at the level of the halfway line.

At the end of the season, AC Milan faced a certain Maradona's Napoli in a decisive match for the title. He affirmed that the success of his team would be based on the good zonal marking of his players, limiting breakthroughs. of Argentinian genius. Facing a team whose symbol was strict individual marking, AC Milan wandered despite a tight final score (victory 3 goals to 2). Diego Maradona still scored a goal. In his first season in Lombardy, Sacchi won the Scudetto, 3 points ahead of Napoli, but above all a limited number of goals conceded, only 14 out of 43 goals scored. Gullit, then Ballon d'Or last season, is the man of this season with 9 goals and 10 assists in the league.

All the Milanese defensive principles were linked in the quest for a single objective: to constantly and as much as possible reduce the space allocated to the opponent. Sacchi wanted to dominate, to be the protagonist of the game and the field. It was first necessary to prevent the adversaries from passing through the axis. Then, once the opponent has left on a wing, he must no longer leave it. This Milan displayed an almost unplayable level of play. Arrigo Sacchi with this title, had just ended a long wait of 9 years without the championship trophy, the great Milan was born.

The Milan machine was in motion, in the summer of 1988, the club strengthened itself by completing the legendary trio: Van Basten - Gullit - Rijkaard, just European champion with the Netherlands. Berlusconi's objective as well as that of Sacchi is high, to win the Champions League. In the first round, AC Milan beat Vitosha, a Bulgarian club, with a cumulative score of 7 goals to 2 (Van Basten scoring a quadruple in the return match).

The next round, the opponent is the big red star of Belgrade, a 1-1 draw in the first leg at San Siro does not do the business of the Lombards who in the return leg are surprised by Stojkovic in the 50 minute. The Italian club was saved when the match was interrupted due to fog in the 65th minute. The match was replayed from zero the next day, Van Basten scoring in the 35th minute, before Stojkovic equalized 4 minutes later. The match got bogged down in a defensive game and went straight to penalties. It will take failures from Savicevic and Mrkela for AC Milan to qualify for the next round.

The quarter-finals were difficult for the Italians who only won thanks to the defensive solidity of the team and a goal from Van Basten from the penalty spot in the second leg. In the semi-final, they face the Spanish champion who is none other than Real Madrid, after a tight match in the first leg ending with a score of 1-1 (goal from Sanchez and Van Basten), the AC Milan will give Real a football lesson, scoring 5 goals in 60 minutes and conceding none, final score 5-0 at San Siro, one of the most successful matches in the club's history with 5 scorers different (Ancelotti, Rijkaard, Gullit, Van Basten and Donadoni).

The final which is played at the Camp Nou pits Steaua Bucharest against the Italian club, the match is extremely dominated by the Lombard club which defeats the Romanian hopes, final score 4-0, double from Gullit and double from Van Basten. The Italian Club is once again European champion, and this, only the 2nd season after the arrival of Sacchi.

In the league, the results are less flattering, a sad 3rd place, far behind Internazionale and one point behind Napoli. The Supercoppa was won 3 goals to 1 against Sampdoria, Van Basten scoring the 3rd goal on a penalty. And the Italian Cup was lost in the second round after a defeat against Torino.

The following season got off to a difficult start, being 8th in the championship at the end of the 11th day. Subsequently the club pulled itself together, managing to regain 1st place on the 26th day, but the series of 3 defeats between the 30th and 35th days pushed the club to second place and lost the Scudetto to Napoli.

At the level of international cups, the club won the 1989 Intercontinental Cup against Atlético Nacional 1-0 in extra time thanks to Evani's goal in the 119th minute. They also won the UEFA Super Cup 2-1 on aggregate against FC Barcelona (Evani and Van Basten as scorers).

For once the club had a good run in the Italian Cup but lost in the final in the return match 1 goal to 0 on a goal from Galia.

In the Champions League, the club is more decisive and successively takes out Helsinki (5-0), Real Madrid (2-1), KV Mechelen (2-0), Bayern Munich (2-2 but advantage thanks to away goal) and Benfica in the final (1-0). AC Milan are European champions again with an almost unchanged team and a genius Dutch trio.

The 1990-91 season was Sacchi's last with AC Milan. Despite a great start to the season in Serie A, it is ultimately Sampdoria who lift a historic trophy. 5 points ahead of the Lombard club. In the Italian Cup, the club lost in the semi-final against AS Roma (1-0 on aggregate).

But on the international level, AC Milan still reigns, first of all winning the Intercontinental Cup 3-0 against Olimpia, a Paraguayan club (doubled by Rijkaard). And a European Supercup won against Sampdoria (3-1 on aggregate), Rijkaard scoring a goal again.

The disappointment of the season comes in the Champions League where after having difficultly defeated Club Brugge 1-0 on aggregate, the Lombard club lost 2-1 against Marseille on aggregate, notably because of goals from Waddle and Papin.

Subsequently, the Lombard club will continue to dominate the Italian championship, but this time under the orders of Fabio Capello then Ancelotti.