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AC Milan: The Rise and Fall

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Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan, are the most successful club in world football in terms of international trophies along with Boca Juniors, with 18 officially recognized UEFA and FIFA titles. They’ve won the UEFA European Cup/Champions League title 7 times and the Serie A 18 times, making them one of the most successful clubs in Europe. Looking at this long list of accomplishments, one would be led to assume that Milan should be dominating at the domestic and European level, but that hasn’t been the case in recent years.

The Milan side of the 2006-07 season was absolutely breathtaking. One remembers quite clearly how

Kaka ripped Manchester United apart in both legs of the UEFA Champions League Semifinal that season. Alongside the Brazilian no. 22, who was at his peak back then, the side also included the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf, Gennaro Gattuso and Filippo Inzaghi, all of whom were instrumental in the success Milan achieved that season. The side deservedly went on to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy, beating Liverpool 2-1 in Athens, and in the process, taking revenge for their humiliating defeat in the final of 2005 (where they lead 3-0 at HT before eventually losing on penalties). In spite of their superb form in the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti’s side fared  poorly in domestic competitions, managing only a 4th place finish in the Serie A and a semifinal exit at the hands of AS Roma in the Coppa Italia. The dismal performance in domestic competitions had the fans worried about the future of the football club.

The fears of the fans turned out to be true because from 2006-07 season onwards, Milan went into a downward slide. The side desperately needed rebuilding to bring some balance between youth and experience. To fund the rebuilding project, Kaka was sold to Real Madrid C.F. for €68.5 million. In spite of the rebuilding process, AC Milan without Kaka was not the same exciting team it once was. The fans were forced to swallow their pride when neighbours and rivals Inter Milan won the historic treble (UEFA Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia) in the 2009-10 season under Jose Mourinho. After this season, Inter themselves went into a major slump, but that’s a story for another time.

Under Massimiliano Allegri, who took over from Leonardo in 2010, Milan began to rise again. With the help of big name signings including Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho in the summer, and Antonio Cassano and Mark van Bommel in January, and with a squad boasting of big name players such as the likes of Thiago Silva, Alexandre Pato etc., Milan recaptured the Scudetto in the 2010-11 season from Inter, thus ending their run of 4 successive titles. It was also Milan’s first league success since 2004. In spite of retaining most of the players in their strong squad, although they did lose Pirlo to Juventus on a free transfer, Milan were not able to defend the Scudetto title, managing to come 2nd behind a rejuvenated Juventus side managed by Antonio Conte. On the European level however, Milan failed to mount a serious challenge as the Champions league was dominated by English, Spanish and more recently German clubs.

In the summer of 2012, the squad underwent a major overhaul. Ibrahimovic and Silva were sold to moneybags Paris Saint Germain for financial reasons. Antonio Cassano was exchanged for Giampaolo Pazzini with rivals Inter and Alex Pato left to join Corinthians and play in his native country, Brazil. Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzaghi, Clarence Seedorf, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Mark van Bommel, Alexander Merkel, Alberto Aquilani also left the club. Very, very few teams on earth could cope with losing a group of players as good as these all at once, and the players brought in to cope with the loss did not quite stroke the imagination as much as supporters had hoped. In came Riccardo Montolivo, Nigel de Jong, M’Baye Niang, Cristian Zapata & Bojan Krkic (loan) from Fiorentina, Manchester City, Caen, Villareal & Roma respectively. Milan also managed to sign a host of players from Genoa, including Stephen El Shaarawy, Francesco Acerbi (co-ownership) & Kevin Constant (loan).

As expected, Milan had an absolutely horrible start to the season, earning only only four points in their first seven games. The one shining light of a truly dire season so far was the form of young Stephan El-Shaarawy. His goals stopped the Milanese from total annihilation in the league and he nigh-on carried the club on his young shoulders alone. AC Milan were in the bottom half of the table and it looked like it would be a season where this fallen giant would be battling it out for survival. Instead, four months later this team picked itself from amongst the ashes, and gained ground on the Serie A leaders.

The turning point for Milan's season arrived in Naples. On the back of another humbling, this time at home to Fiorentina, Milan travelled to the Stadio San Paolo to face the in-form Napoli spearheaded by the league's best striker Edinson Cavani. 2-0 down inside 30 minutes it looked like the Red & Blacks' season was going to suffer another miserable evening, but for a stunning curling drive from El-Shaarawy against the run of play offering hope on the 44th minute. He did it again in the second half as a result of the first sign that season of urgency, belief, effort, and sheer grit on the part of the visitors. Milan did not leave with all three points, but the solitary one they departed with felt like three and something had changed. The fightback had finally started and a successive run of wins soon followed, including a gargantuan victory over champions and current league-leaders Juventus. Zenit St Petersburg did manage to take all three points at the San Siro in the Champions League and Roma hosted Milan to a pitiful 4-2 defeat in the country's capital in the final Serie A fixture of the calendar year, but these blips aside, 2012 ended overall in staggeringly better fashion to how the season had started.

With January looming Milan were rising back up the table, and when Mario Balotelli signed on the dotted line in January's transfer window, it simply invigorated the whole club. On the up as it was, this was the perfect way to compound that improvement - the signing of a devoted Milan fan as Mario is, while signing a potentially world-class player.  Hopes were that he could cut out his 'bad-boy' nonsense from the English Premier League and concentrate on football back in his homeland. Those hopes were spot on, and while you cannot take all his crazy temperament away, Mario Balotelli in Italy has scored 12 goals in 13 league appearances and has looked every inch worth the £20million price tag.

Sadly Balotelli was cup-tied so could not feature for his new side in the CL, but when the Catalonian giants Barcelona came to Italy no one gave the home side a hope, particularly without their new signing able to play. Manager Massimiliano Allegri's tactics proved he was not even needed - Milan defended like heroes, broke when needed and shocked the football world winning 2-0. It was the result of the season, and a truly incredible performance. The 4-0 defeat in the away leg was rather awful, but the amazing performance in the home leg lifted the spirits of the AC Milan faithful.

Milan finished 3rd last season thus gaining the last spot for the Champions League. With some genuinely marquee players in the team like Montolivo (who has had, after a slow start, a remarkable
season), El Shaarawy (with his dazzling skills and undeniable class) and the aforementioned genius of Mad Mario, Milan have a real chance of regaining the Scudetto this season. The summer of 2013 saw the return of Milan’s former hero Kaka to the San Siro from Madrid for a free transfer. The club also welcomed back Urby Emanuelson and added Adrea Poli, Valter Birsa and Alessandro Matri to their squad. On the flip side, Milan also witnessed the departure of Kevin Prince Boateng this season, to Schalke. However, with an otherwise amazing strength in depth that hasn’t been seen in the squad for quite a while and with a wonderful balance of youth and experience, there is a lot to look forward to for Rossoneri faithful.


 Author:

 -Omkar Nageshkar.

 Follow me on Twitter - @OmkarNageshkar

 (Guest Article. Send in your articles at - tbegame@gmail.com or follow us at @tbegame)

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