The big calls that shaped Europe’s elite: How Milan made it to the top

Milan were founded in December 1899 by Englishmen Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin, who created the outfit as a joint football and cricket club. Indeed, that is why the team is known as the anglicised version of the city rather than Milano, as the locals would say.

One of the most important decisions that they took was to kit the team out in the now famous red and black stripes that have become synonymous with the team the world over.

Edwards and Kilpin chose the red to represent the fiery ardour while the black is said to represent the fear they strike into their opponents.

It is a little ironic, then, that Milan fans consider their change kits, which is invariably all-white, as their ‘lucky’ kit. After all, the Rossoneri have won six of eight European Cup finals wearing that strip, compared to three in their traditional colours.

In 1926, Milan took up residence of the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in the San Siro district of the city. The stadium, which has been shared with rivals Inter since 1947, was built by Milan president Piero Pirelli over a period of little more than a year.

It proved to be a pivotal move in the history of the club. Not only is the ground one of the most instantly recognisable in world football due to its iconic rounded pillars and unique roof, it also boasts one of the best atmospheres in Italy.

Pirelli built the ground in the model of an English stadium and not a multipurpose ground that is often common on the continent. As such, fans are tight to the pitch, making it a cauldron for visiting teams.

It has gone on to hold some iconic matches, not least the 2016 Champions League final.

The future of the Giuseppe Meazza is presently under question but it will remain forever in footballing culture and an intrinsic part of Milan as a club.

Milan’s first real Golden Age arrived in the 1950s and coincided with the arrivals of Swedish forwards Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. The formidable trio quickly became known as Gre-No-Li.

That they were so successful with Milan should have come as no surprise. Indeed, it was likely their performances together at the 1948 Olympics in London that seduced Milan into purchasing all three of them. First to join was Nordalh but Gren and Liedholm soon followed.

While all three were instantly prolific, it took them until 1951 to win the Scudetto. Another followed four years later, with the trio of Swedes still prominent. This set the foundations for further success in 1957 and 1959 – which Gren was still a part of – and in 1962, by which time all three had gone.

These three players, though, were the catalyst to a period of success that stretched until 1963, when Milan won their first European Cup.

In the mid-1980s, Milan were an ailing outfit, flirting with bankruptcy. Then in came entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi to save the club from financial peril and ultimately lead it through its most successful era.

Berlusconi’s first masterstroke was appointing Arrigo Sacchi as head coach in 1987. At that time, he was an up-and-comer but frowned upon due to his lack of background as a professional footballer. Indeed, he was a shoe salesman.

“I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first,” he famously later quipped.

Sacchi would become a managerial legend in Milan, with his pressing game the basis for a run of unprecedented success with the club.

He was blessed with great talent, but he maximised the defensive qualities of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta by allying them with the attacking flair of Netherlands internationals Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.

The crowning glory of this period was back-to-back European Cup wins in 1989 and 1990 – a feat that would not be replicated until Zinedine Zidane took charge of Real Madrid more than 25 years later.

To this day, Sacchi’s Milan are remembered as one of the greatest teams the game has ever seen.

Milan boast no fewer than eight Ballon d’Or titles in this history, spread out among six of their greatest stars. The roll of success is formidable, with Gianni Rivera, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten (three times), George Weah and Andriy Shevchenko among the storied names to have won the prize.

The most recent Rossonero to win the gong, however, is Kaka, who shone brightly in the first decade of the century and was crowned the world’s greatest.

The Brazilian was picked up from Sao Paulo in 2003 for a reported €8.5 million and was worth every cent as he led the club to many of their best moments in the modern era. He was pivotal as Milan reached the Champions League final of 2005 and then stepped his game up a gear as they gained revenge on Liverpool in 2007.

Kaka scored 10 goals in Milan’s run to glory that year. No one else in the competition, including the likes of Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney, managed more than six.

Later that same year, he claimed the Ballon d’Or crown and made it a double by winning the FIFA World Player of the Year.

When he eventually left the club for Real Madrid in 2009, he did so as a legend, earning Milan a hefty profit as he went to Spain for a staggering €67m.

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