Serie A: Silvio Berlusconi dies, the man who changed football

Hdead Silvio Berlusconi. Former Italian Prime Minister, former owner of Milan and now owner of Monza. Founder of Fininvest and, for many decades the most powerful man in Italy. Or, at least, it appeared to be. For two years she had suffered from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia which, at the age of 86, has been fatal. The man with whom modern football as we know it was born.

Silvio Berlusconi was the longest-serving president in AC Milan’s history, holding the position for 20 years. During his tenure, ‘Diavolo’ reached its highest levels and established itself as “the best team in the world”. In 31 years with the ‘rossoneri’, the ‘Cavaliere’ won 29 trophiesa story that began with the first league championship in the 1987-88 season and ended with the 2016 Italian Super Cup. Along the way, 8 ‘Scudetti’ (1987-1988, 1991-1992, 1992-1993, 1993- 1994, 1995-1996, 1998-1999, 2003-2004, 2010-2011), 1 Italian Cup (2002-2003), 7 Italian Super Cups (1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2011, 2016), 5 Champions League (1988-1989, 1989-1990, 1993-1994, 2002-2003, 2006-2007), 5 European Super Cups (1989, 1990, 199) 4, 2003, 2007), 2 Intercontinental Cups (1989, 1990) and 1 Club World Cup (2007).

“Tomorrow we will dream of other goals, we will invent other challenges, we will seek other victories. That it is worth realizing what is good, strong, true in us… in all of us who have had this adventure of intertwining our lives with a dream called Milan”, was one of his most remembered speeches during his time in Milan.

Tomorrow we will dream of other goals, we will invent other challenges, we will seek other victories.

Silvio Berlusconi

Since 2018, in addition, he had decided to return and ‘rescue’ Monza from underfootball. His ‘last dance’. She did it accompanied by his hysterical right hand, Adrian Galliani, native of Monza. He convinced him to return to ‘Calcio’. He spent three million to buy the Lombard club when it was in Serie C and He has established it in Serie A by investing almost 200 million euros since his arrival. This season (the first in its history in the Italian soccer elite) they have even touched the European positions.

Berlusconi and his arrival at Milan

Silvio Berlusconi bought Milan in 1986. His story defends that as a child he went to the stadium accompanied by his father Luigi (later he founded a summer trophy in his honor) although some sources defend that before taking over the ‘rossoneri’ he wanted to buy Inter. The fact is that Silvio, a frustrated singer, arrived at the San Siro and, with him, began the best era in the history of Milan. The historic Italian club (which had already won two European Cups before) wandered and went from scandal to scandal: in 1980, for example, it was relegated by ‘Totonero’.

A president who arrived in Milanello by helicopter… and who he appeared before the ‘tifosi rossoneri’ arriving at Milan’s Civic Arena in said means of transport, while Richard Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ blared from the loudspeakers. A notice of what was to be his Milan.

It changed football as it was known to date: it changed communication in Italy through Fininvest (its parent company) and modernized Milan. Milanello (the ‘Rossonero’ Sports Center) became a world reference) and nutritionists, psychologists came to the Milan coaching staff… something unprecedented for the time. The ‘Cavaliere’ knew how to take advantage of ‘Calcio’ to increase his reputation. He won all that could be won, he won all that could be won, and he became as famous as possible. I took advantage of that fame to later enter politics.

But to win you had to sign the best. And she did. Dutch Milan was his first great team: Rijkaard, Gullit and Van Basten caused fear throughout Europe. Escorted, in addition, by Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta, Tassotti, Ancelotti, Donadoni… It was the best moment of the Italian ftbo, and it was the best moment of Milan.

Between Sacchi and Capello, and between Capello and Ancelotti. They won five European Cups and the continental reign became the great ambition of the ‘Rossonera’. The Champions League conditioned everything, the ‘Scudetto’ became secondary.

The day I met Sacchi

Milan’s history changed the day Berlusconi met Arrigo Sacchi. It was in the 1986/87 Coppa Italia, in an innocent Parma – Milan. ”I met Silvio Berlusconi in a match against AC Milan, in the Coppa Italia. I was surprised. I spoke with the president, Ernesto Ceresini, and asked him about me. He told me: ”I’m going to follow you throughout the championship”. Later, he called me in Milan,” says Sacchi. In that 1986/87 Coppa Italia, AC Milan and Parma were drawn in the same group, with a 0-1 win for the Parmesan team on matchday four. Sacchi’s men qualified first in the group with four victories in five days; the milanistas, seconds.

However, the draw allowed both teams to meet again in the second round, in a double game. The winning team advances to the quarterfinals. Parma eliminated Milan after winning 0-1 at the San Siro with a goal from Mario Bortolazzi and drawing 0-0 at the Ennio Tardini. The first stone was laid, Silvio Berlusconi was interested in that young coach of barely 40 years that did not stop shining in the teams through which it passed.

”Arrigo Sacchi does not become coach of Milan after the Italian Cup matches against AC Milan. He becomes coach of AC Milan after the first dinner with Silvio Berlusconi ”, explains Mauro Suma, a journalist for ‘MilanTV’ in ‘Berlusconi’s Milan: 1986-2017: X-ray of a project that changed football’. ”Speaking, the two understand that they are made for each other. Silvio Berlusconi understands that Arrigo Sacchi is his coach.”ade.

After his arrival, that team changed football: a team that was devastating on a physical level, that forced to modify the offside and that won two consecutive European Cups destroying Real Madrid of the Quinta del Vulture along the way. It was brief, yes, but intense. One of those teams that will always remain on the list of best cast in history.

“Silvio Berlusconi was a generous man. He tried to change this difficult country, made up of individualists. was he too? No, I thought about everything and saw far: when I signed up I told him “either you’re crazy or you’re a genius”. Having seen the results, give me the answer…”, Sacchi told ‘ANSA’ after hearing the news of Berlusconi’s death.

When I signed up I told him “either you’re crazy or you’re a genius.” Having seen the results…

Arrigo Sacchi

His last great Milan

After Calciopoli (2006), Milan (sanctioned) still had the strength to win one last Champions League: the one in Athens against Liverpool. The ‘vendetta’ of Ataturk. Then Ancelotti went to London, kak to Madrid… and the decline began and the dominance of the ‘Nerazzurri’ neighbours: Moratti’s Interafter many millions spent, finally celebrated.

But Berlusconi had one last ace up his sleeve: Serie A 2010/11, Allegri’s ‘Scudetto’ and a team that has gone down in the history of Milanism. Legends from San Siro like Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf or Nesta mixed with star signings like Ibrahimovic or Thiago Silva. Along with them, Robinho, van Bommel, Pato or even Ronaldinho.

His return to ‘Calcio’

Officially bankrupt for the last time in 2015 but on the way to a new bankruptcy, Berlusconi and Galliani came to the rescue of Monza in 2018. Fininvest, the conglomerate that runs Milan, put 3 million on the table to acquire the ‘Brianzoli’ club. Monza. A city known for its Formula 1 circuit, not for its soccer team. And more so if this team was in Serie C at that time, the third category of Italian football.

But it was the way that Berlusconi used to return to the forefront of the media. Not surprisingly, soon after he also returned to politics. The ‘Cavaliere’, also, did not want to return in any way. He wanted to be the protagonist. “I want to win the Scudetto”, he came to say. The fact is that Silvio loosened his wallet and Monza spent more than any of the other 59 teams in the Serie C category. They dominated, unstoppable. They were promoted to Serie B and several years later, they would do the same but on their way to Serie A. It was their debut in the highest category of ‘Calcio’.

Now, with Berlusconi’s money but under the leadership of Galliani and with Palladino on the bench (his new Sacchi), they dream again: They have had a record season for a recently promoted team and have touched eighth place. The future is set to be bright for the Lombards.

Berlusconi’s best eleven

Now, in Italy, you can already imagine who has been the best eleven of footballers who have gone through Berlusconi’s Milan. Debate is generated, of course, and the resulting team may now aspire to win (again) the Champions League.

Dida – Caf, Nesta, Baresi, Maldini – Rijkaard, Pirlo, Gullit – Kak – Shevchenko and Van Basten are the chosen ones. He runs Sacchi for what he stands for. And because he was the master of the next two: Capello and Ancelotti.