Berlusconi presidency

dream team

After several different financial troubles had caused bad times and a lack of success, AC Milan was bought on February 20, 1986 by Silvio Berlusconi, a Milanese enterpreneur. Berlusconi brought in a rising coach, Arrigo Sacchi, and three Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, to return the team to glory. He also signed some Italian stars: Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Giovanni Galli.

Sacchi won the 1987-88 scudetto after a great recovery over Diego Maradona's S.S.C. Napoli. In 1988-1989, AC Milan won its third European Cup, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 in the final, and its second Intercontinental cup against National de Medellin (1-0, goal in the last minute of extra time). The team repeated their triumph the following season, against Benfica (1-0), and earned its second Intercontinental Cup in a row and third overall beating Olimpia Asunción in 1990. Their European winning line-up was: Giovanni Galli; Mauro Tassotti, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Angelo Colombo, Frank Rijkaard, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni; Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten.

With Sacchi leaving Milan to coach the Italy national football team, Fabio Capello was hired and under him, the Rossoneri came to be known as Gli Invicibili ("The Invincibles") or the Dream Team. With an unprecedented 58-match run with no defeats the Invincibili team had the likes of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini commanding one of the best defences in history, with Marcel Desailly and Roberto Donadoni in midfield and Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, and Daniele Massaro playing in attack.

In addition to three consecutive scudetti (from 1992 to 1994, including the feat of not losing a single match in the 1991/1992 season), AC Milan reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years: in 1993 they were defeated by Olympique de Marseille; this match was disputed by a match-fixing scandal in the French league involving Marseille's then club president. In 1994 it was FC Barcelona who experienced the taste of defeat, after a famous 4-0 win at the hands of the Rossoneri; and in the 1995 finals, Milan were again defeated, this time by Ajax Amsterdam. Then, in 1995-96, led by famous world-class players such as Roberto Baggio, Marco Simone and George Weah, AC Milan gained their fifteenth Italian Championship. Milan's primary line-up under Capello (1996): Sebastiano Rossi; Christian Panucci, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Roberto Donadoni, Demetrio Albertini, Marcel Desailly; Zvonimir Boban; George Weah, Roberto Baggio.