Founded by Alfred Edwards, an Englishman, in 1899, the Milan Cricket and Football Club were amongst Italy's first teams. It was only two years later that Milan won their first Italian League Championship, as it was then known, beating Genoa one-nil in the play-off final. Genoa, who dominated the league scene in it's earliest years gained a revenge two-nil victory in the same fixture in 1902. The Championship was decided by a play-off league between 1905 and 1908, and Milan Football Club, as they were now known, won back-to-back titles in 1906 and 1907. Although Milan were a force to be reckoned with in these early days, in reality there were very few teams playing in the Italian League Championship and as more teams were formed and joined the regional leagues, Milan's success dried up.
In 1938, Milan changed their name for the third and final time to the familiar AC (Associazione Calcio) Milan and this coincided with an upturn in the club's fortunes as they placed third in the relatively new national league, formed in 1930. They missed out on the championship by just three points, the honours going to local rivals Inter. Milan again had to play second fiddle to Inter in 1941, finishing third behind the second placed Inter by a single point, Bologna winning the league. The next year, Milan took part in their first Italian Cup final, since the contest's inception in 1922. Their opponents were Juventus and although they drew one-one in the final, they were well-beaten four-one in the replay. Milan would not feature in the final of this competition for another twenty-five years. In the immediate post-war years, Milan continued to build on their resurgence, finishing in the top three in 1946, 1948 and 1949.
Milan dominated the Serie A scene throughout the 1950s, winning four titles and failing to place in the top three only once in the decade. By this time, the Italian league was one of the world's richest and was already attracting the best of the European talent. Milan were integral in this and much of their success during this period was attributed to a trio of Swedes, Gren, Nordahl and Liedholm. They finished 2nd behind Juventus in 1950, but won their first Serie A title in 1951, pipping Inter to the post by a single point. Championship success came again in 1955 and 1957, with a second place in 1956 when Fiorentina won by a twelve point margin. In that year, Milan lost out to eventual winners Real Madrid of Spain in the semi-final of the newly inaugurated European Cup and their league form appears to have suffered in tandem with their next European Cup campaign in 1958, when they failed to place in the top three of the Serie A. Again Real Madrid were to prove Milan's undoing, coming back from behind twice in the final and clinching victory in extra time. With no European competition to distract them in 1959, Milan bounced back to win their fourth Serie A title of the decade.
Milan remained as a major force in Serie A during the 1960s, but also managed to garner some of the cup success which had so far eluded them, in both domestic and European competition. They fared disastrously in their first European campaign, beating Olympiakos in the preliminary round, but losing both legs of their first round tie against Barcelona. The domestic league campaign was also poor by Milan's own standards, finishing third and eleven points of the pace set by champions Juventus. Milan lost out to Juventus again in 1961 finishing second, by a more respectable four point margin and won their fifth Serie A title in 1962. Again, a European campaign detracted from Milan's league form in 1963, finishing third as local rivals Inter won the title, but this was eclipsed by Milan's first European Cup success. The final was staged at Wembley Stadium with Benfica the opponents. Eusebio gave Benfica the lead after nineteen minutes, but Altafini was the hero of the hour scoring twice in the second half to clinch the honours for Milan. Altafini was also the tournament's top scorer with fourteen goals.
Success in Serie A eluded Milan for the next few seasons, their highest position being second in 1965 when they again lost out to Inter. Four years after their European Cup triumph, Milan won their first Italian Cup beating Padova one-nil in the final. 1968 saw success both at home and in Europe with victory in both the Cup Winners Cup and Serie A. Hamrin scored twice inside the first twenty minutes of the Cup Winners Cup final to clinch a two-nil victory over Hamburg and Milan won the Serie A title by a comfortable nine-point margin. Milan only managed to finish third in Serie A in 1969, but won the European Cup, assisted by Gianni Rivera, the European Footballer of the Year and a hat-trick from Prati in the final, a four-one victory over Ajax, staged in the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
Over the next few years, Milan did not fare so well in Serie A but consolidated on their cup success and rarely a season passed that did not feature a cup final. Milan finished second in Serie A for three years running, finishing behind Inter in 1971 and losing out to Juventus by a point in both 1972 and 1973. Milan lost the Italian Cup in 1971 to Torino on penalties, but won the tournament in 1972 with a two-nil victory over Napoli in the final and gained some measure of revenge over Juventus for their Serie A win in the 1973 final via a penalty shoot-out to retain the cup. The 1972-73 season also saw a second victory in the Cup Winners Cup, the tournament's top scorer Chiarugi scoring the only goal of the game after five minutes in a victory over Leeds United. Milan again reached the final in 1974, but were beaten two-nil by 1.FC Magdeburg of East Germany. The 1975 Italian Cup final once again featured Milan, this time on the wrong end of a three-two scoreline, Fiorentina running out winners. However, the memory of this was erased in 1977, when a two-nil victory in an all-Milan final won the trophy for a remarkable fourth time in ten years. A seventh Serie A title in 1979 was to follow, Milan finishing three points ahead of second-placed Perugia.
The 1980s started off badly for Milan. Their European Cup campaign ended in the first round with a one-nil defeat at the hands of FC Porto, and until 1988, Milan managed to place no higher than third in Serie A, this coming in 1980. In 1980, Milan were relegated for the first time in their history along Lazio for their part in a match-rigging scandal, although they returned to the top flight as Champions a season later. Milan were relegated after their first season back in the top flight, but once again, returned as Champions the following year. There was more disappointment to come in 1985, when Sampdoria triumphed in the Italian Cup at Milan's expense, although Ruud Gullit was voted European Footballer of the Year. It was the intervention of future Italian President Silvio Berlusconi and a massive cash injection that changed the club's fortunes.
Towards the end of the decade the quality of the rebuilt side began to tell. The top three players in the European Footballer of the Year were all on Milan's books in both 1988 and 1989, Marco Van Basten claiming the honour twice in succession. Success in Serie A in 1988 heralded the beginning of a glorious era for Milan. A third place in Serie A in 1989 was eclipsed by victory in the European Cup, and in 1990 Milan went one better, retaining the European Cup and finishing second in Serie A. The 1989 European Cup campaign climaxed in a four-nil victory over Steaua Bucharest, Gullit and Van Basten both scoring twice and Van Basten finishing up as the tournament's top scorer on ten goals. Another Dutchman, Frank Rijkaard scored the only goal in the 1990 European Cup final victory over Benfica. Milan were establishing a dominance in the domestic league, winning the Serie A title three times in succession from 1992 to 1994, the second victory marking the club's tenth Serie A championship. The 1993 European Cup was played in a new league format. Milan won all six games in the group stage, only to lose out to Olympique Marseille in the final, via a single goal from Basile Boli. The format was again changed the following year to incorporate a semi-final as well as the group stage, but this time Milan were more than a match for finalists Barcelona running out four-nil victors after a virtuoso performance. Milan reached the final for the third year in succession in 1995, but lost out to Ajax when future Milan player, Patrick Kluivert scored an 85th minute winner. |
发表于 2002-8-10 03:24:25
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