[Tennie]

(IMG:http://i34.tinypic.com/2la4fg8.jpg)

Picture of starting lineup of the European Cup final
from left, top row: Paolo Maldini, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Carlo Ancelotti, Frank Rijkaard, Giovanni Galli
bottom row: Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni, Billy Costacurta, Angelo Colombo, Mauro Tassotti
This is the Milan club voted best club team of all time by World Soccer Magazine.

Here's the citation:

Arrigo Sacchi's Milan side of the late 1980s and early 1990s revolutionised Italian football with their attack-minded, pressing game.

Sacchi was making a name for himself with Parma in the mid-1980s when he was hired by Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi. At the time, Italian league rules allowed three foreigners in each team. Englishmen Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley were shown the door and in their place Milan hired Dutchmen Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten. They were joined a year later by compatriot Frank Rijkaard.

The trio provided the flair, the Italian players provided the steel, Sacchi provided the tactical discipline. Together they changed the face of Italian and also European football.

A tight defence, marshalled by Franco Baresi and featuring youngsters Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta, provided a platform for a midfield that included Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Donadoni alongside Rijkaard. They in turn provided the bullets for Gullit and Van Basten, who each scored twice as Milan destroyed Steaua Bucharest in the 1989 European Cup final, having beaten Real Madrid 6-1 on aggregate in the semi-final.

Sacchi's men retained the trophy in 1990 – the last team to do so – with a narrow victory over Sven Goran Eriksson's Benfica. They also enjoyed back-to-back World Club Cup success, against Atletico National of Colombia and Olimpia of Paraguay.

I'm probably one of the few boardmembers old enough to remember watching this team play. They were magnificent. Though they didn't become the Invincibles until a couple of years later, they were already very, very special.

Today's Milan is a good side - not perfect, but good. Even so, I wonder who, if any, of them would make Sacchi's starting XI and whose place they would take.

[Fillipo Simone]

I'd say Pirlo, Kaka or Rino would/could have a chance. But... the only "weak" links Milan had were Colombo and Galli. I think Dida in his best days was better then Galli in his. And we must not forget this Milan had depth also (depth in the terms of the 80-ties, meaning a proper reserve keeper and 6-7 players) - Filippo Galli, Alberigo Evani, Roberto Mussi who later became a Parma legend and not to forget P.P. Virdis.

It was the particular 1987-88 season were they conceeded only 14 goals in 30 Serie A matches. Interestingly we won that Scudetto with 3 points plus. And even more interesting is:

- 7 of the 17 won matches were wins with a 1-margin difference
- we struggled against the weeker team, or even worse against the to-be relagated ones - Avellino, Empoli, Pisa, Verona...
- we won or drew almost every "big" match, meaning against Napoli, Inter, Juve and Sampdoria. Only exemption, loosing 2-0 to Roma,...