[vnata001]

Most of my friends are either sh*t eating Inter, Man U, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Chelsea fans. OR, they are tolerable, and support clubs that I appreciate: Arsenal, Juve, and (don't slaughter me, I do respect them for their playing style and youth system) Barcelona.

Somehow, I only have ONE other friend who supports AC Milan with me.

Now, I know, this doesn't really have any direct relevance to the upcoming season. BUT, I LOVE to engage my footy-friends in mental flossing exercises about their teams and personal fanhood, and thought I'd at least attempt the same here, so here goes:

Out of ALL the players that you can say you have LEGITIMATELY watched, while being a fervent supporter of the team, what would your personal favorite starting XI be. And if there is some contention for a couple spots, explain them (for the sake of conversation!) Maybe state the year (optional: your age) you considered yourself an official milanista?

Since for most of the last decade I've been one of the only ones ever answering on behalf of our AC Milan, it'd be great to hear from the forum what your favorite XIs would be and why. At the very least, it'd be a cool way for me (who I consider to be one of the younger milan supporters in this forum) to learn a little bit more about the clubs recent players.

Now before I give mine, disclaimer: Trust me, I've heard all about our 89/90/91 teams. I've read about them, watched them, and am in true awe of the team we had assembled back then. But, if I am to be honest to the question I asked, and answer based only on the players I have watched while being a fervent supporter, then i must qualify:

I can only really say I've been a supporter of the team since 2002. I was a fan of the sport from childhood, watched World Cup 94 - fell for Brazil and Italy, naturally. Favorite players were Romario, Baggio, and Maldini. In 95, without ever having seen a Milan match before, when I had read that Baggio and Maldini were on a team together named AC Milan, I became a fan without even having ever seen them play. Since then, they've always been my favorite team, however after World Cup 2002 two things happened. 1) My family subscribed to Fox Sports World (the only way we could get coverage of European Soccer here in the US and 2) AC Milan signed Kaka (a young Brazilian who I pinned my hopes on to be a flag bearer - you may wonder why I'm a fan boy). I guess this is the way it worked out for me considering my age, and access to European leagues. The rest is history, therefore my answer is a simple one.

Our 04/05 starting XI. Watching this team gave me an heir of arrogance, a superiority complex almost. At the time, I thought it was IMPOSSIBLE for a team to EVER be constructed better. There may have been differences in ages and stages of careers, but one thing was undeniable: EVERY PLAYER in our first eleven was world class, undisputed.

Dida. Cafu. Stam. Nesta. Maldini. Rino. Pirlo. Seedorf. Ricky. Sheva. Crespo.

your turn.

This post has been edited by vnata001: Aug 20 2010, 08:21 PM