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.

My favorite starting 11 would be:



---------dida--------

-Cafu-nesta-maldini-serginho


--gattuso---pirlo---seedorf---

-kaka-----sheva----ronaldinho

^^ Good post.

My dad was never really into football, and neither were my friends at school so I didn't really get interested in the sport until I was about 8. Then, in 1992 Channel 4 started airing a program on Sunday afternoon called 'Football Italia'. They used to show live Serie A games every week.

English football was going through a dark period at the time, so being able to watch games from the Italian league (which was probably the strongest in the world) was pretty exciting. Gazza had just moved from Spurs to Lazio, and I'd say I was officially a 'supporter' after watching the Milan-Lazio game (Milan won 5:3, 2 pens from MVB )

I guess it was a combination of everything - the players, the stadium, the style of play - even the kit. I got my first Milan shirt on my 9th birthday (with the 'Motta' sponsor) - and used to wear it everywhere.

Milan won the league that year, and I've followed them ever since. I didn't get to see a game in person until 1995, when Milan came to London to play Arsenal in the European Super Cup final. I sat in the Arsenal family section (still wearing my Milan shirt ) with my Dad - and still remember the game like it was yesterday.

I'm still gutted that I never got to see MVB play live - he'd retired by the time Milan came to London He's probably my favourite player of all time.

Anyway - to answer your question, I'd probably go with:

Rossi
Tassotti (Cafu) Baresi Nesta (Costacurta) Maldini
Pirlo (Albertini) Kaka (Savicevic) Rui (Boban)
MVB Shevchenko Inzaghi (Weah)

Players in brackets are close second!

I've been a Milan fan since 1999, though I started following the team regularly only about two years later or so. My favorite line-up thus would be:

Dida; Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Serghino; Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Kaka; Shevchenko, Inzaghi.

I think I predate m1ke a bit in terms of when I started following Milan -- but only by a couple of years. I remember watching the 89 CL run, for example. So really, I'd start my support of the club from that date even though it wasn't always THAT easy to watch games (but for some bizarre reason the part of Poland I was living in at the time showed RAI so we'd get Milan games more often than not on weekends).

My XI

Rossi
Tassotti Baresi Nesta Maldini
Rijkaard Albertini Kaka
Savicevic Van Basten Inzaghi

Subs: Giovanni Galli, Cafu, Billy, Boban, Gullit, Pirlo, Shevchenko, Rui Costa, Massaro, Weah, Rino

I am shocked! In the starting 11!

I don't like him at all but even I will admit that at his prime (05-07) he was a marvellous player.

What an OUTRAGEOUS team! hahaha. Forza Milan

(is outrageous good or bad? I am a confused fish)

outrageously amazing.

i'm only 16 so i only started liking and watching milan at around 2003 mainly cuz of sheva and maldini.
my fav line up would be:
Dida
Cafu Stam Nesta Maldini
Pirlo
Gattuso Seedorf
Kaka'
Sheva Inzaghi

Since I only started watching last year, I don't think you want to see the best I've watched in a starting XI.

Unless I were able to include NT performances I'd seen from earlier guys, aka Kaka and Sheva.

Started to watch in the early 90's.

------------Rossi

Cafu----Baresi----Nesta----Maldini

---Rijkaard--Albertini--Seedorf

------------Kaka

------Sheva-------Van Basten



The midfield is particularly hard to assemble. So many amazing players to choose from.

I've started to watch Milan games since 2001 and this is my line-up :

I admire you a lot for becoming a Milan fan at such a time

My Team would be:



Subs: Seedorf, Serginho, Pippo, Rui Costa, Savicevic, Costacurta

Van Basten, Baresi, Rijkaard were better then some of the players I posted but I was too young to appreciate them as players. Watching someone on tape recordings is very different to living through the emotions of a season watching these players

My story is one I've said before. I watched Maldini in 1994...and got hooked.


My line up:

Cafu---Nesta---Billy---Maldini
--Desailly---Pirlo-----
---Donadoni--------------Kaka---
-------Sheva------Pippo----------


Subs: Albertini, Galli, Stam, Beep Beep, Rijkaard, Gullit, Ronaldinho., Rino, Serginho.

Manager: Carlo f@ckin Ancelotti!