{"id":160098,"date":"2023-06-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=919725"},"modified":"2023-06-12T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T00:00:00","slug":"former-italian-premier-silvio-berlusconi-was-also-successful-in-soccer-at-ac-milan-and-monza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/06\/12\/former-italian-premier-silvio-berlusconi-was-also-successful-in-soccer-at-ac-milan-and-monza\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi was also successful in soccer at AC Milan and Monza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

MILAN (AP) \u2014 From his grand entrance by helicopter after buying AC Milan to empowering Monza up to Serie A for the first time in its history, Silvio Berlusconi dominated Italian soccer for decades just like he commanded the show in Italian politics.
\nBerlusconi, a former three-time Italian premier, died Monday, according to his television network. He was 86.
\nBerlusconi was hospitalized on Friday for the second time in months for treatment of chronic leukemia. He also suffered over the years from heart ailments and prostate cancer.
\nUnder his ownership, AC Milan won 29 trophies, including eight Serie A titles and five European Cups.
\n\u201cAll of the things I work on are profane. But Milan is sacred,\u201d Berlusconi once said. \u201cI remember when my dad would bring me to the stadium and I didn\u2019t pay for a ticket because I was so small. So I repeat, Milan is a matter of love.\u201d
\nBerlusconi was the ultimate \u201cpresidente\u201d in an era when Italian soccer was still a family-run business commanded by powerful men, alongside the Agnellis at Juventus and the Morattis at Inter Milan.
\nThese days, Milan is under American ownership, Inter is under Chinese control and only the Agnellis remain at Juventus among Italy\u2019s three biggest clubs.
\n\u201cDeeply saddened, AC Milan grieves the passing of the unforgettable Silvio Berlusconi and wishes to reach out to the family, associates, and most cherished friends to share our sympathies,\u201d Milan said in a statement. \u201cTomorrow, we will dream of new ambitions, create new challenges, and seek new victories. Which will represent the good, the strong, and the true that lies inside us, in all of us who shared this adventure of binding our lives to a dream called Milan. Thank you, Mr. President. Always with us.\u201c
\nMILAN TURNAROUND
\nBerlusconi saved Milan from near bankruptcy when he bought the club in February 1986.
\nMilan was still suffering from the effects of being relegated to Serie B after the Totonero match-fixing scandal and had finished fifth in the top division the previous season.
\nIn June 1986, Berlusconi marked the start of his first full season as president in typically dramatic fashion at a team presentation. In front of 10,000 fans at the city\u2019s neoclassical Arena Civica, he and the players flew in on three Apache helicopters to the tune of Wagner\u2019s \u201cRide of the Valkyries.\u201d
\n\u201cThe squad met up at Linate (airport) without knowing what was happening,\u201d former Milan captain Franco Baresi said. \u201cPeople made fun of us, but with the helicopters the president showed immediately his desire to astound. And we understood that the winds had changed direction.\u201d
\nTITLES AND TROPHIES
\nBerlusconi quickly made his mark when Milan won Serie A in his second full season in charge.
\nThe real glory came in the following two seasons, though, when Milan earned consecutive European Cup titles with a team led by Dutch stars Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard.
\nMany more trophies followed, with Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta anchoring the defense and Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka scoring the goals.
\nWith success after success on the soccer field, it was no coincidence that Berlusconi borrowed a soccer chant when his right-wing political party was named \u201cForza Italia.\u201d
\n\u201cThe problem is that Milan often comes up against left-wing referees,\u201d Berlusconi said after a soccer loss in 2010.
\nCOACHING CAROUSEL
\nUnder Berlusconi\u2019s presidency, Milan made 21 coaching changes.
\nThe man in the hot seat when Berlusconi bought the club was Nils Liedholm. But Milan was beaten twice in the Italian Cup by a Parma team that was coached by a certain Arrigo Sacchi, who Berlusconi eventually hired despite criticism about Sacchi never having played professional soccer.
\nSacchi went on to revolutionize the game with his offensive tactics in a country that was better known for \u201ccatenaccio,\u201d or lockdown defense.
\nAfter coaching Milan to European Cup titles in 1989 and 1990, Sacchi went on to coach Italy\u2019s national team to the 1994 World Cup final.
\nAlways a hands-on owner, Berlusconi was never shy about dictating player lineups to his coaches or voicing a preference for one formation over another.
\n\u201cBerlusconi criticized us when things were going well and gave us support when they were going bad. Most presidents do exactly the opposite,\u201d said current Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who matched Sacchi by coaching Milan to two Champions League titles in 2003 and 2007 \u2014 in addition to a runner-up finish in 2005.
\nBerlusconi was famously a proponent of the 4-3-2-1 \u201cChristmas tree\u201d formation.
\n\u201cEveryone\u2019s always talking about Sacchi\u2019s Milan and (Alberto) Zaccheroni\u2019s Milan and Ancelotti\u2019s Milan and you never hear anyone talk about Berlusconi\u2019s Milan. But for 18 years I\u2019ve been making the lineups, dictating the rules and buying the players,\u201d Berlusconi said in 2004.
\nGALLIANI FRIENDSHIP
\nWhile Berlusconi was a constant presence at the San Siro, it was his good friend and fellow TV executive Adriano Galliani who actually ran Milan on a day-to-day basis.
\nBacked by Berlusconi\u2019s millions, Galliani became known as a master of signing top players on the transfer market.
\n\u201cThe best player was certainly Marco van Basten,\u201d Galliani told Corriere della Sera in 2018. \u201c(Former Milan sporting director) Ariedo Braida realized he was a phenomenon and we went to Amsterdam several times with Berlusconi to see him. Even Berlusconi\u2019s father, Luigi, came along.
\n\u201cBut the best story was Gullit. It was August 1986 and we were in Bermuda and all of a sudden the president (Berlusconi) says that Milan is playing in a four-team preseason tournament in Barcelona that night. So we grabbed a plane and flew there. Berlusconi immediately noticed this giant playing for PSV (Eindhoven) with dreadlocks as a defender. The president went crazy and said \u2018We\u2019ve got to get him.\u2019 But in 1986 we couldn\u2019t buy any more foreign players and so we had to wait until 1987 to sign him after a year-long courtship.\u201d
\nREUNITED AT MONZA
\nAfter selling Milan to a Chinese consortium in 2017, Berlusconi and Galliani reunited a year later with the purchase of Monza, the team that Galliani grew up supporting.
\nIn just a few years, Monza worked its way up from the third division to a Serie A debut in 2022-23.
\nAt this season\u2019s Monza team Christmas party, Berlusconi told the squad that if they won one of their upcoming games against Inter, Juventus or Milan, \u201cI\u2019ll bring in a busload of whores.\u201d
\nWhile Berlusconi was widely criticized for his remarks, Monza did end up beating Juventus in January for a season-sweep of the Bianconeri.
\n___
\nDampf reported from Rome.
\n___
\nMore AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/Soccer and https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP_Sports
\nSHARE:<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 From his grand entrance by helicopter after buying AC Milan to empowering Monza up to Serie A for the first time in its history, Silvio Berlusconi dominated Italian soccer for decades just like he commanded the show in Italian politics.
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