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AC Milan

1987–88 season
Owner	Silvio Berlusconi
President	Silvio Berlusconi
Manager	Arrigo Sacchi
Stadium	San Siro
Serie A	1st (in European Cup and Supercoppa Italiana)
Coppa Italia	Round of 16
UEFA Cup	Round of 32
Top goalscorer	League: Paolo Virdis (11) All: Paolo Virdis (15)
Average home league attendance	72,177
Home colours Away colours
← 1986–871988–89 →
All statistics correct as of 15 May 1988.

During the 1987–88 season, Milan Associazione Calcio competed in Serie A, Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup.

Summary

Silvio Berlusconi appointed Arrigo Sacchi as the new head coach, who in the previous season with Parma had faced Milan in the Coppa Italia three times and subsequently eliminated the Rossoneri, in the process impressing Berlusconi with the team's style of play. The transfer market brought two Dutch players to Milan: Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit, taken respectively from Ajax and PSV, in place of the English Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley. Angelo Colombo and Carlo Ancelotti joined in midfield. The coach from Fusignano could thus count on a young squad, which could allow him to fight in the league against reigning champions Napoli. The squad was already made up of a strong defense led by captain Franco Baresi and which included Paolo Maldini, Filippo Galli, Mauro Tassotti as well as the substitutes Alessandro Costacurta (who will make his debut in the first team during the season) and the new signing Roberto Mussi. Thanks to the play-off won at the end of the 1986–87 season against Sampdoria, the Rossoneri regained access to Europe by participating in the UEFA Cup. Due to the disqualification of the Meazza (because of incidents during the match against Waregem on 11 December 1985), the club decided to play its home games at the Via del mare stadium in Lecce. In the Coppa Italia, Milan got through the first round, finishing their group in second place: they won four matches and lost only one, on penalties, against Parma.

The league began with the victory at Pisa, in which Van Basten (on his debut in Italy) scored the final 3–1 from a penalty kick. Milan then eliminated Sporting de Gijón in the UEFA Cup after losing the first leg 1–0 and winning the second leg 3–0 at the Via del Mare. On the league's fifth day, in the match against Sampdoria, Van Basten suffered an injury that would put him out of action until April. The journey in Europe ended in the next round, against another Spanish team: Espanyol, victorious away, in Lecce (2–0), and capable of imposing a goalless draw at home. Two months after the Dutchman's injury, Milan beat Roma at the San Siro, but the match was later abandoned by the referee due to a firecracker from the Milan stand that had hit the Giallorossi goalkeeper Tancredi. The calendar year ended with a victory in the derby, achieved by beating Inter 1–0: Milan thus had 16 points in the standings, 5 less than leaders Napoli. The first match of 1988 had the challenge against the Neapolitans on the calendar, which the Rossoneri won with an imposing 4–1; the 3–1 goal was scored by Gullit, who had just been awarded the 1987 Ballon d'Or. Three days later, the team defeated Ascoli in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia: in the second leg, the score of 1–0 was overturned by Ascoli who would then win on penalties.

In the second half of the season, in the league, Sacchi's team didn't suffer any setbacks and recovered ground against Napoli. In the 25th round, Van Basten returned to the pitch after six months of absence, and scored the winning goal against Empoli. This success was followed by victories against Roma and Inter, which made it possible to reduce the gap from Napoli to just one point, on the eve of the crucial match. At the San Paolo, Milan defeated the hosts again, this time 3–2 with a double by Virdis and Van Basten, who responded to Maradona and Careca. The result promoted the Rossoneri to first place in the standings, with an advantage of one point. The position was defended in the two remaining games, thanks to draws with Juventus and Como, giving Milan the Scudetto, their eleventh overall, as well as the first after nine years.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ITA Giovanni Galli — GK  ITA Giulio Nuciari — DF  ITA Franco Baresi — DF  SUI Walter Bianchi — DF  ITA Alessandro Costacurta — DF  ITA Filippo Galli — DF  ITA Paolo Maldini — DF  ITA Roberto Mussi — DF  ITA Mauro Tassotti — DF  ITA Rufo Emiliano Verga — MF  ITA Carlo Ancelotti

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ITA Mario Bortolazzi — MF  ITA Angelo Colombo — MF  ITA Roberto Donadoni — MF  ITA Alberigo Evani — MF  NED Ruud Gullit — FW  NED Marco van Basten — FW  ITA Daniele Massaro — FW  ITA Pietro Paolo Virdis — FW  ITA Massimiliano Cappellini — FW  ITA Graziano Mannari

Transfers

Competitions

Serie A

League table

Results by round

Matches

13 September 1987 1	Pisa	1–3	Milan	Pisa
	Cecconi 53'	Report	Donadoni 16' Gullit 73' van Basten 80' (pen.)	Stadium: Arena Garibaldi Attendance: 26,728 Referee: Luigi Agnolin

20 September 1987 2	Milan	0–2	Fiorentina	Milan
		Report	Díaz 76' R. Baggio 78'	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 74,880 Referee: Pietro D'elia

4 October 1987 4	Milan	2–0	Ascoli	Milan
	Virdis 35' Evani 82'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 74,928 Referee: Pierluigi Pairetto

11 October 1987 5	Sampdoria	1–1	Milan	Genoa
	Vialli 53'	Report	Gullit 51'	Stadium: Stadio Luigi Ferraris Attendance: 16,905 Referee: Tullio Lanese

25 October 1987 6	Verona	0–1	Milan	Verona
		Report	Virdis 41'	Stadium: Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi Attendance: 44,419 Referee: Rosario Lo Bello

8 November 1987 8	Pescara	0–2	Milan	Pescara
		Report	Virdis 28' Bortolazzi 86'	Stadium: Stadio Adriatico Attendance: 29,486 Referee: Pierluigi Pairetto

22 November 1987 9	Milan	3–0	Avellino	Milan
	Colombo 6' Donadoni 67' Maldini 74'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 68,536 Referee: Werther Cornieti

13 December 1987 11	Milan	0–2 (abd)	Roma	Milan
	Virdis 83' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 70,887 Referee: Pietro D'Elia
Note: The win was awarded to Roma due to a firecracker that hit the Giallorossi's goalkeeper Franco Tancredi at the start of the second half. He was hit on the head by a firework thrown by a A.C. Milan supporter. Tancredi stopped breathing for a short time but was eventually resuscitated by paramedics.

20 December 1987 12	Internazionale	0–1	Milan	Milan
		Report	Ferri 4' (o.g.)	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 67,545 Referee: Tullio Lanese

3 January 1988 13	Milan	4–1	Napoli	Milan
	Colombo 19' Virdis 24' Gullit 73' Donadoni 78'	Report	Careca 10'	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 75,519 Referee: Luigi Agnolin

10 January 1988 14	Juventus	0–1	Milan	Turin
		Report	Gullit 62'	Stadium: Stadio Comunale di Torino Attendance: 59,376 Referee: Carlo Longhi

17 January 1988 15	Milan	5–0	Como	Milan
	Donadoni 30' Virdis 49' Gullit 61', 88' Ancelotti 73'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 68,947 Referee: Werther Cornieti

24 January 1988 16	Milan	1–0	Pisa	Milan
	Colombo 27'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 70,523 Referee: Pierluigi Pairetto

31 January 1988 17	Fiorentina	1–1	Milan	Florence
	Di Chiara 49'	Report	Baresi 74' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Comunale (Florence) Attendance: 52,068 Referee: Gianluca Paparesta

7 February 1988 18	Milan	3–0	Cesena	Milan
	Gullit 13' Evani 72' Massaro 83'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 68,512 Referee: Luciano Luci

14 February 1988 19	Ascoli	1–1	Milan	Ascoli Piceno
	Destro 47'	Report	Massaro 66'	Stadium: Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca Attendance: 22,678 Referee: Werther Cornieti

28 February 1988 20	Milan	2–1	Sampdoria	Milan
	Virdis 7' Maldini 70'	Report	Bonomi 16' (pen.)	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 72,568 Referee: Luigi Agnolin

13 March 1988 22	Torino	1–1	Milan	Turin
	Bresciani 77'	Report	Ancelotti 78'	Stadium: Stadio Comunale di Torino Attendance: 38,857 Referee: Rosario Lo Bello

20 March 1988 23	Milan	2–0	Pescara	Milan
	Massaro 2' Gullit 47'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 71,336 Referee: Fabio Baldas

10 April 1988 25	Milan	1–0	Empoli	Milan
	van Basten 61'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 72,763 Referee: Rosario Lo Bello

17 April 1988 26	Roma	0–2	Milan	Rome
		Report	Virdis 25' Massaro 85'	Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Attendance: 59,455 Referee: Pierluigi Pairetto

24 April 1988 27	Milan	2–0	Internazionale	Milan
	Gullit 43' Virdis 53'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 75,503 Referee: Carlo Longhi

1 May 1988 28	Napoli	2–3	Milan	Naples
	Maradona 45' Careca 78'	Report	Virdis 36', 68' van Basten 76'	Stadium: Stadio San Paolo Attendance: 82,824 Referee: Rosario Lo Bello

15 May 1988 30	Como	1–1	Milan	Como
	Giunta 46'	Report	Virdis 2'	Stadium: Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia Attendance: 25,036 Referee: Sergio Coppetelli

Coppa Italia

First round

23 August 1987 1	Milan	5–0	Bari	Milan
	Donadoni 3' Virdis 21' van Basten 55' Gullit 57' Massaro 70'			Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 27 962 Referee: Pairetto

26 August 1987 2	Como	1–2	Milan	Como
	Borgonovo 67'		8' Gullit 36' van Basten	Stadium: Giuseppe Sinigaglia Attendance: 17 000 Referee: Bergamo

30 August 1987 3	Monza	0–2	Milan	Milan
			12', 83' van Basten	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 44 568 Referee: Luci

2 September 1987 4	Milan	2–2 (3–4 p)	Parma	Milan
	van Basten 15' Gullit 80'		42' Zannoni 58' (aut.) F. Galli	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 44 179 Referee: Coppetelli
	Penalties
	van Basten Bortolazzi Donadoni Baresi Ancelotti		Zannoni Carboni Pasa Di Fabio Fiorin

6 September 1987 5	Barletta	1–1 (3–5 p)	Milan	Bari
	Bonaldi 87'		59' Donadoni	Stadium: Stadio della Vittoria Attendance: 10 000 Referee: Baldas
	Penalties
	Di Sarno Cossato Mazzaferro Rovani		van Basten Baresi Ancelotti Colombo Donadoni

Eightfinals

6 January 1988	Milan	0–1	Ascoli	Milan
			59' Destro	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 13 808 Referee: Paparesta

20 January 1988	Ascoli	0–1 (4–2 p)	Milan	Ascoli Piceno
			9' Virdis	Stadium: Cino e Lillo Del Duca Attendance: 14 910 Referee: D'Elia
	Penalties
	Giovannelli Casagrande Greco Benetti Destro		Virdis Bortolazzi Donadoni Baresi

UEFA Cup

First round

16 September 1987	Sporting Gijon	1–0	Milan	Gijón
	Jaime 69'	Report		Stadium: El Molinon Attendance: 26 000 Referee: Bridges

30 September 1987	Milan	3–0	Sporting Gijon	Lecce
	Virdis 21' (rig.), 45' (rig.) Gullit 43'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Via del Mare Attendance: 35,488 Referee: Petrović

Second round

21 October 1987	Milan	0–2	Espanyol	Lecce
		Report	40' Zubillaga 49' Pichi Alonso	Stadium: Stadio Via del Mare Attendance: 29 102 Referee: Syme

4 November 1987	Espanyol	0–0	Milan	Barcelona
		Report		Stadium: Sarria Attendance: 30 000 Referee: Ponnet

Statistics

Squad statistics

Competition	Points	Home						Away						Total						GD
		G	W	D	L	Gs	Ga	G	W	D	L	Gs	Ga	G	W	D	L	Gs	Ga
1987-88 Serie A	45	15	10	3	2	25	6	15	7	8	0	18	8	30	17	11	2	43	14	+29
1987-88 Coppa Italia	–	3	1	1	1	7	3	4	3	1	0	6	2	7	4	2	1	13	5	+8
1987-88 UEFA Cup	–	2	1	0	1	3	2	2	0	1	1	0	1	4	1	1	2	3	3	0
Total	–	20	12	4	4	35	11	21	10	10	1	24	11	41	22	14	5	59	22	+37

Players statistics

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Serie A		Coppa Italia		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ITA	G. Galli	40	-12	30	-12	7	0	3	0
	DF	ITA	Tassotti	39	0	28	0	7	0	4	0
	DF	ITA	Galli	40	0	30	0	7	0	3	0
	DF	ITA	Baresi	36	1	27	1	6	0	3	0
	DF	ITA	Maldini	29	2	26	2	1	0	2	0
	MF	ITA	Donadoni	39	6	28+1	4	7	2	3	0
	MF	ITA	Ancelotti	38	2	27	2	7	0	4	0
	MF	ITA	Colombo	35	3	26	3	5	0	4	0
	MF	ITA	Evani	30	2	22+5	2	2	0	1	0
	FW	NED	Gullit	39	13	29	9	6	3	4	1
	FW	ITA	Virdis	33	15	23+2	11	4	2	4	2
	GK	ITA	Nuciari	2	-1	0	0	2	-1	0	-0
	DF	SUI	Bianchi	10	0	1+2	0	4	0	3	0
	DF	ITA	Costacurta	8	0	2+5	0	1	0	0	0
	DF	ITA	Mussi	18	0	6+5	0	4	0	3	0
	DF	ITA	Verga	3	0	0+3	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	ITA	Bortolazzi	22	1	6+7	1	7	0	2	0
	FW	ITA	Massaro	35	5	15+11	4	7	1	2	0
	FW	NED	van Basten	19	8	4+7	3	5	5	3	0
	FW	ITA	Cappellini	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	ITA	Mannari	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0

• Source:

References

1. Gianni Mura (July 3, 1987). "E un giorno Sacchi giocò in difesa". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 45.
2. Gianni Mura (July 28, 1987). "Straordinari per il Milan". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 20.
3. Fabrizio Bocca (July 1, 1987). "Milan, Juve e Roma sconvolte Hanno già prenotato i migliori". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 23.
4. Licia Granello (September 17, 1987). "Il Milan è un gigante smarrito". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 18.
5. Licia Granello (October 1, 1987). "È un Milan preciso". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 20.
6. "Il Milan è già disperato". repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
7. Gianni Brera (November 24, 1987). "Caro Napoli, vai troppo forte". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 33.
8. Licia Granello (January 20, 1988). "Il mio calcio è come un look". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 30.
9. Gianni Brera (January 26, 1988). "Ma anche le grandi sentono la fatica". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 24.
10. Licia Granello (May 3, 1988). "Ma non è ancora scudetto". la Repubblica (in Italian). p. 34.
11. "Cari campioni, vi vedo così..." repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
12. "Norme organizzative interne della F.I.G.C. - Art. 51.6" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
13. Stadium chosen due to is more attendance-capacity than Stadio Brianteo: Nino Sormani (31 August 1987), "Primi fischi per il Milan olandese", La Stampa, p. 20
14. Due to no authorized Barletta: Panini 1989, p. 482.
15. ^ Due to San Siro was suspended, Milan has played the match in Lecce; cfr. Luca Argentieri (10 July 1987), "Real – Napoli è già finale", la Repubblica, p. 31
16. "Milan Associazione Calcio 1987–88". magliarossonera.it. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
17. "Milan Associazione Calcio 1987–88" (in Italian). magliarossonera.it. Retrieved 24 May 2023.

Works cited

• Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio 1989 (in Italian). Modena: Panini Group. 1988.

Sources

• RSSSF – Italy 1987/88

• AC Milan seasons
• Italian football clubs 1987–88 season
• Italian football championship–winning seasons