Milan officially announced Mario Mandzukic as their new striker today, and the Croatian forward has decided to challenge the curse of the No. 9 shirt at San Siro.
Since Filippo Inzaghi, nine players have tried their luck with the No. 9 shirt and the poor return has been labelled as the curse of the famous jersey.
Milan officially announced Mario Mandzukic as their new striker today, and the Croatian forward has decided to challenge the curse of the No. 9 shirt at San Siro.
Since Filippo Inzaghi, nine players have tried their luck with the No. 9 shirt and the poor return has been labelled as the curse of the famous jersey.
Inzaghi played for Milan from 2001 to 2012 and continued the great history of the No. 9 shirt, previously worn by George Weah, Patrick Kluivert, Roberto Baggio, Daniele Massaro, Jean-Pierre Papin, Marco van Basten, Aldo Serena, Pietro Paolo Virdis, Angelo Sormani, Juan Schiaffino, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm.
The former Juventus forward lived up to the expectations and continued the success, picking up two Scudetti, two Champions League and a Club World Cup.
The World Cup winner retired in July 2012, with 300 competitive games for the Rossoneri and 126 goals to his name, and nobody has been able to fill the void since he left.
Now, Mandzukic has arrived to take on the burden of the famous No. 9 shirt. The former Juventus forward, who turns 35 in May, has scored 197 goals in 497 competitive games, including spells with Wolfsburg, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Will the former Croatia international succeed next to Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Milan and break the spell?
POLL: From Pippo to Mandzukic… Will Mario Mandzukic succeed to break the No. 9 curse at #ACMilan? https://t.co/5QUl6A6cOI
— footballitalia (@footballitalia) January 19, 2021
In the meantime, let’s take a look at his predecessors, the ones who have tried and failed since Inzaghi stopped playing.
Krzysztof Piatek – arrived in January 2019 after an impressive start to the season with Genoa and he finished his first season in Italy with 30 goals across all competitions. But for Milan, he only scored 14 goals in 41 games from January to January, before he moved to Hertha BSC in January 2020.
Gonzalo Higuain – The Argentine arrived on loan from Juventus in the summer of 2018, but his stay at San Siro didn’t last for too long. With eight goals in 22 games, his record wasn’t the worst, but the former Napoli man moved to join Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea after six months, as he struggled to settle in Milan.
André Silva – There were high hopes when André Silva arrived in July 2017, but the young centre-forward struggled to live up to the great expectations. The 25-year-old has started scoring at Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga, but he left Milan after only 10 goals in 41 competitive games.
Gianluca Lapadula – Lapadula arrived from Pescara in July 2016, having scored 30 goals in 44 Serie B games, including the promotion play-offs. But he never managed to break through at the Giuseppe Meazza, with eight goals in 29 games for the Rossoneri, eventually moving on after one season.
Luiz Adriano – The Brazilian striker came from a successful spell with Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, but life with the No .9 shirt at the Diavolo proved to be too hard. After an initial season with four goals from 26 Serie A games in 2015-16, he swapped to No. 7 for the and then moved Spartak Moscow on a free transfer in January 2017.
Fernando Torres – The Spanish striker was struggling to find his feet in the first half of 2014-15, having never fully recovered from injury and never really displayed his full potential during his stint with Milan. He spent six months at San Siro, scoring once in 10 appearances with the Rossoneri.
Mattia Destro – The striker arrived on loan from Roma to replace Torres for the second half of the campaign, but neither he managed to convince at the Rossoneri. Destro, who had shown signs of a promising future with Inter’s Primavera squad, moved on after the second half of the season with three goals in 15 games.
Alessandro Matri – The former Milan youth returned home for the 2013-14 season after success with Cagliari and Juventus. But his return to San Siro was not successful for the former Italy international, as he was loaned out to Fiorentina already in January 2014, after 15 League games and one goal.
Alexandre Pato – The Brazilian is currently without a club and has flirted with the Rossoneri over a return to Milanello. Pato spent six seasons with the club and was given No. 9 when Inzaghi said goodbye ahead of 2012-13. But he moved back to Brazil only six months later, with four games an no goals in Serie A after taking over the famous shirt.
Image credit: @ACMilan