Milan will be looking to call upon the spirit of 1999 to replicate their title heroics from 23 years ago in 2022.
In the final campaign of the 20th century, the title destination was out of Milan’s hands with just two matches remaining but the Rossoneri swooped in to claim their first Scudetto in three seasons on the final day of the campaign.
There are obvious comparisons to the 2021-22 vintage as on both occasions, the title seemed lost so close to the finish line.
In this campaign, Inter suffered a shock loss to Bologna on matchday 34 to concede the title initiative to Milan. Now Stefano Pioli’s side can guarantee the title with a point at Sassuolo on the final day of the season.
It may not seem it now that the Rossoneri are currently 11 years without a Scudetto but in the 1990s, so dominant were Milan that three seasons felt like an eternity.
In 1999, their rivals were Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Lazio who would lead the Bianconcelesti to Cup Winners’ Cup success that season, having beaten Milan in the previous campaign’s Coppa Italia final.
When the two sides played out a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Olimpico on matchday 27, it left Lazio seven points clear with just seven matches remaining in an era where Serie A was made up of 18 teams.
Lazio painfully lost their next two matches – away to Roma and at home to Juventus – which allowed a rampant Milan to cut the lead to a just a point.
The Rossoneri won all seven of their final matches following that stalemate in Rome and in their penultimate match of the campaign the pressure told on Lazio as they fell to a 1-1 draw away to a Fiorentina side, who had been legitimate title challengers just weeks earlier.
Milan’s 4-0 win over Empoli allowed them to move a point clear and they held their nerve to win 2-1 away at Perugia on the final day of the campaign, consigning Lazio’s victory over Parma into an irrelevance.
The result also marked Alberto Zaccheroni’s first Scudetto as manager – a feat Stefano Pioli would match if Milan succeed on Sunday.
there are no similarities, my word, back then serie a was a force and the clubs knew how to produce talents, we cant compare to this era, my god italian football is pathetic and so are these articles, i hope one day italian football wakes up