On this day 28 years ago, Arrigo Sacchi's Milan confirmed themselves as one of the best teams of the century, thrashing Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in the European Cup final.
Words: Tom Scholes
On this day in 1989, Arrigo Sacchi’s side clinched the European Cup after defeating Steaua Bucharest in Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
On this day 28 years ago, Arrigo Sacchi's Milan confirmed themselves as one of the best teams of the century, thrashing Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in the European Cup final.
Words: Tom Scholes
On this day in 1989, Arrigo Sacchi’s side clinched the European Cup after defeating Steaua Bucharest in Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
Around 300 million people tuned in to watch Milan demolish Steaua in one of the most one-sided finals in history, as Sacchi’s side won 4-0 to bring home their third European Cup, setting up back-to-back victories in Europe’s elite competition.
Two goals from both Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit established Milan as one of the best teams in Europe at the time and put the seal on the Sacchi revolution, forever leaving their legacy on the game. Their league campaign wasn’t the greatest, finishing 3rd behind Napoli and arch-rivals Inter, trailing the Nerazzurri by 12 points, but the season wasn’t about the Scudetto, it was about Europe.
The season prior, Milan had won the Scudetto that kicked off an unbelievable few years for the club, and Silvio Berlusconi had a clear desire to conquer the continent and set about to win the European Cup for the first time since 1969. Going into the game, it seemed like everyone around the club was nervous. Berlusconi felt that his team was ahead of their own schedule and Sacchi not only wanted to win, but he was more concerned about winning with style and defeating the stereotype that Italian clubs only play defensive football.
Milan’s road to the final was a tough one, but showed the multiple strengths of the team. The 7-2 aggregate walkover of Bulgarian club Vitosha in the first round let everyone know that Milan meant business, with Marco Van Basten scoring four goals in the second leg in Milan. The second round tie against Red Star Belgrade gave the Italians a different kind of test, with Belgrade being a tough team to beat back in the 1980’s.
The two sides drew the first leg 1-1 in the San Siro, and when all hope looked lost in the second leg when the Rossoneri were 1-0 down, the game was abandoned. Milan were down to 10 men as well with Pietro Paolo Virdis being sent off, but with half an hour left of the game, the referee was forced to call the game off due to heavy fog around the Red Star stadium.
It may have been a stroke of luck, but a day later in the replay, Milan managed to win 2-4 on penalties to advance to play German side Werder Bremen. This tie may have been very tight and cagey, but Sacchi’s side managed to sneak through thanks to a solitary goal.
In the semi final, Milan faced their toughest opponents. Real Madrid, the most glamorous club in the world would come to Milan to try and stop this rampant side claiming the European Cup, but no one could have expected what came next. Goals from Carlo Ancelotti, Frank Rijkaard, Gullit, Van Basten and Roberto Donadoni gave Milan a legendary 5-0 victory in front of 73,000 of their adoring fans.
Then came the final, one of the most one sided in history.
The Rossoneri raced into a 2-0 lead inside 27 minutes, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten effectively killing the game as a contest before it had even truly started.
Gullit added a third before half-time, before his compatriot got his own brace on 47 minutes to send the vast majority of the 98,000 crowd into raptures.
It topped off what had been a great campaign on the continent, and the 4-0 victory showed how good a job Sacchi had done to create such a good team, and established Milan as a force in Europe.
image via uefa.com