King of Legends - Marco Van Basten

Marcel "Marco" van Basten (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑr.koˑ vɑn.ˈbɑs.tə(n)], 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played for Ajax and Milan, as well as the Dutch national team, in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is regarded as one of the greatest forwards of all time and has scored 277 goals in a high-profile career, but played his last game in 1993 at the age of 28 due to an injury which caused his retirement two years later. He was later the head coach of Ajax and the Dutch national team.

Known for his strength on the ball, his tactical awareness and spectacular strikes and volleys, Van Basten was named European Footballer of the Year three times (1988, '89 and '92) and FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992. Van Basten was voted eighth in a poll organised by the French weekly magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. In 1999, Van Basten was ranked tenth in the European player of the Century election held by the IFFHS, and he was voted twelth in the IFFHS' "World Player of the Century" election. In 2004, Pelé named Van Basten one of the 125 best living footballers in his FIFA 100 list. In 2004, a nationwide poll was held for the 100 greatest Dutch people (De Grootste Nederlander) and Van Basten was number 25, the second highest for a football player, behind Johan Cruyff. In March 2007, Sky Sports ranked Van Basten first on its list of great athletes who had their careers cut short.

In 1987, Silvio Berlusconi signed Van Basten for Milan, with fellow countrymen Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard joining in 1988. In his first season, Milan won their first Scudetto in eight years, but Van Basten played only 11 games and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury.

In 1988–89, Van Basten won the Ballon d'Or as Europe's top footballer. He scored 19 goals in Serie A and scored two goals in the final of the European Cup as Milan triumphed against Steaua Bucureşti.

In 1989–90, he became Capocannoniere, Serie A's leading goal scorer, and Milan successfully defended the European Cup after beating Benfica in the final match.

Milan struggled in the 1990–91 season, as Sampdoria won the Scudetto. After Van Basten fell out with Arrigo Sacchi, Berlusconi sacked the manager. Fabio Capello took over the following season, and Milan went undefeated in the league to win another Scudetto. Van Basten scored 25 league goals, and became Capocannoniere again.

In November 1992, he became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League match, against IFK Göteborg, including a picture perfect bicycle kick. The record was later equalled by other players, but was bettered only 20 years later, when Lionel Messi scored five goals against Bayer Leverkusen during the 2011-12 Champions League season.

Milan stretched their unbeaten run into the 1992–93 season, going 58 matches over two seasons before they lost a game. Van Basten played exceptionally well in the early part of the season. He was again voted the European player of the year, becoming the third player after Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini to win the award three times.

His troublesome ankle injury recurred in a game against A.C. Ancona, forcing him to undergo another series of surgery. He returned for the last few games in the season, before Milan lost to Marseille in the Champions League final. The match was Van Basten's final game for the Italian club.

He had been hopeful of playing for his country at the 1994 World Cup as well as for his club in the 1994–95 season after spending the whole 1993–94 season out of action (missing Milan's victory in the European Cup as well as their Serie A title glory), but his club ordered him not to take part in the World Cup amid fear of ruining his rehabilitation. He finally conceded defeat in his battle to recover on 17 August 1995, when he announced his retirement as a player after two whole years on sidelines.



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Intercontinental Club Legends - Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimović (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈslaːtan ɪbraˈhiːmɔvɪtʂ], Bosnian pronunciation: [ˈzlatan ibraˈxiːmɔʋitɕ]; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Swedish national team for which he is captain. Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s under Roland Andersson. He was signed by Ajax, and made a name for himself under Ronald Koeman. He later signed with Juventus for €16 million. Ibrahimović gained fame in Serie A, benefiting from his strike partnership with David Trezeguet.

In 2006, he signed with league rival Internazionale, where he won individual awards such as the Italian Oscar del Calcio and the Swedish Guldbollen, and was named in the 2007 and 2009 UEFA Team of the Year, in addition to finishing as the league's highest scorer in 2008–09 while winning three straight Scudetti. In the summer of 2009, he transferred to Barcelona for €69 million, the second highest transfer fee in football history. His time at Barcelona was short lived, however, moving back to Serie A football with Milan the following season, in a deal which made him one of the highest paid footballers in the world and cost the Italian club €24 million.
In 2012, he was ranked 5th in The Guardian's 100 Best Footballers in the world.

On 28 August 2010, Milan announced on their official website that they had acquired the services of Ibrahimović for the 2010–11 season. He was loaned out to Milan for the 2010–11 season, with Milan having the option to purchase him outright from Barcelona for €24 million at the end of the season. He made his team debut in a 2–0 loss to Cesena on 11 September, in which he missed a penalty late in the match, and scored his first goals for the club when Milan defeated Auxerre in their first Champions League match of the season on 15 September. On 14 November, Ibrahimović scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory against his former club Internazionale in the Milan Derby. On 20 November, he scored his seventh goal against Fiorentina in the 45th minute with an over-the-head bicycle kick, passing Alexandre Pato as the team's top goal scorer for the season. On 4 December 2010, in a game against Brescia, he assisted Kevin Prince-Boateng to give Milan an early lead and then scored the third goal by a powerful shot near the edge of the penalty box to give Milan a 3–0 win. On 12 December 2010, history repeated himself in the game against Bologna after he assisted Boateng to give Milan an early lead once again and scoring later that match to make it 3–0, leading him to 13 goals with 8 assists in 21 matches in all competitions, after which he has been compared to Milan legend Marco van Basten by both the media and van Basten himself.

Ibrahimović received a three-match ban, after getting a red card in a 1–1 home draw against Bari in March 2011 for punching Bari defender Marco Rossi in the stomach. An additional three-match ban was given to Ibrahimović in February 2012, in a 1–2 home defeat against Fiorentina, for supposedly swearing at an assistant referee. Ibrahimović stated in his defense that he was talking to himself in frustration. He won his first Scudetto with Milan after a stalemate against Roma. He is therefore currently on a streak of eight straight league wins in three different countries and with five different clubs, including the later stripped wins with Juventus. All agreements between Milan and Barcelona were confirmed on 18 June 2011.

In the first official match of the 2011–12 season, Ibrahimović opened it in the best possible way scoring the first goal of a Milan comeback to beat city rivals Internazionale in the Italian Super Cup. He also scored Milan's first goal of their 2011–12 Serie A season in a 2–2 draw against Lazio. He scored his third goal in the first three games in Milan's Champions League game against Czech club Viktoria Plzeň from the penalty spot and assisted the second goal. Ibrahimović justified his tag of the carrier of Milan by scoring in many games, yet still providing many assists. He scored in the next UEFA Champions League game against BATE Borisov, a goal in Milan's 4–1 win over Parma and two more in their 2–3 win over Roma, ending a successful month of October. November was equally impressive for the Swede, scoring in consecutive games against BATE, in the Champions League, and Catania, in the league. In the highly anticipated encounter between Milan and Barcelona, Ibrahimović scored against his old club to equalise the game at 1–1 but eventually Barça ran away 3–2 winner at the San Siro. He ended November with a brace against Chievo, his first goal took his tally of goals in Serie A to 100 goals, and the second from the penalty spot. Ibrahimović continued his impressive form in December, and scored a goal in each of five Serie A games. 2012 started on high note for Ibrahimović, as he scored against Atalanta converting a penalty kick. He was the top goalscorer of Serie A, with 14 goals in 16 appearance, after the brace against Novara, of which second goal, came after cheeky backheel. On 5 January 2012 in a match against Napoli on continuation of Serie A, Ibra awarded a red card for slapping Salvatore Aronica in an off-the-ball incident and will rule out of Milan's next three games. On 15 February, in the 2011–12 Champions League season, Ibrahimović set up all two Robinho's goals and also scored by a spot kick, thus helping Milan win 4–0 over Arsenal. He continued his goalscoring run in March 2012, with a hat-trick in a 4–0 away win against Palermo at the Stadio Renzo Barbera. The first two goals were assisted by Robinho and the third by Emanuelson. In the next three games, he scored four goals, two against Roma, which took his tally to 22 goals in 23 games. With two goals against Siena, Ibrahimović surpassed his previous domestic goal record of 25 goals. He finished the season with 28 goals in 32 matches.

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Intercontinental Club Legends - Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo, Ufficiale OMRI (born 19 May 1979), is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus and for the Italian national team. He is usually deployed as a deep-lying playmaker for both Juventus and Italy and is regarded as a leading exponent of this position. Praised for his technique, dribbling, control, incredible vision, inventive play and his accurate passing ability, he is also a set-piece specialist and is known for his long distance shooting and passing. Fellow players on the Italian team gave him the nickname l'architetto ("the architect"), because his long passes frequently set up goal-scoring opportunities for the Italy national football team. In recent years, Juventus fans also dub him il professore ("the professor") and Mozart , as a fun reference to the Austrian composer's prodigious ability.

After three seasons on the Internazionale books, Pirlo was sold to fierce rivals Milan for 35 million Italian lire on 30 June 2001. (the last day of 2000–01 financial year) (about €18 million) but the transfer fee paid via partially by Dražen Brnčić to Inter for undisclosed fee, and made Milan had a profit of €9.641 million. In the same window Inter and Milan also swapped Cristian Brocchi (25 billion lire; €12.9 million) to Guly (undisclosed fee; €8.537 million profit); Matteo Bogani (valued €3.6 million) for Paolo Ginestra (undisclosed fee €3.585M profit) The deals later reported by press were also aimed to create "false profit" by inflating the transfer fees in the swap deal, which Serie C players Ginestra and Bogani both created about €3.5 million "profit" for both clubs but in terms of useless registration rights.



It was at Milan where he found his true strides developing into a world class player and one of the best deep-lying playmakers and set-piece specialists in the world. With Milan, he won two Serie A tites and was an integral part of Milan's midfield, as they went on to win two Champions League titles in 2003 and 2007, also helping them to the final in 2005, in which he finished as the second highest assist provider of the tournament with 4 assists. He also won an Italian Cup, a Supercoppa Italiana and two UEFA Super Cups with Milan in 2003 and 2007, as well as their first FIFA World Club Cup title in 2007. His most forgettable incident, however, was probably the penalty miss during 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, as his spot kick was saved by Jerzy Dudek.

Pirlo started his career as an offensive midfielder until coach Carlo Mazzone developed a deep-seated playmaking role while at Brescia, with Roberto Baggio in the attacking midfield role. A notable moment in his Brescia career was his long pass which assisted Roberto Baggio's late equaliser against Juventus at the Delle Alpi Stadium, in 2001. Fatih Terim and Carlo Ancelotti further-developed this role at Milan, to allow Pirlo to play alongside other talented attacking midfielders, such as Rui Costa and eventually Kaka. Since then, he formed a formidable partnership with Gennaro Gattuso (as well as with Clarence Seedorf, who also supported his playmaking role) in the midfield and has earned the nickname the metronome for the way he sets the team's rhythm. He led Serie A in the 2002–03 season in four special categories – passes played (2589), ball possession (123 hours played and 39 minutes), successful balls (661), and successful passes (2093). This implies that he averaged almost 90 passes per game. He led Milan in minutes played for the 2006–07 season with 2,782. In October 2007, he was nominated for the both the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year and the 2007 World's Best Playmaker Awards but they went to Milan teammate Kaká instead. After Kaká and coach Carlo Ancelotti left Milan in the summer of 2009, Chelsea tested Milan's resolve by bidding $12 million and Claudio Pizarro for Pirlo. The club rejected the offer and Pirlo was said to be contemplating a transfer request. On 5 August, club owner Silvio Berlusconi decided not to sell Pirlo, who said he was overjoyed and wanted to end his career at Milan. On 21 October 2009, Pirlo scored a notable 30 meter goal in Milan's 3–2 win over Real Madrid.

Milan played host to Genoa on 25 September 2010, Pirlo provided a lovely lifted ball over the top of the defense to set striker Zlatan Ibrahimović free to score the solitary goal of the game. On 2 October Pirlo scored a 40-yard goal against Parma to give Milan their first away win of the 2010–11 season. On 14 May 2011, Pirlo appeared in his last match for Milan, coming on as a half-time substitute for Massimo Ambrosini as the club celebrated their Title with a 4–1 victory over Cagliari. Four days later, Pirlo confirmed that he would be leaving Milan at the end of the 2010–11 season, after a mutual decision not to renew his contract. In his last season in Milan, Pirlo only appeared in the league 17 times notching just one goal and three assists.

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All Time Legends - Alessandro Nesta

Alessandro Nesta, Ufficiale OMRI (born 19 March 1976 in Rome), is an Italian professional footballer currently playing for the Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer. Considered by many as one of the best centre backs to have ever played the game, he is a four-time member of the annual UEFA Team of the Year.

Just before the 2002–03 Serie A campaign, financial woes forced Lazio to sell many of their best players. Nesta was transferred to Milan for €30.987 million (or 60 billion lire; 1 euro = 1,936.27 lire). His first two seasons with the Rossoneri were very successful as he won the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League, the Coppa Italia, European Super Cup and the Scudetto. Despite missing most of the 2006–07 season due to a shoulder injury, Nesta played a vital part in Milan's return to the 2006–07 Champions League final, where Milan defeated Liverpool 2–1. He (and Milan) also won another European SuperCup in August 2007. Nesta signed a contract extension that would keep him at Milan until 2011. Nesta went on to score his first goal for Milan since April 2006 in a 1–1 draw with Siena on 15 September 2007. He followed this up with an important goal for Milan in the 4–2 victory over Boca Juniors in the final of the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

Serious back injuries forced Nesta out of action for the whole 2008–09 season which raised concerns about his chances to make a comeback into active football. He fully recovered from his injuries and came on as 77th minute substitute in Milan's final away game to Fiorentina on 31 May 2009 for his first competitive appearance of the season. The following season Nesta scored his first brace for Milan in a 2–1 victory over Chievo Verona in the Serie A. He began to re-emerge as a starter for the club and was one of Milan's most consistent players throughout the entire 2009–10 season. Nesta continued his excellent partnership with fellow centerback Thiago Silva throughout the 2010–11 season, forming a formidable defence, conceding just 24 goals in 38 games during the Serie A season. Throughout the 2010–11 season, speculation indicated that Nesta would retire at the end of the season. However, he later confirmed that he wanted to play one more season at Milan before retiring and signed a contract extension on 18 May 2011, which kept him on Milan's squad until summer 2012.

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