The date 18 May 1994 is etched in AC Milan’s history book perhaps deeper than any other, as they stunned not only Barcelona but the footballing world.
The 1994 European Cup final took place at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Barcelona were the big favourites coming into the game having won LaLiga for the fourth consecutive year, and they were aiming to win the top continental competition for a second time in three seasons.
Milan were still a force to be reckoned with but they approached the game in chaos. Iconic striker Marco van Basten and the world’s most expensive player Gianluigi Lentini (back then) were both injured. Not only that, but centre-back duo Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta were suspended.
UEFA regulations at the time limited teams to fielding a maximum of three non-nationals, so Fabio Capello was forced to leave out Florin Răducioiu, Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup. Johan Cruyff chose not to pick Michael Laudrup in his squad on the other side.
The most controversy was caused with Cruyff’s declaration before the game, stating: “Barcelona are favourites. We’re more complete, competitive and experienced than [in the 1992 final] at Wembley. Milan are nothing out of this world. They base their game on defence, we base ours on attack.”
It wasn’t just the coach who showed remarkable arrogance though. The Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo boldly claimed: “The poorest Milan of the Berlusconi era: Cruyff is a winner. Capello, by contrast, has not been up to the task internationally.”
With the chips stacked against the Rossoneri, what Capello produced was perhaps the most fitting example of a tactical masterclass in that decade. Our writer Rohit Rajeev has picked apart how Milan not one won, but decimated the Catalan side.
Capello’s 4-4-2 vs. Cruyff’s 4-3-3
Milan started with Rossi in goal while they played a 4-4-2 with Panucci and Tassotti as the full-backs while Maldini and Galli were the centre-backs. In midfield, Albertini was partnered with Desailly while Donadoni and Boban ran up and down the wings. Massaro filled in the absence of Van Basten while Savicevic was the trequartista behind the striker.
Cruyff’s Barcelona were the first indications of the modern style of positional play. Playing a 4-3-3, it shifted to a 3-4-3 diamond with Pep Guardiola sitting in front of the defence acting as the deep-lying playmaker, something he later had Sergio Busquets do in his Barcelona team.
Milan played a 4-4-2 when they didn’t have the ball. They had no particular formation when they had the ball choosing to be a relationist setup usually as Italian coaches of that era used to set up.
Guardiola as mentioned was the DLP of the system. He would sit in front of the back four and act as a passing option for any one of the centre-backs or switch balls when Milan would overload the wide areas.
As we can see below, he would hit long balls behind the defence to Stoichkov who made runs off the shoulder of Panucci and Maldini.
Milan meanwhile focused more on off the ball opting to suck Barcelona into their half and then play using quick verticalisation of play through the spaces that have been created.
The pass and go movement (toco y me voy) which is a big part of the relationist style of play was repeatedly used when Milan tried to move the ball out of the backline.
Donadoni would come inside the half spaces pulling his Barcelona counterpart with imto make space for Panucci who would make forward runs near the touchline to cross the ball in for Massaro or Savicevic.
Savicevic meanwhile was given a free role where he would play between the lines and act as the tabela for forward movements of Milan.
Capello encouraged his players to dribble as he gave them freedom to take on their man and beat them.
Setting the trap
Milan’s two central midfielders worked in tandem maintaining a one up one down approach. Albertini was placed further up while Desailly screened the backline. He was aggressive and vicious and did not leave any space for Amor, Romario or Bakero to reach the front three.
Barcelona meanwhile played their revolutionary diamond midfield with Guardiola sitting in front of the defense while Amor acted as the attacking midfielder and Sergi – the left-back – pushed up as a wing-back.
Milan would play a narrow 4-4-2 asking Barcelona to work really hard to break them down and would switch over to which ever side of the flank Barca tried to attack.
Capello’s men worked hard, maintained discipline and never released the shackles. They used a zonal approach where they defended zones rather than have individual man marking assignments.
Capello had Massara and Savicevic play as forwards to pin back Koeman and Co while the rest of the outfield players acted as defenders maintaining tight space between the lines.
The turning point
Milan took the lead after some good work from Boban where he won the second ball and Savicevic dribbled past his Barcelona opponent.
Massara meanwhile does a double movement where he fools Koeman into thinking he was right behind him while he was pulled away from the defender and scored.
Milan led 1-0 forcing Cruyff to make tactical changes. What was previously a 3+1 in build up shifted to a 2+1 with Pep sitting in front of Koeman and Nadal while Ferrer the right-back was pushed up.
Pep would form a passing triangle with the two centre-backs to build out from the back, a concept which was not a common idea as it is now.
Bakero would play in the half spaces which allowed Sergi to overlap try to create problems for Milan on the wide areas. Cruyff also allowed positional switches where Txiki Bergistan and Stoichkov.
With Guardiola causing issues for Milan, Capello had Albertini man mark him sticking close to the midfielder and only allowing him from out of his sight if he went deep into his half.
In for the kill
However, Milan extended their lead after some smart wing play from Boban and Donadoni while Massaro finished off the chance.
Milan scored another immediately after half time taking the score to 3-0 after Savicevic’s outrageous lob over Zubizaretta.
By now at this point Barcelona had given him as Milan became even more tighter to penetrate. They clogged the center and even Massaro came back to help out in defence.
Marcel the magnificent
Desailly was a player who was born in a wrong era. A player who was an engine and had unlimited energy would have been celebrated in modern day football but he was not given as much credit back in the 1990s.
The Frenchman would win duels, he would physically outmuscle the Barcelona players and keep moving the ball forward vertically, with speed and precision.
Desailly would intercept a hope less ball from Eusebio and after a pass and move with Albertini he would beat Barcelona’s offside trap and curl one inside.
The dream-crushers
You can see at the end of every goal celebration how Capello refused to celebrate until the final whistle. Costacurta openly said that the players took Cruyff’s words personally and it gave them a strong sense of purpose to Milan’s players.
Barcelona’s dream team fell apart after this and after a season Cruyff was sacked and Barcelona later hired Luis Van Gaal. Milan in the very next season would make it to the final of the Champions League and lose 1-0 to Ajax which had a young Seedorf, Kluivert and Van Der Saar.
