Tuesday, August 28, 2018

AC Milan Brazilian Best XI


Serginho, Dida, Kaka and Cafu

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.
AC Milan All-Time Team Under Silvio Berlusconi
AC Milan
Real Madrid Argentine Best XI
AC Milan Brazilian Best XI
AC Milan Foreign Players All-Time Team
AS Roma All-Time Team for Italian Players
AS Roma All-Time Team for Foreign Players
AC Milan All-Time Greatest Team for Italian players
Inter Milan All-Time Greatest Players for Italian players
Inter Milan All-Time Team for Foreign Players
Juventus All-Time Team for Foreign Players
Juventus All-Time Team for Italian Players

This is my selection of AC Milan's Brazilian Best XI.

Team
GK: Dida 
Dida was remembered for his 8 seasons with AC Milan, Dida was the hero of the 2003 Champions' League Final when he helped Milan to win the penalty shootout against Juventus.  He became the first Brazilian goalkeeper to be nominated for Ballon d' Or that year.  He went to three World Cup Finals.  He was the starting keeper in 2006 World Cup Finals for the Seleção.  
Dida
RB: Cafu 
Cafu is the all-time cap record holder for Brazil with 142.  He is the only man to play in three World Cup Finals, winning in 1994 and 2002.  He was the captain of the national team as they won the World Cup in 2002.  With Brazil, he also took part in four editions of the Copa América, winning the title twice, in 1997 and 1999. He played with Sao Paulo, Roma and AC Milan. He was South American Player of the Year in 1994.  
Cafu
CB: Roque Junior
Roque Júnior played for  São José, Palmeiras, A.C. Milan, Leeds United F.C., A.C. Siena, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, MSV Duisburg and Qatari side Al-Rayyan.  With Palmeiras, he won the Copa Libertadores in 1999.  He also won the Champions' League in 2003 with AC Milan.  He played 99 times for Brazil, winning the World Cup in 2002. 
Roque Junior
CB: Thiago Silva
Thiago Silva became the most expensive defender in history when he moved from Milan to Paris St. Germain.  In Brazil, he played for Juventude and Fluminense, helping Fluminense to the Final of Copa Libertadores in 2008.  For the national team, he was the captain of Brazil ill-fated team in World Cup 2014, but did not play against Germany in the semifinal. He was an unused sub at the WC Finals in 2010.
Thiago Silva
LB: Serginho
Serginho played with Cruzeiro, Flamengo, Bahai and Sao Paulo in Brazil before heading to Europe in 1999. From 1999 to 2008. he played for AC Milan, winning two Champions' League in 2003 and 2007, and a Serie A title in 2004. For the national team, he only playd 10 times between 1998 and 2001, largely limited by playing at the same time as Roberto Carlos.
Serginho
DM/CM: Emerson
For nearly a decade, Emerson was a key player for Brazil, playing 73 times.  He was due to captain the 2002 side, but an injury right before the World Cup Finals kept him out of the tournament.  He went to the World Cup Finals in 1998 and 2006. He played for Gremio, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, Juventus, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Santos.
Emerson
CM: Leonardo
Throughout his club career, he played for Flamengo, São Paulo, Kashima Antlers, Valencia, PSG and Milan.  He won Copa Libertadores and International Cup with Sao Paulo.  At Milan, he became an international star during the 1990's.   He was capped 55 times.  He went to USA 1994, but was suspended after elbowing Tab Ramos in the quarterfinal against the USA.  He also played in France 1998.
Leonardo
AM/LM: Ronaldinho 
Ronaldinho was a member of tyhe "Three R's" with Rivaldo and Ronaldo that helped Brazil winning the World Cup in 2002.  He had 97 caps. He started his career with Gemio before moving to Europe. He played with Paris St Germaine, Barcelona and AC Milan before returning to Brazil in 2011. He formed the REM line with Etoo and Messi with Barcelona before fighting among them destroyed the team.
Ronaldinho
AM/CM: Kaka 
Kaka started his career with Sao Paulo in Brazil before moving to AC Milan in 2003.  He was the star player who helped Milan to win the Champions' League in 2007 and he himself won he Ballon d'or the same year.  In 2009, he left Milan for Real Madrid.  For Brazil, he was capped 92 times.  He was a young and seldom used player at the World Cup in 2002.  He was a key player after the WC Finals in 2002.
Kaka
ST: Jose Altafini "Mazzola"
He started his career with Palmeiras before joining AC Milan right after the WC Finals in 1958.  From 1958 to 1976, he scored 216 goals in Serie A making him the joint-fourth highest scorer in Serie A history.  He won the European Cup in 1963, scoring 14 goals, which was finally broken by Cristano Ronaldo in 2014. He made played for Brazil, using the name "Mazzola". In 1962, he played for Italy at the World Cup Finals.  He earned 6 caps for Italy scoring 5 goals.   
Jose Altafini (L) with Amarildo
ST: Ronaldo
Ronaldo was widely considered among the greatest ever to have play the game.  He led Brazil to two World Cup Finals match, winning the one in 2002.  He scored 8 goals in 2002.  He was the winner of Ballon d'Or twice and the FIFA World Player of the Year three times.  He is the second top-scorer in WC history.  He played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, and for both AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Ronaldo

Other Brazilian Players who played for them  
Alexandra Pato, Amarildo, Rivaldo, Robinho, Andre Cruz, Ricardo Oliveira, Vicente Arnoni.

Squad Explanation
-- This is a fun post.  AC Milan had many Brazilians and I just wanted to create a quick blog team.  I simply put 11 Brazilians on  a team. This should NOT be taken seriously.
-- Kaka, Cafu and Jose Altafini are on my AC Milan All-Time team.
-- According to transfermarkt.com, 35 Brazilians played for AC Milan.  They are the largest group for foreign players here.  Argentina is second with 24 players and France with 15.
-- Elisio Gabardo and Vicente Arnoni were their first ever Brazilians, but I am not sure about its accuracy.
-- Vicente Arnoni joined AC Milan in 1935 from Palmeiras, which was known as Palestra Italia at the time.  Palestra Italia was founded by Italian Brazilians who wanted the club to be a representative of the Italian community. In 1942 during World War II, the government of President Getúlio Vargas made a decree banning any organization from using names related to the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan). The club became Palmeiras.
-- Jose Altafini also came from Palmeiras. He came from a working-class family of Italian origin in Sao Paulo. He was the first foreign star player for AC Milan.  In Brazil, he was also known as "Mazzola" because he resembled the Italian legend Valentino Mazzola.  Valentino Mazzola's son Sandro was playing with Inter Milan when Jose Altafini was playing with AC Milan.
-- In 1990, Giovane Élber joined AC Milan, but not many people remembered that.  He was only 18 years old without any experience in Europe.  He was sent on loan to Switzerland.
-- Not many foreign goalkeepers ever played for AC Milan. Dida is the only foreign goalkeeper who became a long-time starting goalkeeper.
-- I once asked Serginho for an autograph and he gave it to me.
-- Emerson also did not play much with AC Milan, but this is only a fun blog team. Besides, there are no over serious candidates for his position.
-- Ronaldo and Ronaldinho did not play in their prime for AC Milan, but they still edged out Rivaldo and Robinho.
-- Amarildo who played for AC Milan between 1963 and 1967 should be starting instead of Ronaldo.  I took Ronaldo for fun, I admitted.
-- Ronaldo played for both Inter Milan and A.C. Milan in the Derby della Madonnina, and is one of two players to have scored for both rival teams in the Milan derby game (for Inter in the 1998–99 season and for A.C. Milan in the 2006–07 season).  This had nothing to do with his selection.
-- Ronaldinho did not take his career here seriously.  "The decline of Ronaldinho hasn't surprised me. His physical condition has always been very precarious. His talent though has never been in question, " Carlos Ancelotti who was Ronaldinho's coach over here  in his first season said this about him.  He was a much better player in his second season under Leonardo.
-- Not many people would remember that Mancini (Brazil) who starred for AS Roma also played with AC Milan.  He played as a loan player from Inter Milan, which must be rare.
-- Rivaldo joined AC Milan in 2002 after he won the World Cup with Brazil.  He never settled down with the club.  Later, he did serve as a mentor to Kaka who joined in 2003.
-- Márcio Amoroso also spent a short time here.


Formation
I use a classic 4-2-2-2 formation popularized by the Brazilian national team of the 1970's and 1980's.

3 comments:

  1. Either way, Alexandre Pato should start over Ronaldo, its obvious who did the 'biggest impact' in AC Milan

    Also, Amoroso can be named among the the honourable mentions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amarildo instead of Ronaldo. Made greater impact

    ReplyDelete