THE VITALS:

Team: AC Milan

Brand: Puma

Era: 2018-19 (Used for the 2018-19 Serie A season)

Name/Number: Higuain #9

CONDITION: GOOD

Unfortunately, this shirt has seen better days as the name and numbering print has sustained a lot of damage and there is also wear to the sponsor and the club crest.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19.0 inches

Shirt Length: 26.0 inches

Made by Puma in their ‘Dry Cell’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2018 – please be mindful as the length does come up shorter than most size small shirts.

DESCRIPTION: 

The 3^rd shirt in the historic first season of Puma’s inaugural season as AC Milan’s kit supplier would use another classic Milan alternate colour, albeit with a twist as Mialn wore their first ever black shirt with crimson and claret mixed coloured sleeves with the inclusion of matching shorts as Puma showcased one of their 2018-19 season templates in the classic black and red colours of the ‘Rossoneri’! This dynamic alternate shirt debuted in the 1-0 win away against F91 Dudelange in the Europa League on 20^th September 2018 and was also worn in draw with Lazio on 25^th November 2018 and was also worn away against Olympiacos in both away clashes with Sampdoria in 2019 and in Milan’s final game of the 2018-19 season – the 3-2 win over SPAL!

The 2018-19 season represented club legend – Gennaro Gattuso’s first full season in the hot-seat after his excellent job he did when took over in November 2017 where he guided Milan to a 5^th place finish – missing out on 3^rd place by just a one point and another Coppa Italia semi-final appearance, meanwhile there were exciting signings who pulled on the Milan jersey such as Samu Castillejo, Diego Laxalt, Mattia Caldara, Gonzalo Higuain, Krzysztof Piatek and Lucas Paqueta, while long term servants – Ignazio Abate, Ricardo Montolivo, and Cristian Zapata as well as Patrick Cutrone all left the club at the end of the season.

THE SEASON:

After a summer outlay in excess of €174,000,000.00 on new signings; Vincenzo Montella was given his marching orders in November 2017 when results started going awry and he was replaced by club legend – Gennaro Gattuso who steered the club to a 6^th place finish and a Coppa Italia runners-up berth to ensure Milan would play European football again in 2018-19.

Unfortunately for Gattuso, he was not given the transfer kitty of his predecessor in the summer of 2017 and Leonardo Bonucci was sold back to Juventus after his incredible move just twelve months earlier, while Andre Silva; there were the signings of – Pepe Reina, Samu Castillejo, Diego Laxalt, Mattia Caldara and Gonzalo Higuain, himself, arriving on loan from Juventus, and Tiemoue Bakayoko, also on loan from Chelsea.

Milan kicked off the 2018-19 Serie A season away against last season’s runners up – Napoli, who were now under the management of former Milan boss, Carlo Ancelotti in his return to management in Italian football. Despite taking a 2-0 lead at San Paolo; Milan would be beaten 3-2 in a thrilling game. In their following six games however, Milan would win three and draw three – including a 3-1 win over Roma on 31^st August 2018 which set the stage for the first Derby Della Madonnina against Internazionale on 21^st October 2018. Although Inter would win the derby 1-0 thanks to a 92^nd minute winner; Milan would win their next three games against Sampdoria, Genoa and Udinese ahead of the visit of the champions – Juventus on 11^th November 2018. Juve would win 2-0 at San Siro, which set the tone for a disappointing end of 2018 as Milan won just two of their remaining seven games of the year.

The litany of draws would culminate with a 2-1 over SPAL on 29^th December 2018 which meant Milan came into 2019 in 5^th place. In almost identical fashion – Milan would come into their own from the start of the New Year as they did in 2018, as they went unbeaten in their next eight games where they six wins, including a fine five match winning streak against – Cagliari, Atalanta, Empoli, Sassuolo and Chievo on 9^th March 2019 to propel themselves into 3^rd place with the final quarter of the season left to battle for. The second Milan Derby of the season would see their unbeaten run of 10 games come to an end. Crucially, however, the defeat would begin a nose-dive of results as Milan were beaten by Sampdoria, Juventus and Torino and failed to see off both Udinese and Parma as Milan now risked dropping out of the European positions altogether such was how tight the fight for the positions between 4^th and 8^th were. Milan would rally to win their final four games of the season. Cruelly, Milan would finish 5^th and just finish just 1 point behind Inter and Atalanta who both shared 69 points.

After reaching the final of the Coppa Italia for the second time in three seasons; Milan would quest to go one better in 2018-19 and after beating Sampdoria and Napoli; they would rematch Lazio in the semi-final following on from their meeting at the same juncture last season. This time it would be Lazio’s turn to celebrate as they eliminated Milan 1-0 on aggregate over two legs.

Milan’s date with Juventus in the Supercoppa Italiana on 16^th January 2019 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia would also end in heartbreak as they were narrowly beaten 1-0.

Milan’s second Europa League campaign would prove to be a disaster as they were eliminated in the Group Stage. Drawn in Group F alongside - F91 Dudelange, Olympiacos and Real Betis; Milan defeated the side from Luxembourg 1-0 on Match-Day 1 and followed that up with a 2-0 win over Olympiacos, however, failure to defeat Real Betis home or away, and a Match-Day 6 eliminator with Olympiacos ended in 3-1 defeat to see Milan squander their opportunity to play in the Knock-Out Stages.

The notable players that season were:

Gonzalo Higuain, Krzysztof Piatek, Patrick Cutrone, Fabio Borini, Samu Castillejo, Allen Halilovic, Giacomo Bonaventura, Hakan Calhanoglu, Suso, Lucas Paqueta, Franck Kessie, Lucas Biglia, Riccardo Montolivo, Andrea Bertolacci, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Jose Mauri, Diego Laxalt, Ricardo Rodriguez, Christian Zapata, Mattia Caldara, Mateo Musacchio, Alessio Romagnoli, Andrea Conti, Davide Calabria, Ignazio Abate, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Pepe Reina