THE VITALS:

Team: AC Milan

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2000-02 (Used for the 2000-01 and 2001-02 Serie A season’s)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This now 20 year old work of art remains in near excellent condition! The material remains fantastic as do the respective applications; namely, the felt sponsor. There is however, some signs of wear and bobbling that one would expect from a shirt this old.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 20 inches

Shirt Length: 30 inches

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaLite’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2000; this dimensions of this shirt lend themselves to fitting as high up to a size large!

DESCRIPTION: 

After Adidas’ debut home shirt for AC Milan would be mostly red with two thick black stripes down the middle and heavy black side panels; this shirt would see black used for the sleeves and across the clavicle – creating a canvas of 3 black stripes and 2 red stripes in yet another never-before seen expression of ‘Rossoneri’! This would be last ever Milan home shirt that would be used over two seasons in what was a the end of a period that was followed up by a season of transition under Carlo Ancelotti in 2001-02 when the club finished 4^th and got themselves an avenue back into the Champions League after a 6^th place finish in 2000-01. This would be the last Milan home shirt worn by the likes of: Marco Simone, Demetrio Albertini, Leonardo, Oliver Bierhoff and Zvonimir Boban; while it would be the first to be donned by future club legends: Filippo Inzaghi, Manuel Rui Costa and Andrea Pirlo!

THE SEASON(S):

Milan’s title defence would fall short that by 11 points as the ‘Rossoneri’ finished 3^rd to begin the 21^st century. The key arrivals and departures at the San Siro ahead of the 2000-01 season would see the likes of Fernando Redondo, Roque Junior, and Gianni Comandini arrive while Roberto Ayala moved on to Valencia.

Milan would enjoy a solid while unspectacular first half of the season in 2000, however, they would end the first year of the 2000’s in 7^th place. Although they were 10 points adrift of league leaders – AS Roma, they were just 4 points shy of 2^nd place Juventus. 2001 would begin with a 2-2 draw with Internazionale in the first Derby della Madonnina of the season; however with just 2 wins thus far in the year; Alberto Zaccheroni would be relieved of his duties and replaced by club legend – Cesare Maldini. Paulo Maldini’s father would oversee an instant overturn in fortunes – claiming 5 wins from his first 7 games in charge; including the legendary 6-0 win over Inter 11^th May 2001! No win from their final 4 games however, would see them finish in 6^th place.

Milan’s quest to lift a first Coppa Italia since 1977 would reach as far as the semi-final, however, their perennial thorn in the side in 2000-01 – Fiorentina, would be their antagonists once again with the eventual winners of the triophy prevailing 4-2 on aggregate.

In the UEFA Champions League; Milan looked impressive in the First Group Stage when they defeated both FC Barcelona and Besiktas away from home to the top the group, however, their Second Group Stage performance coincided with their nose dive in domestic form – claiming just 1 win from their 6 outings to crash out of the competition.

After seeing Fatih Terim mastermind 3 wins over Milan in 2000-01; they would secure the services of the Turkish manager ahead of the 2001-02 season and he would be joined at San Siro by the legendary Rui Costa who was also signed from Fiorentina. Joining him would be the likes of: Martin Laursen, Cosmin Contra, Cristian Zenoni, Umit Duvala, and Andrea Pirlo after impressive 2000-01 season’s, while Filippo Inzaghi was also signed from Juventus.

Faith Terim’s tenure would be a short, yet eventful one where he masterminded wins over: Fiorentina, Udinese, Lazio and Inter; however, with just 4 wins in 9 games, he would be replaced by club legend – Carlo Ancelotti. While his Milan side only lost just twice, they would blighted by draws with the spoils being shared in 8 of his first 14 league games! After the defeat to Bologna on 10^th March, Milan would win 5 of their last 8 games of the season to oust – Bologna, Lazio and Chievo to secure 4^th place and a return to the UEFA Champions League.

The Coppa Italia journey would again end at the semi-final stage once again where they would be narrowly beaten 2-1 on aggregate by runners-up and Scudetto winners – Juventus.

In the UEFA Cup; Milan would enjoy their finest display in a European frontier since reaching the quarter final of the competition in 1995-96, as they reached the semi-final. Eliminations en route the final 4 would take the shape of: BATE Borisov, CSKA Sofia, Sporting CP, Roda JC and Hapoel Tel Aviv before meeting Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final. After being beaten 4-0 in the 1^st Leg, Milan would nearly mastermind an incredible come-back when they led 3-0 at San Siro, however the game would end 3-1 with the German side prevailing 5-3 on aggregate!

The notable players that season(s) were:

Oliver Bierhoff, Jose Mari, Gianni Comandini, Marco Simone, Andriy Shevchenko, Filippo Inzaghi, Javi Moreno, Leonardo, Zvonimir Boban, Rui Costa, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini, Fernando Rendondo, Ibrahim Ba, Demetrio Albertini, Christian Brocchi, Guly, Umit Davala, Massimo Donati, Kakha Kaladze, Serginho, Thomas Helveg, Jose Chamot, Cosmin Contra, Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini, Roque Junior, Christian Abbiati, Dida, Sebastiano Rossi