THE VITALS:

Team: AC Milan

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2008-09 (Used for the 2008-09 Serie A season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: GOOD

Despite its years, this shirt remains in good condition¸ regrettably however, the Bwin sponsor has faded away, leaving behind remnants of its former glory. Despite that, the material of the shirt shows minimal wear, and the Adidas embroidery and club crest are immaculate.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large

Pit to Pit Measurement: 20.5 inches

Shirt Length: 31.5 inches

Made in the ‘Clima365’ style of Adidas ‘ClimaCool’ mould which they introduced in 2008; these shirts were notoriously baggy, and although the sizing label has worn out, I would suggest that this shirt would be better suited to a size XL by today’s standards.

DESCRIPTION: 

Adidas’ 2008-09 season adaptation of AC Milan’s away shirt didn’t stray too far from the grain as the traditional white backdrop was supplemented with minimal black and red accents. Following templates of the last 3 season’s; the Adidas embroidery would be positioned in the middle of the shirt; in fact, to the naked eye, if you were to add the collar back on, this would be a spitting image of the 2007-08 season away shirt. The nuance however, is the beautiful embedding of the city-cross in the backdrop of the shirt. This season’s series of shirts would also hold the distinction of being the last seasons at the club for both Paolo Maldini and Kaka, with the 2008-09 season also being the last at the helm of the club for Carlo Ancelotti, as well as the glamour short-term loan of David Beckham in early 2009!

THE SEASON:

A disappointing 2007-08 season saw Milan limply relinquish their Champions League title and to add insult to injury, the club also failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the 2000-01 season. The club responded by making a series of high-profile signings in the summer of 2008 with: Ronaldinho and Gianluca Zambrotta coming in from Barcelona and Andriy Shevchenko returning to club on loan!

After back-to-back defeats in their opening pair of Serie A games, Milan would embark on an 11-match unbeaten streak claiming wins over: Inter Milan, Lazio and Napoli! The club would make major headlines at the turn of the year as they brought David Beckham back to Europe on a short-term loan deal from LA Galaxy!

Milan’s form continued to impress in the second half of the season with 12 wins taken from their latter 19 games of the league season! Only a late season stutter prevented them from finishing in 2^nd place as they had to settle for 3^rd place behind Juventus by virtue of Juventus’ superior head-to-head record!

The European campaign which began so promisingly with 4 straight wins in what was the last ever iteration of the UEFA Cup, petered into a disappointment as they were beaten by eventual finalists – Werder Bremen, in the Round of 32; falling to the German side on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate finish after 2 legs.

This season would be the last for the club for the legendary Paolo Maldini as he called time on his magnificent playing career; finish all 25 seasons’ as a professional with AC Milan. Kaka would also call time on his fine spell with the club as Real Madrid made him the sports most expensive signing following his €67 million move. Lastly, Carlo Ancelotti would also move on after having guided the club to a litany of trophies during his 8-season tenure with the club.

The notable players that season were:

Andriy Shevchenko, Marco Boriello, Filippo Inzaghi, Alexandre Pato, Alberto Gilardino, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf, Mathieu Flamini, David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini, Cristian Brocchi, Emerson, Serginho, Kakha Kaladze, Giuseppe Pancaro, Paolo Maldini, Philippe Senderos, Alessandro Nesta, Luca Antonini, Matteo Darmian, Daniele Bonera, Giuseppe Favalli, Marek Jankulovski, Gianluca Zambrotta, Christian Abbiati, Dida