1997–98 AC Milan season

Milan
1997–98 season
President	Silvio Berlusconi
Manager	Fabio Capello
Stadium	San Siro
Serie A	10th
Coppa Italia	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: ; George Weah (10); All: ; George Weah (13)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

A.C. Milan had a second consecutive disastrous season. Fabio Capello returned as coach, following the dismal second half of the 1996–97 league campaign, but failed to turn the corner, and Milan was a shadow of the team he had left the year before. With Capello's reputation seemingly ruined, he was sacked at the end of the season, with Milan finishing a mere 10th in the league.

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ITA	Sebastiano Rossi
3	DF	ITA	Paolo Maldini
4	MF	ITA	Demetrio Albertini
5	DF	ITA	Alessandro Costacurta
8	DF	FRA	Marcel Desailly^[2]
9	FW	NED	Patrick Kluivert
10	MF	YUG	Dejan Savićević
12	GK	ITA	Simone Braglia
13	MF	FRA	Ibrahim Ba^[3]
14	FW	LBR	George Weah
15	DF	BRA	André Cruz
16	GK	GER	Jens Lehmann
17	DF	GER	Christian Ziege
19	MF	ITA	Giampiero Maini
20	MF	CRO	Zvonimir Boban
21	DF	ITA	Giuseppe Cardone
22	DF	ITA	Daniele Daino


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	GK	ITA	Massimo Taibi
24	DF	CRO	Dario Smoje
25	MF	ITA	Simone Bonomi
26	DF	ITA	Alberto Comazzi
27	MF	ITA	Nicola Corrent
28	FW	ITA	Massimiliano Grego
29	MF	ITA	Roberto De Zerbi
30	MF	BRA	Leonardo
31	FW	ITA	Mirco Gasparetto
32	MF	ITA	Roberto Donadoni
33	MF	ITA	Nicola Padoin
34	FW	ITA	Massimo Maccarone
35	DF	NOR	Steinar Nilsen
36	FW	ITA	Maurizio Ganz
37	DF	FRA	Samir Beloufa
38	FW	ITA	Filippo Maniero
39	DF	ITA	Gianluca Zanetti

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	NED	Winston Bogarde (to Barcelona)
7	MF	NED	Edgar Davids^[4] (to Juventus)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
11	FW	SWE	Andreas Andersson (to Newcastle United)
18	FW	ITA	Matteo Pelatti (on loan to Como)

Results

Serie A

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
8	Bologna	34	12	12	10	55	46	+9	48^[a]	Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round^[5]
9	Sampdoria	34	13	9	12	52	55	−3	48	Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
10	Milan	34	11	11	12	37	43	−6	44
11	Bari	34	10	8	16	30	45	−15	38
12	Piacenza	34	7	16	11	29	38	−9	37

Source: 1997–98 Serie A, RSSSF.com, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Draw. (Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).^[6]
Notes:

^ Bologna finished ahead of Sampdoria on head-to-head points: BOL 2–2 SAM; SAM 2–3 BOL.

Matches

1	Piacenza	1–1	Milan
	Delli Carri 69'		Delli Carri 29' (o.g.)

2	Milan	1–1	Lazio
	Ba 37'		Signori 90 + 4' (pen.)

3	Udinese	2–1	Milan
	Bierhoff 25, 85'		Kluivert 4'

4	Milan	0–1	Vicenza
			Di Napoli 45'

5	Empoli	0–1	Milan
			A. Andersson 88'

6	Milan	1–2	Lecce
	Cyprien 76' (o.g.)		Govedarica 2' Casale 49' (pen.)

7	Sampdoria	0–3	Milan
			Weah 75, 81' Ziege 87'

8	Milan	2–1	Brescia
	Leonardo 7, 25'		Hübner 44'

9	Inter	2–2	Milan
	Simeone 13' Ronaldo 68'		Weah 29' André Cruz 80' (pen.)

10	Milan	1–1	Juventus
	Ferrara 27' (o.g.)		F. Inzaghi 32'

11	Milan	2–0	Bari
	Boban 47' Kluivert 62'

12	Atalanta	1–2	Milan
	Sgrò 17'		Lucarelli 2' (o.g.) Kluivert 65'

13

Milan

0–0

Bologna

14	Napoli	1–2	Milan
	Bellucci 75'		Leonardo 52' Ganz 71'

15

Milan

0–0

Roma

16	Parma	3–1	Milan
	Chiesa 33, 75' D. Baggio 44'		Ganz 70'

17	Milan	0–2	Fiorentina
			L. Oliveira 3' Morfeo 52'

18	Milan	1–0	Piacenza
	Maniero 90'

19	Lazio	2–1	Milan
	Mancini 6' Bokšić 90 + 3'		Kluivert 90 + 4'

20

Milan

0–0

Udinese

21	Vicenza	1–4	Milan
	Otero 54'		Kluivert 3, 74' Ganz 8' Maniero 74'

22	Milan	3–1	Empoli
	Weah 3' Ganz 15' Maniero 82'		C. Esposito 65'

23

Lecce

0–0

Milan

24	Milan	1–0	Sampdoria
	Ziege 38'

25	Brescia	2–2	Milan
	Hübner 40' (pen.) Bizzarri 68'		Weah 44, 51'

26	Milan	0–3	Inter
			Simeone 42, 87' Ronaldo 77'

27	Juventus	4–1	Milan
	Del Piero 12' (pen.), 39' F. Inzaghi 60, 83'		Boban 30' (pen.)

28	Bari	1–0	Milan
	Masinga 81'

29	Milan	3–0	Atalanta
	Weah 10, 53, 87'

30	Bologna	3–0	Milan
	R. Baggio 15', 50' (pen.) Fontolan 83'

31

Milan

0–0

Napoli

32	Roma	5–0	Milan
	Candela 16' Di Biagio 20' (pen.), 28' Paulo Sérgio 39' Delvecchio 82'

33	Milan	1–1	Parma
	Weah 56'		André Cruz 16' (o.g.)

34	Fiorentina	2–0	Milan
	Robbiati 50' Kanchelskis 55'

Coppa Italia

Round of 32

2 September 1997 First leg

Milan

0-0

Reggina

24 September 1997 Second leg	Reggina	0–2 (0–2 agg.)	Milan
			Weah 34' Boban 90'

Round of 16

16 October 1997 First leg	Milan	3-2	Sampdoria
	Weah 64' Maini 74' Kluivert 92'		Tovalieri 20' Boghossian 44'

19 November 1997 Second leg	Sampdoria	1-2 (3-5 agg.)	Milan
	Mihajlović 29'		Leonardo 64' André Cruz 82' (pen.)

Quarter-finals

8 January 1998 First leg	Milan	5–0	Internazionale	Milan
20:45 CET	Albertini 29' (pen.) Ganz 33' Savićević 44' Colonnese 46' (o.g.) Nilsen 60'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Graziano Cesari

21 January 1998 Second leg	Internazionale	1–0 (1–5 agg.)	Milan	Milan
20:45 CET	Branca 32'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Roberto Bettin

Semi-finals

18 February 1998 First leg

Milan

0-0

Parma

12 March 1998 Second leg	Parma	2-2 (2–2 agg.)	Milan
	Chiesa 49' Stanić 87'		Kluivert 47, 93'

Final

8 April 1998 First leg	Milan	1–0	Lazio	Milan
	Weah 90'			Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 63,564 Referee: Livio Bazzoli

29 April 1998 Second leg	Lazio	3–1 (3–2 agg.)	Milan	Rome
	Gottardi 56' Jugović 59' (pen.) Nesta 66'		Albertini 47'	Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Attendance: 64,189 Referee: Florenzo Treossi

Statistics

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Pos	Name	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Total
1	14	FW	George Weah	10	3	13
2	9	FW	Patrick Kluivert	6	3	9
3	36	FW	Maurizio Ganz	4	1	5
4	20	MF	Zvonimir Boban	2	1	3
	30	MF	Leonardo	3	0	3
	38	FW	Filippo Maniero	3	0	3
7	4	MF	Demetrio Albertini	0	2	2
	15	DF	André Cruz	1	1	2
	17	DF	Christian Ziege	2	0	2
10	11	FW	Andreas Andersson	1	0	1
	13	MF	Ibrahim Ba	1	0	1
	19	DF	Giampiero Maini	0	1	1
	35	DF	Steinar Nilsen	0	1	1
	10	MF	Dejan Savićević	0	1	1
Own goal				4	1	5
Totals				37	15	52

References

^ http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/italy/1997-1998/seriea/milan.htm
^ Desailly was born in Accra, Ghana.
^ Ba was born in Dakar, Senegal
^ Davids was born in Paramaribo, Suriname.
^ With consequent qualification to UEFA Cup
^ Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 "Norme organizzative interne della F.I.G.C. - Art. 51.6" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.

Sources

RSSSF - Italy 1997/98

[table_hth_BOL0.69679209110178-6] Bologna finished ahead of Sampdoria on head-to-head points: BOL 2–2 SAM; SAM 2–3 BOL.

[1] ttp://www.footballsquads.co.uk/italy/1997-1998/seriea/milan.htm

[2] Desailly was born in Accra, Ghana.

[3] Ba was born in Dakar, Senegal

[4] Davids was born in Paramaribo, Suriname.

[5] With consequent qualification to UEFA Cup

[7] Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 "Norme organizzative interne della F.I.G.C. - Art. 51.6" (PDF) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. 12 September 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[a]

[5]

[6]

v t e AC Milan seasons
1899–1900
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
001990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25