1998–99 A.C. Milan season

In the 1998–99 season, Associazione Calcio Milan returned to their previous winning ways under the guidance of new manager Alberto Zaccheroni. Hired from Udinese, Zaccheroni brought striker Oliver Bierhoff and right-wingback Thomas Helveg with him from his former club. He introduced Milan to his unorthodox 3–4–3 formation (in the latter half of the season modified to 3–4–1–2, to allow space for a creative attacking midfielder) in which Bierhoff was a perfect centre forward, scoring 20 goals in the league.

Milan

President	Silvio Berlusconi
Manager	Alberto Zaccheroni
Stadium	San Siro
Serie A	1st
Coppa Italia	Round of 16
Top goalscorer	League: Oliver Bierhoff (20) All: Oliver Bierhoff (20)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Milan had a marvelous second half of the season, in which they competed for the Serie A title with Lazio and Fiorentina. After seven straight wins in the last seven matches, Milan clinched the scudetto, becoming champions of Italy for the 16th time in their history.

Squad

Squad information

Squad no.	Name	Nationality	Position
Goalkeepers
12	Christian Abbiati		GK
1	Sebastiano Rossi		GK
31	Giorgio Frezzolini		GK
Defenders
3	Paolo Maldini (Captain)		CB / LB
5	Alessandro Costacurta		CB / SW / LB / RB
14	Roberto Ayala		CB
25	Bruno N'Gotty		CB
17	Christian Ziege		LB / LM
2	Thomas Helveg		RB / RM
27	Francesco Coco		LB / LM
26	Luigi Sala		CB
19	Samir Beloufa		CB
Midfielders
4	Demetrio Albertini		CM / DM
18	Leonardo		AM / LW
10	Zvonimir Boban		AM / CM / LW / RW
24	Guly		LM / RM / AM
23	Massimo Ambrosini		CM / DM
7	Ibrahim Ba		RM / LM
21	Federico Giunti		CM / AM / DM
30	Domenico Morfeo		AM / LM / RM
8	Roberto Donadoni		RM / LM / CM
Forwards
20	Oliver Bierhoff		CF
9	George Weah		CF
11	Maurizio Ganz		CF
16	Mohammed Aliyu Datti		CF / SS
13	Alessandro Iannuzzi		CF

Left club during the 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 16 GK  GER Jens Lehmann 15 DF  BRA André Cruz 21 DF  ITA Giuseppe Cardone

Abbiati Sala Costacurta Maldini Guly Helveg Albertini Boban Leonardo Bierhoff Weah

Starting line-up since Zaccheroni adopted, at the end of the first half of the season, a formation with a trequartista. Earlier, he had used a 3-4-3.

Serie A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Milan (C)	34	20	10	4	59	34	+25	70	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Lazio	34	20	9	5	65	31	+34	69
3	Fiorentina	34	16	8	10	55	41	+14	56	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
4	Parma	34	15	10	9	55	36	+19	55
5	Roma	34	15	9	10	69	49	+20	54[lower-alpha 1]	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round

Source: 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).[1]
(C) Champion.
Notes:

1. ROM 7pts. JUV 5pts. UDI 4pts.

Matches

1	Milan	3–0	Bologna
	Cappioli  45' (o.g.) Bierhoff  51' (pen.) Leonardo  82'

2	Salernitana	1–2	Milan
	Breda  88'		Bierhoff  68' Leonardo  87'

3	Milan	1–3	Fiorentina
	Bierhoff  69' (pen.)		Batistuta  6, 46, 52'

4	Venezia	0–2	Milan
			Bierhoff  3' Leonardo  69'

5	Cagliari	1–0	Milan
	De Patre  19'

6	Milan	3–2	Roma
	Leonardo  45' Ziege  58' Weah  72'		Delvecchio  8, 69'

7	Piacenza	1–1	Milan
	S. Inzaghi  44'		Ganz  90 + 2'

8	Milan	2–2	Inter
	Weah  13' Albertini  90' (pen.)		Ronaldo  7' Moriero  48'

9

Bari

0–0

Milan

10	Milan	1–0	Lazio
	Leonardo  90'

11	Parma	4–0	Milan
	Chiesa  25' Crespo  36, 60' Boghossian  90'

12	Milan	3–0	Udinese
	Weah  22' Leonardo  41' Bierhoff  60'

13	Milan	1–0	Vicenza
	Weah  84'

14	Sampdoria	2–2	Milan
	Palmieri  58' Ortega  86'		Leonardo  39' Bierhoff  73'

15	Milan	1–1	Juventus
	Albertini  27' (pen.)		Fonseca  85'

16	Empoli	1–1	Milan
	Di Napoli  59'		Ziege  84'

17	Milan	2–1	Perugia
	Guly  37' Bierhoff  40'		Nakata  90' (pen.)

18	Bologna	2–3	Milan
	Signori  15, 44'		Guly  21' Magoni  52' (o.g.) N'Gotty  90'

19	Milan	3–2	Salernitana
	Bierhoff  3, 60' Weah  25'		Giampaolo  7' Del Grosso  14'

20

Fiorentina

0–0

Milan

21	Milan	2–1	Venezia
	Guly  39' Ganz  53'		Tuta  70'

22	Milan	1–0	Cagliari
	M. Villa  49' (o.g.)

23	Roma	1–0	Milan
	Paulo Sérgio  64'

24	Milan	1–0	Piacenza
	Bierhoff  43'

25	Inter	2–2	Milan
	N'Gotty  7' (o.g.) J. Zanetti  77'		Leonardo  14, 52'

26	Milan	2–2	Bari
	Bierhoff  42' Ganz  90'		Osmanovski  6, 80'

27

Lazio

0–0

Milan

28	Milan	2–1	Parma
	Maldini  59' Ganz  72'		Balbo  39'

29	Udinese	1–5	Milan
	Amoroso  58'		Boban  15, 37' Bierhoff  45, 60' Weah  63'

30	Vicenza	0–2	Milan
			Bierhoff  40' Leonardo  72'

31	Milan	3–2	Sampdoria
	Ambrosini  17' Leonardo  79' Castellini  90' (o.g.)		Montella  60' Franceschetti  86'

32	Juventus	0–2	Milan
			Weah  46, 62'

33	Milan	4–0	Empoli
	Bierhoff  32, 55, 60' Leonardo  88'

34	Perugia	1–2	Milan
	Nakata  79' (pen.)		Guly  11' Bierhoff  31'

Topscorers

• Oliver Bierhoff 20
• Leonardo 12
• George Weah 8
• Maurizio Ganz 4
• Guly 4

References

1. 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.