Milan regain their Italian superiority as Lazio falter

After taking a step back by reappointing Fabio Capello as coach the year before, Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi decided to put his faith in an exciting, up-and-coming tactician by the name of Alberto Zaccheroni for the 1998-99 season.

The gamble reaped immediate dividends.

Zaccheroni brought Oliver Bierhoff with him from Udinese and the Germany striker again proved the perfect spearhead for the Italian’s daring 3-4-3 formation, netting 20 times as the Rossoneri pipped Lazio to the title by concluding their campaign with seven successive wins.

However, the centre-forward was ably supported by the classy Brazilian attacker Leonardo, who contributed 10 goals himself, the ageing but still effective George Weah and the intelligent Zvonimir Boban.

Thomas Helveg, another arrival from Udinese, offered width along with Andres Guglieminpietro, while Demetrio Albertini and Massimo Ambrosini protected an excellent back three comprising Luigi Sala, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini.

CHANGES

Aside from Milan’s makeover, Lazio also bolstered their ranks with a number of exciting and expensive additions, pairing Chile’s striking sensation Marcelo Salas with the powerful Italy forward Christian Vieri to devastating effect.

Elsewhere, Roberto Baggio was rewarded for his brilliant season at Bologna with a return to San Siro, this time to join Ronaldo at Inter, while Juventus brought in an exciting young winger called Thierry Henry midway through the season. Unfortunately, they didn’t know what to do with the Frenchman, who struggled along with everyone else during a trying campaign for the Old Lady.

Indeed, Marcello Lippi was replaced as coach by Carlo Ancelotti in February 2009 but the former Parma boss was unable to prevent the reigning champions from finishing a disappointing seventh in the standings.

SEASON SUMMARY

Despite being beaten by Lazio in the Supercoppa Italiana, Juve made a decent start to their Scudetto defence but the entire course of their campaign…

Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/when-ac-milan-regained-their-italian-superiority-as-lazio-falter-serie-a-in-1998-99/113

Author : [email protected] (Mark Doyle)

Publish date : 2024-07-20 13:00:00

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