Last night was very special for many reasons, with AC Milan coming from two goals behind to beat their city rivals Inter and lift a trophy, the 50th in their history.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, it was also the first trophy of the RedBird Capital era. In the 125 years of history of Milan, 23 owners have alternated at the helm of the club and Gerry Cardinale is the latest on the list.
The most successful and longest-serving was Silvio Berlusconi, who in the 31 years of his management celebrated 29 trophies. The last? The 2016 Supercoppa Italiana in Doha, in the final against Juventus.
Among the other presidents or owners who have won the most are Andrea Rizzoli – under whose guidance Milan won four league titles and its first European Cup – and Franco Carraro, also winner of a European Cup and the first Intercontinental Cup.
Elliott Management brought the last trophy and now Cardinale has also entered his name in the history book of the Rossoneri, having recently refinanced the vendor loan (now €489m remain to be paid) until July 2028.
His investment so far has been €825m: €600m plus €55m in capital payments plus the partial repayment of the €170m vendor loan at the end of December. He intends to continue and win again. In short, he hopes that the trophy raised in Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Al-Nassr’s stadium will be a starting point.
It might not be the only trophy this season, in which Milan expect to gain direct access to the Champions League round of 16 as early as this January and to reach the end of the Coppa Italia in addition to at least fourth place in the table.
Cardinale was not at Al-Awwal Park last night, where his closeness to the team was made felt through a message relayed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The owner followed the match on TV from the United States, as always happens despite the time difference.
The Supercoppa – awarded by Lega president Enzo Simonelli and lifted by the Rossoneri – allows him to forget a disappointing start to the season in terms of results and allows the club to reach Inter on eight Super Cups.
For the owner of Milan, who like all Milan fans had suffered a lot for the streak of derbies lost in a row, this is the second consecutive derby won, after the one in September in the league. The gap in the Serie A standings compared to Inzaghi’s team remains, but there is more to be positive about now.
Inter had closed the gap to 49-46 in terms of trophies, but the Diavolo have extended it again by claiming their 50th piece of silverware. The titles are as follows: 19 league titles, five Italian Cups, eight Supercoppa Italiani, seven Champions Leagues/European Cups, five European Super Cups, two Cup Winners’ Cups, three Intercontinental Cups and one Club World Cup.
The next goal is to sew a second star on the chest, which Inter has already put on their shirts: the hunt has been postponed to next season, but Cardinale will try again. The American ownership hopes to experience other nights like the one in Riyadh.
GDS embarrassing themselves by showing they don’t understand what investment means in footballing terms. The money spent on the team is the investment, not the money spent to purchase the club. I’ll be amazed if they repay the €489 in 3 years. My guess is they’ll probably get another loan. Until they build a stadium, I doubt Redbird will get a buyer.
Based on their investments, I doubt they are planning to sell the club anytime soon – if they own/co-own a stadium one day that’s more reason to keep the investment and integrate their other businesses.
Exactly and it’s probably six years before a stadium is ready. The idea that they’ll sell just because the fans complain about American ownership is ridiculous.
Gerry has made it clear that Milan is the starting point for his investments. His top priority is the stadium because he aims to expand entertainment businesses worldwide, particularly in stadium development. In my opinion, he is likely to be the owner of Milan for the next 15 years. I’m okay with this because he has invested money, and if the team continues to compete and maintain its presence in the Champions League, he will attract stars to the club or discover new talent.
Oh, this article is going to bring out the mentally deranged haters. They are so upset that Milan just won a trophy under Redbird they can hardly contain themselves. Well done Milan.
Many more to come.
“Oh, this article is going to bring out the mentally deranged”
Seeing that you and @uberhulk have posted, yep, it definitely has.
Insulting fans and certain players here, what does that make you?🤦♂️
Real “fans” don’t get upset when the club wins a trophy and have only negative things to say when they win and then gloat when the team loses. Real fans don’t root for the coach to fail because they don’t like the ownership or management.
But you are doing the same with certain players. Gloating when they fail.
Nope. ALways happy when the team wins. The only player I’ve criticized this season is Theo. When you are actively trying to undermine the coach and sabotage the team’s season because you don’t like the coach, that is unacceptable. Anyone who thinks it is is just an idol worshipping fool.
The only ones who was upset with Milan winning yesterday it was you. Judging by all the comments in which you were attacking our players and fans lol.
Again, my original comment was all positive yesterday, thanking the players the manager and management. The only people I went after were the people who came in after we just won a trophy against our arch rivals and had nothing but negative comments to say. These people are not real fans and are hoping for the team to fail because they don’t like the owner. I will always call them out.
Cardinale probably didn’t even watch the derby game. I still can’t believe this management chose Lopetegui and Fonseca over Conceição to replace Pioli. Sigh!
This is not just about a lack of ambition but incompetence and stupidity as well. With 3-4 quality signings this team can challenge for major trophies but instead they decided not to seizing the moment to invest like Maldini said to take the club to the next level. Unbelievable
If Milan are not winning on the field then how is it possible for them to gain more sponsorship and generate more revenue?
As a project manager by profession I find this management at Milan to be the most incompetent bunch of bozos I’ve ever seen and that includes Cardinale. Smh.
The super cup, especially in its current form, is not a trophy.
Milan shouldn’t even have qualified.
The real test is the league.
Followed by the Champions League where Serie A is at a disadvantage.
I agree.
Normally, before 2023 I think 🤔 (stand corrected), I believe we would not have qualified for this tournament. Since the format change it brought teams in that would not normally qualify.
Also I’m not sure what GDs point is. Money for the club purchase should have been district from what was spent on the team’s personnel so far 🤷♂️
I agree apart from the trophy part. It may not be a major trophy though
If you don’t care about the trophy, at least celebrate wins against Juve and Inter.