Memorable European Confrontations, Part 4-1991-Olympique Marseille vs. AC Milan
The Quarterfinal pairing of AC Milan and Olympique Marseille in 1991 was one of the most hyped matchups in years.
AC Milan were two time defending European Champions with visionary manager Arrigo Sacchi and its Dutch trio of Gullit, van Basten, Rijkaard and Italian internationals such as Baresi, Maldini and Donadoni.
However, the team seemed to be in decline and not as fearsome as previous years.
In contrast, free spending OM were hot on their heels to be Europe’s premier team, with star striker Jean-Pierre Papin and the backbone of the French national team.
Their foreign contingents were Brazilian defender Carlos Mozer, English winger Chris Waddle and Ghana’s Abedi Pele, along with Yugoslavian Dragan Stojkovic out injured for most of the season.
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Photo From: Onze-Mondial, April 1991
(Chris Waddle and Carlo Ancelloti) |
Visionary and politically ambitious Presidents led both teams. Silvio Berlusconi had transformed an ailing AC Milan into the best in Europe and Bernard Tapie had turned OM into one of the strongest sides on the continent.
Though Marseille were League leaders, they had gone through several changes off the field.
Gerard Gili, the manager at the start of the season, had been dismissed to make way for Franz Beckenbauer, who just months earlier had led Germany to the World Cup title.
Tapie saw in him as the ideal manager to take OM to the next level.
After a number of losses, Beckenbauer was moved upstairs as Technical Director and was replaced by veteran Belgian manager Raymond Goethals.
Goethals having managed Bordeaux previously, was more familiar with French soccer and soon installed stability.
The first leg was played at Milan’s San Siro stadium on March 6, 1991.
AC Milan’s star striker Marco van Basten had been sent off in the previous tie vs. Club Brugge and was suspended for three matches. Therefore, he had to sit out both matches with Marseille.
In his place Gullit was pushed up to partner Daniele Massaro and Alberigo Evani played in midfield.
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Photo From: France Football, March 12, 1991, Issue 2443
(Casoni and Gullit) |
Milan was also missing injured captain Franco Baresi, Fillipo Galli deputized for him.
OM had traveled without Eric Cantona and Jean Tigana who had complained about their lack of playing time under Goethals.
Eric Di Meco started in the place of Phillipe Vercruysse to bolster the defense.
Goethals had instructed the defenders to use the offside trap.
This way OM was able to disrupt Milan’s game plan.
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Photo From: France Football, March 12, 1991, Issue 2443
(Di Meco and Rijkaard) |
AC Milan took the lead in the 15th minute when miscommunication between Casoni and Mozer enabled Gullit to sneak through and score.
OM was generally in better shape and soon took control.
Midway through the first half Pele won a ball in the middle and laid it off to Waddle who crossed across the goalmouth for an onrushing Papin to stab home.
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Photo From: France Football, March 12, 1991, Issue 2443
(Diagram of Papin’s goal) |
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Photo From: Onze-Mondial, April 1991
(Papin scoring the equalizer) |
In the second half, Pele tackled a ball near the Milan goal area that deflected off the post.
Sacchi sent on Marco Simone and Angelo Carbone in the 58th minute to make an impact to no avail.
OM had dominated AC Milan in Milan, like no other team in the last few seasons.
Gullit and Rijkaard in interviews conceded that Milan had lost the tactical battle.
Arrigo Sacchi stated that this OM is an evern more complete side than the Red Star Belgrade side of 1988 that almost eliminated Milan.
Chris Waddle went on to say that had it been a boxing match, OM would have won on points.
March 6, 1991
Associazione Calcio Milan-Milano (Italy) 1- Olympique de Marseille (France) 1
Champions Cup- Quarter Finals, First Leg
Venue: Milano-Stadio Giuseppe Meazza ,San Siro
Attendance: 81,051
Referee: Bruno Galler (Switzerland)
Goalscorers: (AC Milan): Ruud Gullit 15
(Olympique Marseille): Jean-Pierre Papin 27
Lineups:
AC Milan:
1-Andrea Pazzagli, 2-Mauro Tassoti, 5-Fillipo Galli, 6-Alessandro Costacurta, 3-Paolo Maldini, 4-Carlo Ancelloti (14-Angelo Carbone 58th), 8-Frank Rijkaard (Holland), 7-Roberto Donadoni, 11-Alberigo Evani, 10-Ruud Gullit (Holland), 9-Daniele Massaro (15-Marco Simone 58th)
Coach: Arrigo Sacchi
Other Subs:
12-Sebastiano Rossi
13-Stefano Nava
16-Massimo Agostini
Team Captain: Mauro Tassoti
Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Adidas
Shirt Sponsor: Mediolanum
Uniform Colors: Red/Black Vertical striped Shirts, White Shorts , White Socks
Olympique Marseille:
1-Pascal Olmeta, 2-Manuel Amoros, 4-Basile Boli, 7-Bernard Casoni, 5-Carlos Mozer, 3-Eric Di Meco, 11-Bruno Germain, 6-Bernard Pardo, 8-Chris Waddle (England), 10-Abedi Pele (Ghana), 9-Jean-Pierre Papin
Coach: Raymond Goethals (Belgium)
Booked: Bernard Pardo 42
Other Subs:
12-Laurent Fournier
13- Phillipe Vercruysse
14-Dragan Stojkovic (Yugoslavia)
Team Captain: Jean-Pierre Papin
Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Adidas
Shirt Sponsor: Panasonic
Uniform Colors: White Shirts, White Shorts , White Socks
For the return leg on March 20th at Stade Velodrome, Marseille were in confident mood and sensed were about to make history.
Sacchi was less confident in his starting goalkeeper Andrea Pazzagli, he therefore promoted Sebastiano Rossi to start the return leg.
Franco Baresi was back captaining Milan.
Massimo Agostini started as strike partner of Gullit, in place of Massaro from the previous tie.
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Photo From: Onze-Mondial, April 1991
(Captains Baresi and Papin) |
OM had lost midfielder Bernard Pardo to injury for the rest of the season. Laurent Fournier took his place.
Milan generally played better than the first leg, notably Evani and Donadoni.
Evani came close to score from a free kick that was tipped over by Olmeta; otherwise Mozer ably defended all of Milan’s assaults.
With quarter of an hour remaining, Waddle, Papin and Pele once again combined to score for OM. This time, Pele crossed the ball to Papin in the middle who headed it wide for Waddle to volley home from the outside of the box.
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Photo From: France Football, March 26, 1991, Issue 2445
(Diagram of Waddle goal) |
With minutes remaining some of the floodlights in the stadium went off.
The Milan players started protesting about the lack of light and visibility.
Adriano Galliani Berlusconi’s right hand man, ordered the players to leave the field.
After a few minutes the referee had no choice but to end the match and declare OM as winners.
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Photo From: Onze-Mondial, April 1991
(Ancelloti and Mozer) |
Galliani tendered his resignation afterwards, which Berlusconi did not accept.
Milan were fined and banned for one season of European Competition.
Arrigo Sacchi left his post at AC Milan at the end of the season and took over Italy’s national team the following season.
Sacchi went on to say that Milan had been the best team in the last two years but were no longer.
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Photo From: Onze-Mondial, April 1991
(Tassoti and Germain) |
It appeared that an era had ended and a new one had begun.
The rumours started that new players were needed to replace fading stars like Donadoni, Gullit and even van Basten.
The names of Eranio, Lentini, Desideri and Ferron were mentioned, as well as Red Star Belgrade’s trio of Robert Prosinecki, Dejan Saavicevic and Darko Pancev.
Berlusconi eventually chose to remain faithful with the unit of players that had won those many titles for the following season.
OM went on to defeat Spartak Moscow in the next round but lost on a penalty kick shoot-out to Red Star Belgrade in the final.
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Photo From: France Football, March 26, 1991, Issue 2445
(Waddle between Evani and Maldini) |
They would win this much-coveted trophy two years later vs. AC Milan, which included Papin.
AC Milan did not disappear; they would recover, rebuild and dominate the Champions League for the next decades.
March 20, 1991
Olympique de Marseille (France) 1-Associazione Calcio Milan-Milano (Italy) 0
Champions Cup- Quarter Finals, Seond Leg
Venue: Stade Velodrome
Attendance: 37,603
Referee: Bo Karlsson (Sweden)
Goalscorers: (Olympique Marseille): Chris Waddle 75
(AC Milan): None
Lineups:
Olympique Marseille:
1-Pascal Olmeta, 2-Manuel Amoros, 4-Basile Boli, 7-Bernard Casoni, 5-Carlos Mozer, 3-Eric Di Meco, 6-Bruno Germain, 11-Laurent Fournier (13-Phillipe Vercruysse 81st), 8-Chris Waddle (England), 10-Abedi Pele (Ghana), 9-Jean-Pierre Papin
Coach: Raymond Goethals (Belgium)
Booked: Manuel Amoros 63, Carlos Mozer 72
Other Subs:
12-Eric Mura
14-Eric Cantona
15-Dragan Stojkovic (Yugoslavia)
16-Gaetan Huard
Team Captain: Jean-Pierre Papin
Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Adidas
Shirt Sponsor: Panasonic
Uniform Colors: White Shirts, White Shorts , White Socks
AC Milan:
1-Sebastiano Rossi, 2-Mauro Tassoti, 6-Franco Baresi, 5-Alessandro Costacurta, 3-Paolo Maldini, 4-Carlo Ancelloti (16-Daniele Massaro 56th), 8-Frank Rijkaard (Holland), 7-Roberto Donadoni (15-Marco Simone 73rd), 11-Alberigo Evani, 10-Ruud Gullit (Holland), 9-Massimo Agostini
Coach: Arrigo Sacchi
Booked: Mauro Tassoti 30, Carlo Ancelloti 32, Alberigo Evani 55
Other Subs:
12-Andrea Pazzagli
13-Fillipo Galli
14-Giovanni Stroppa
Team Captain: Franco Baresi
Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Adidas
Shirt Sponsor: Mediolanum
Uniform Colors: Red/Black Vertical striped Shirts, Black Shorts , Black Socks
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