1960 - 1970

While the previous years had been marked by the supremacy of foreign players (Gre-No-Li, Schiaffino-Altafini), in the following years, between 1960 and 1970, Italian players, who would later reach international fame, were the main characters of the rossoneri history. Some Olympic players, such as Trapattoni, Trebbi, Alfieri and Noletti joined the team, together with a young boy named Gianni Rivera who played his first game when he was only 17 against Alessandria, his previous team (Milan won 5-3). The rossoneri were protagonists in the Championship but the last two defeats against Bari and Fiorentina gave Milan the second place. When Nils Liedholm left football and at the same time “Paròn” Nereo Rocco arrived as the new coach, a new era, marked by national and international successes, started. The first trophy was the Scudetto, but the most exciting success was the first European Cup. The final against Benfica, played at Wembley on 22nd May 1963, was a fascinating match: Milan raised the cup after defeating Benfica 2-1 (Altafini scored two goals and Eusebio scored for Benfica). The image of Cesare Maldini who raised the cup together with Nereo Rocco is still imprinted in the memory of all the supporters. However Milan lost the decisive match (1-0) played at Maracanà Stadium against Santos in the final of the Europeran-South American Cup after a troubled final. At the end of the season the Chairman Andrea Rizzoli left the Club after nine years of great successes: 4 Scudetti, 1 Latin Cup and the prestigious European Cup. He is remembered not only for his sports achievements, but also for the training centre of Milanello that is still a very important asset of the Club. After a few disappointing seasons, in 1967/68 rossoneri got their ninth Scudetto and the prestige of the Club grew with the victory of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the first in Milan’s history. In the European Cup final of the following season, the Rivera-Prati axis and the “black spider”, the goalkeeper Cudicini, led Milan to victory (4-1) against Cruijff’s Ajax. Finally Milan also achieved the European-South American Cup despite the defeat (2-0) in the return match played at the Bombonera Stadium against Estudiantes. Milan won the trophy thanks to the score (3-0) of the first match played at San Siro. The Rossoneri also won their first Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1967/68 season. Gianni Rivera, with his inborn and incomparable quality, showed beautiful actions that helped him to win the most prestigious recognition for a football player in 1969, the Golden Ball, because “Gianni Rivera is the only player who gives football a poetry sense”.