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FourFourTwo
Sport
Ryan Dabbs

‘To beat that team, with Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit, was almost impossible - it was one of the greatest games of my coaching career': Ex-Real Madrid manager reflects on beating stacked AC Milan side in 1989

Real Madrid Frank Rijkaard Marco van Basten Ruud Gullit Van Basten AC Milan John Toshack Milan La Liga Real Sociedad
UNSPECIFIED: 1988 Frank Rijkaard, Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit of AC Milan pose for photo after training session, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) Real Madrid.

Real Madrid have always been a pre-eminent force in European football, but the AC Milan team of the late 1980s was stacked with superstars. Beating them, therefore, proved extremely rewarding for one former Los Blancos manager.

Facing an AC Milan side containing Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Carlo Ancelotti and Alessandro Costacurta in the 1989/90 European Cup second round, Real Madrid needed to overcome a 2-0 deficit from the first leg at San Siro to have a chance of progressing.

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