Written by Dave Black @cm9798
Hello! Welcome to the final edition of Mid 90s Milan. So far, we’ve been ruddy brilliant. We’re just a few points away from securing the Serie A title. The Champions League final will see us take on Man Utd. Before all of that though, we take on Brescia in the second leg of the Coppa Italia. That’s Italian for Italian Cup. We’re 2-0 up from the first leg, I like our chances.
Brescia are a Serie B team. Not even a very good one, they’re 17th out of 20. I already ran through their squad in the last episode so I won’t again but this is a dour encounter. We are very poor, it’s 0-0 for 89 minutes before Brescia score a consolation. A bad result and probably the dullest cup celebration ever.
Still, a cup is a cup.
There are just four games to go and we’re 9 points ahead. Even we would struggle to throw this away.
Away to 17th placed Reggiana looks like a great opportunity to seal the title. However, our goalkeeper is dismissed after two minutes and we’re behind to the penalty. That’s bad. Then Desailly gets sent off for a professional foul and they score the penalty. That’s really bad. It’s soon 3-0 and then Boba commits a bad foul and we’re down to 8 men. Crikey, talk about choking. We lose 5-0. One of my worst days in management.
Juventus lose 4-0 and only Parma winning stops us winning the title in the worst of circumstances.
I’d rather win the league at home anyway. Fiorentina smashed Juventus 4-0 a week ago so I could think of better opponents. Batistuta, Oliveira, Rui Costa and er, Francesco Baiano will be out to get us. We only need a point.
It’s dire. But it’s gritty. We’re falling over the finish line but nobody says you’ve got to cross the line standing upright. 0-0 brings us the title – the Italian way.
Well thank goodness. All we have to do is survive the last two league games without getting injuries before the Champions League final. Davids and Albertini are already injured, plus the filthy trio who are suspended from a few weeks ago. Oh and Savicevic. He’s banned too. He has 29 assists this season, by the way. We’re away to Parma, who are 2nd. Thank goodness we already have this sewn up.
We’re actually brilliant for 80 minutes. Costacurta scores twice from set pieces and it’s vintage us. Then we concede two in the last 10 minutes and it’s annoying but pointless.
We finish at home to Juventus. I tell you what, I’m really pleased this didn’t go down to the final two games. Our battered side are hanging tough and even when we go behind to Moreno Torricelli, George Weah equalises and then pops up with a late winner to finish the domestic season on a high.
Our first win of the night. We end up being 10 points clear, I don’t know what all the fuss was about.
One final game then and it’s the Champions League final. Savicevic and Albertini are ruled out through injury but otherwise we’re full strength.
Man Utd are without Giggs and Beckham due to injury but oddly have opted to leave Scholes and Solskjaer out of the 16. Chris Armstrong has been signed from Spurs and makes the bench.
The final is in the Nou Camp where Man Utd have some history…albeit in the future.
It’s a bit of a basketball match to begin with, end to end only without the scoring. Then on the stroke of half time, we let Denis Irwin head in from a free kick. Where to start with that? We’re struggling but the introduction of Dugarry from the bench pays immediate dividends. No wonder Steve Bruce signed him. Roberto Baggio curls in a free kick 7 minutes later – they should make a game about his free kicks. It’s a momentous night. CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE.
It hasn’t always been vintage but we’ve got the job done. The treble. Let’s take a look at some numbers.
Weah ended up running away as top scorer, not really sure why Maldini outscored Baggio and the entire midfield. Savicevic and Baggio were assist machines whilst Maldini and Desailly were our top performers.
That’s it from me. What a journey we’ve been on. Thanks for putting up with me and I’ll hopefully see you around. Bye for now.
A word from the #WeStreamFM Team: It’s been a pleasure to have Dave contribute to our website, many of us have been fans of his work for a long time and we look forward to working with him again in the future. Thanks Dave.
Make sure you’re following Dave on Twitter: @cm9798
His website: https://cm9798.wordpress.com/
His books: The World According to Championship Manager 97/98 | The World According To Championship Manager 01/02