Just look at the names on those team sheets and you will understand why the 2009 Derby della Madonnina has gone down in soccer folklore as the game with the greatest-ever lineup of players and coaches (for brevity I will say players but I am including the 2 head coaches, Jose Mourinho of Inter and Carlos Ancelotti of AC Millan).
Digging into the stats is even more impressive. The 36 players on the field, that day, were winners of
- 3 Balon d’Ors
- Luís Figo
- Kaka
- Ronaldinho
- 9 Word Cups
- 8 National Team Continental Championships
- 7 Copa Americas
- 1 Euro
- 12 Confederation Cups
- 26 Club World Cups
- 49 Club Continental Championships (1.4 per player)
- 42 Champions Leagues!
- 7 Copa Libertadores
- 112 Domestic Cups (3.1 per player)
- 59 Italian Cups
- 14 English Cups
- 8 Spanish Cups
- 5 French Cups
- 4 Dutch Cups
- 4 Brazilian Cups
- 18 Others
- 191 Domestic top-flight leagues (5.3 per player)!
- 110 Italian Titles
- 18 Spanish Titles
- 13 English Titles
- 10 French Titles
- 8 Dutch Titles
- 7 Argentinian Titles
- 5 Brazilian Titles
- 5 Portuguese Titles
- 15 Others
Not a single one of the 36 players did not win a major trophy! If you won the Champions League once, won a top league five times and won a top cup three times, then you were below average in this group! In this group the career achievements of players like Maicon and Javier Zanetti (detailed below), considered amongst the finest players of their generations in Brazil and Argentina, are average!
Just looking through their images you recognise that these are some of the most seasoned, hardened, refined, sophisticated and durable players of all time.
Clarence Sedof and Carlos Ancelotti won 4 Champions leagues each, while Paolo Maldini won 3.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic won 12 league titles across the Italian, French, Spanish and Dutch top flights. Maxwell won 11 titles from those same 4 leagues. Jose Mirono and Wálter Samuel won 10 each and Esteban Cambiasso won 9.
It’s worth noting that by 2009 the Italian League was no longer considered the world’s top league. In fact, the Serie A and the German Bundasleage were debated as being the 3rd or 4th best league in the world, after the Spanish Primera and the English Premier League.
Inter and AC Milan split the derby honors for the 2008/2009 season with AC Milan winning the first 1-0 and Inter winning this game 2-1. Inter won the Serie A comfortably by 10 points.
Here are all the player’s accolades.
Inter Milan
Gk: Julio Cesar
Copa América Winner
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
5x Italian Champion
3x Italian Cup Winner
3x Portuguese Champion
3x Portuguese Cup Winner
2x Confederations Cup Winner
Defence
Maicon
2x Copa América Winner
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
4x Italian Champion
3x Italian Cup Winner
Brazilian Champion
Brazilian Cup Winner
2x Confederations Cup Winner
Cristian Chivu
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
3x Italian Champion
3x Italian Cup Winner
Dutch Champion
Dutch Cup Winner
Wálter Samuel
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
6x Italian Champion
3x Italian Cup Winner
2x Swiss Champion
Copa Libertadores Winner
2x Argentinian Champion
Davide Santon
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
2x Italian Champion
2x Italian Cup Winner
Mid Field
Javier Zanetti
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
5x Italian Champion
4x Italian Cup Winner
Esteban Cambiasso
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
5x Italian Champion
Spanish Champion
4x Italian Cup Winner
2x Greek Champion
Argentinian Champion
Sulley Muntari
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
2x Italian Champion
English Cup Winner
2x Italian Cup Winner
Dejan Stankovic
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
6x Italian Champion
6x Italian Cup Winner
Yugoslavian Champion
3x Yugoslav Cup Winner
Attack
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Club World Cup Winner
5x Italian Champion
4x French Champion
Spanish Champion
2x French Cup Winner
2x Dutch Champion
Dutch Cup Winner
Adriano
Copa América Winner
4x Italian Champion
2x Italian Cup/Super Cup Winner
2x Brazilian Champion
Confederations Cup Winner
Interchange
Patrick Vieira (80′)
World Cup Winner
European Champion
Champions League Winner
3x English Champion
5x Italian Champion
5x English Cup Winner
Italian Cup Winner
Confederations Cup Winner
Nicolás Burdisso(84′)
4x Italian Champion
2x Italian Cup Winner
3x Copa Libertadores Winner
2x Argentinian Champion
Maxwell(88′)
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
4x French Champion
3x Italian Champion
2x Spanish Champion
3x French Cup Winner
Spanish Cup Winner
2x Dutch Champion
Dutch Cup Winner
Brazilian Cup Winner
Francesco Toldo
Champions League Winner
4x Italian Champion
5x Italian Cup Winner
Luís Figo
Champions League Winner
4x Italian Champion
4x Spanish Champion
2x Spanish Cup Winner
Italian Cup Winner
Portuguese Cup Winner
Julio Cruz
4x Italian Champion
2x Italian Cup Winner
Dutch Champion
2x Argentinian Champion
Coach: Jose Mourinho
2x Champions League Winner
3x English Champion
3x Spanish Champion
2x Italian Champion
English Cup Winner
3x Spanish Cup Winner
Italian Cup Winner
2x Portuguese Champion
2x Portuguese Cup Winner
AC Millan
Gk: Christian Abbiati
Champions League Winner
3x Italian Champion
Italian Cup Winner
Defence
Gianluca Zambrotta
World Cup Winner
3x Italian Champion
Italian Cup Winner
Paolo Maldini
3x Champions League Winner
Fifa Club World Cup Winner
7x Italian Champion
Italian Cup Winner
Kakhaber Kaladze
2x Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
Italian Champion
Italian Cup Winner
3x Ukrainian Champion
3x Ukrainian Cup Winner
4x Georgian Champion
4x Georgian Cup Winner
Marek Jankulovski
Champions League Winner
Fifa Club World Cup Winner
Italian Champion
Midfield
David Beckham
Champions League Winner
6x English Champion
French Champion
Spanish Champion
2x English Cup Winner
2x MLS Cup Winner
Andrea Pirlo
World Cup Winner
2x Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
6x Italian Champion
2x Italian Cup Winner
Massimo Ambrosini
2x Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
4x Italian Champion
Italian Cup Winner
Clarence Seedorf
4x Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
2x Italian Champion
Spanish Champion
Italian Cup Winner
2x Dutch Champion
Dutch Cup Winner
Ronaldinho
Winner Ballon D’or
World Cup Winner
Copa América Winner
Champions League Winner
2x Spanish Champion
Copa Libertadores Winner
Confederations Cup Winner
Attack
Alexandre Pato
Club World Cup Winner
Italian Champion
Confederations Cup Winner
Kaka
Winner Ballon D’or
World Cup Winner
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
Spanish Champion
Italian Champion
Spanish Cup Winner
2x Confederations Cup Winner
Interchange
Filippo Inzaghi (57′)
World Cup Winner
2x Champions League Winner
Fifa Club World Cup Winner
3x Italian Champion
Italian Cup Winner
Philippe Senderos (77′)
English Fa Cup Winner
Dida
World Cup Winner
Copa América Winner
2x Champions League Winner
2x Fifa Club World Cup Winner
Italian Champion
Brazilian Champion
Copa Libertadores Winner
2x Confederations Cup Winner
Luca Antonini
Italian Champion
Giuseppe Favalli
Champions League Winner
Fifa Club World Cup Winner
2x Italian Champion
5x Italian Cup Winner
Emerson
Copa América Winner
Fifa Club World Cup Winner
Italian Champion
Spanish Champion
Brazilian Champion
2x Brazilian Cup Winner
Copa Libertadores Winner
Confederations Cup Winner
Mathieu Flamini
Italian Champion
3x English Cup Winner
Coach: Carlo Ancelotti
Champions League Winner
Club World Cup Winner
English Champion
German Champion
French Champion
Italian Champion
Spanish Champion
English Fa Cup Winner
Spanish Cup Winner
Italian Cup Winner
About Eugene Abungana
I have worked with several companies in the past including Economy Watch, and Milkroad. Writing for BitEdge is highly satisfying as I get an opportunity to share my knowledge with a broad community of gamblers.
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