Milan against the world: five of their greatest nights on the big stage

I f Real Madrid are the undisputed kings of Europe, Milan must be the princes. They are streets ahead of other Italian clubs when it comes to winning continental trophies: seven European Cups, two Cup Winners’ Cups and five Super Cups sit in their vast trophy cabinet.

Spiritually, they feel like a European club. They were founded by an Englishman – hence the spelling of their name – and were early adopters of continental football, competing outside Italy as early as 1938 in the Mitropa Cup and winning the Latin Cup in 1951.

Choosing just five nights from 85 years of continental football is difficult, but these Milan sides brought icons to their knees and dominated teams featuring Pelé, Hugo Sánchez, Pep Guardiola and Cristiano Ronaldo, who were coached by legends such as Alex Ferguson and Johan Cruyff.

This match was a meeting of footballing masterminds. Ferguson was piecing together his third great Manchester United side and they were on a roll in the Champions League, having finished top of their group and dismantled Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford in the second leg of their quarter-final. United would go on to win the trophy the following year but 2007 belonged to Milan.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team, set up in his 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation, had lost the first leg of this semi-final 3-2 at Old Trafford, but they made easy work of United at San Siro. The midfield trio of Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini taught Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher and new signing Michael Carrick a lesson in how to run a European tie, Gattuso also bullying Cristiano Ronaldo out of the game for good measure. With Clarence Seedorf and Kaká just in front of them and Filippo Inzaghi providing the finishing touches, Milan were on a