# 1997–98 AC Milan season

AC Milan had a second consecutive disastrous season. Fabio Capello returned as coach, following the dismal second half of the 1996–97 league campaign, but failed to turn the corner, and Milan was a shadow of the team he had left the year before. With Capello's reputation seemingly ruined, he was sacked at the end of the season, with Milan finishing a mere 10th in the league.

## First-team squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Sebastiano Rossi |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Paolo Maldini |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Demetrio Albertini |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Costacurta |
| 8 | DF | FRA | Marcel Desailly |
| 9 | FW | NED | Patrick Kluivert |
| 10 | MF | YUG | Dejan Savićević |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Simone Braglia |
| 13 | MF | FRA | Ibrahim Ba |
| 14 | FW | LBR | George Weah |
| 15 | DF | BRA | André Cruz |
| 17 | DF | GER | Christian Ziege |
| 19 | MF | ITA | Giampiero Maini |
| 20 | MF | CRO | Zvonimir Boban |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Cardone |
| 22 | DF | ITA | Daniele Daino |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | GK | ITA | Massimo Taibi |
| 24 | DF | CRO | Dario Smoje |
| 25 | MF | ITA | Simone Bonomi |
| 26 | DF | ITA | Alberto Comazzi |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Nicola Corrent |
| 28 | FW | ITA | Massimiliano Grego |
| 29 | MF | ITA | Roberto De Zerbi |
| 30 | MF | BRA | Leonardo |
| 31 | FW | ITA | Mirco Gasparetto |
| 32 | MF | ITA | Roberto Donadoni |
| 33 | MF | ITA | Nicola Padoin |
| 34 | FW | ITA | Massimo Maccarone |
| 35 | DF | NOR | Steinar Nilsen |
| 36 | FW | ITA | Maurizio Ganz |
| 37 | DF | FRA | Samir Beloufa |
| 38 | FW | ITA | Filippo Maniero |
| 39 | DF | ITA | Gianluca Zanetti |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Patrick Kluivert | Ajax Amsterdam | - |
| MF | Ibrahim Ba | Bordeaux | - |
| MF | André Cruz | Internazionale | |
| DF | Christian Ziege | Bayern München | - |
| MF | Giampiero Maini | Vicenza Calcio | - |
| DF | Giuseppe Cardone | Bologna F.C. | - |
| GK | Massimo Taibi | Piacenza Calcio | - |
| MF | Leonardo | Paris SG | |
| DF | Winston Bogarde | Ajax Amsterdam | - |
| DF | Steinar Nilsen | Tromsø_IL | - |
| DF | Dario Smoje | HNK Rijeka | - |
| MF | Francesco Moriero | A.S. Roma | - |
| GK | Simone Braglia | Lucchesse 1905 | - |
| MF | Francesco Cozza | Cagliari F.C. | loan ended |
| FW | Luca Saudati | A.C. Prato | - |
| FW | Andreas Andersson | IFK Goteborg | - |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Franco Baresi | | retired |
| DF | Mauro Tassotti | | retired |
| FW | Roberto Baggio | Bologna F.C. | €1.80 million |
| FW | Marco Simone | Paris SG | |
| GK | Angelo Pagotto | Empoli F.C. | - |
| DF | Pietro Vierchowod | Piacenza Calcio | |
| DF | Michael Reiziger | FC Barcelona | - |
| FW | Christophe Dugarry | FC Barcelona | - |
| MF | Stefano Eranio | Derby County | |
| MF | Francesco Moriero | Internazionale | - |
| DF | Francesco Coco | Vicenza Calcio | loan |
| MF | Massimo Ambrosini | Vicenza Calcio | loan |
| MF | Francesco Cozza | U.S. Lecce | loan |
| GK | Gabriele Aldegani | A.C. Prato | loan |
| FW | Luca Saudati | Lecco | loan |

#### Autumn

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| MF | Roberto Donadoni | NY Metrostars | - |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | Jesper Blomqvist | Parma F.C. | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Maurizio Ganz | Inter | - |
| FW | Filippo Maniero | Parma F.C. | - |
| DF | Samir Beloufa | AS Cannes | - |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| MF | Edgar Davids | Juventus |
| FW | Andreas Andersson | Newcastle United |
| DF | Winston Bogarde | FC Barcelona |
| FW | Matteo Pelatti | Como |

## Results
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Bologna | 34 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 55 | 46 | +9 | 48 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round |
| 9 | Sampdoria | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 52 | 55 | −3 | 48 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
| 10 | Milan | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 37 | 43 | −6 | 44 | |
| 11 | Bari | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 30 | 45 | −15 | 38 | |
| 12 | Piacenza | 34 | 7 | 16 | 11 | 29 | 38 | −9 | 37 | |
* ↑ Bologna finished ahead of Sampdoria on head-to-head points: BOL 2–2 SAM; SAM 2–3 BOL.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Competitive matches

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | D | D | L | L | W | L | W | W | D | D | W | W | D | W | D | L | L | W | L | D | W | W | D | W | D | L | L | L | W | L | D | L | D | L |
| Position | 9 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |

#### Matches
### Coppa Italia
#### Final
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie A | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Coppa Italia |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Rossi | 27 | -34 | 17 | -25 | 10 | -9 |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Cardone | 25 | 0 | 16+3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Costacurta | 37 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 8 | DF | FRA | Desailly | 41 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Maldini | 37 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | SEN | Ibrahim Ba | 40 | 1 | 30+1 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | CRO | Boban | 29 | 3 | 19+4 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Albertini | 37 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| 30 | MF | BRA | Leonardo | 32 | 4 | 20+7 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | NED | Kluivert | 33 | 9 | 26+1 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| 14 | FW | LBR | Weah | 32 | 13 | 23+1 | 10 | 8 | 3 |
| 23 | GK | ITA | Taibi | 17 | -18 | 17 | -18 |
| 17 | DF | GER | Ziege | 27 | 2 | 18+4 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | ITA | Ganz | 25 | 5 | 14+5 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 22 | DF | ITA | Daino | 18 | 0 | 11+3 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | BRA | André Cruz | 14 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 19 | MF | ITA | Maini | 31 | 1 | 8+17 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| 32 | MF | ITA | Donadoni | 19 | 0 | 8+7 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | YUG | Savicevic | 15 | 1 | 6+2 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 24 | DF | CRO | Smoje | 9 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 38 | FW | ITA | Maniero | 16 | 3 | 3+10 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | SWE | Andersson | 18 | 3 | 3+10 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | NOR | Nilsen | 7 | 1 | 2+3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | NED | Davids | 7 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | NED | Bogarde | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 37 | DF | FRA | Beloufa | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | ITA | Comazzi | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SWE | Blomqvist | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Braglia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | ITA | Bonomi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Corrent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | ITA | Maccarone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | MF | ITA | Padoin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | FW | ITA | Grego |
| 29 | MF | ITA | Zerbi |
| 31 | FW | ITA | Gasparetto |
| 39 | DF | ITA | Zanetti |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/1997/1137/

### Goalscorers

| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Total |
| 1 | 14 | FW | | George Weah | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| 2 | 9 | FW | | Patrick Kluivert | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | 36 | FW | | Maurizio Ganz | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | 20 | MF | | Zvonimir Boban | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | 30 | MF | | Leonardo | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | 38 | FW | | Filippo Maniero | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | 4 | MF | | Demetrio Albertini | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | 15 | DF | | André Cruz | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | 17 | DF | | Christian Ziege | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 11 | FW | | Andreas Andersson | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 13 | MF | | Ibrahim Ba | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 19 | DF | | Giampiero Maini | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 35 | DF | | Steinar Nilsen | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 10 | MF | | Dejan Savićević | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 37 | 15 | 52 |