# 1998–99 AC Milan season

In the 1998–99 season, Associazione Calcio Milan returned to their previous winning ways under the guidance of new manager Alberto Zaccheroni. Hired from Udinese, Zaccheroni brought striker Oliver Bierhoff and right-wingback Thomas Helveg with him from his former club. He introduced Milan to his unorthodox 3–4–3 formation (in the latter half of the season modified to 3–4–1–2, to allow space for a creative attacking midfielder) in which Bierhoff was a perfect centre forward, scoring 20 goals in the league.
Milan had a marvelous second half of the season, in which they competed for the Serie A title with Lazio and Fiorentina. After seven straight wins in the last seven matches, Milan clinched the scudetto, becoming champions of Italy for the 16th time in their history.

## Squad
### Squad information

| Squad no. | Name | Position |
| Goalkeepers ||||
| 12 | Christian Abbiati | GK |
| 1 | Sebastiano Rossi | GK |
| 31 | Giorgio Frezzolini | GK |
| Defenders ||||
| 3 | Paolo Maldini (Captain) | CB / LB |
| 5 | Alessandro Costacurta | CB / SW / LB / RB |
| 14 | Roberto Ayala | CB |
| 25 | Bruno Ngotty | CB |
| 17 | Christian Ziege | LB / LM |
| 2 | Thomas Helveg | RB / RM |
| 27 | Francesco Coco | LB / LM |
| 26 | Luigi Sala | CB |
| 19 | Samir Beloufa | CB |
| Midfielders ||||
| 4 | Demetrio Albertini | CM / DM |
| 18 | Leonardo | AM / LW |
| 10 | Zvonimir Boban | AM / CM / LW / RW |
| 24 | Guly | LM / RM / AM |
| 23 | Massimo Ambrosini | CM / DM |
| 7 | Ibrahim Ba | RM / LM |
| 21 | Federico Giunti | CM / AM / DM |
| 30 | Domenico Morfeo | AM / LM / RM |
| 8 | Roberto Donadoni | RM / LM / CM |
| Forwards ||||
| 20 | Oliver Bierhoff | CF |
| 9 | George Weah | CF |
| 11 | Maurizio Ganz | CF |
| 16 | Mohammed Aliyu Datti | CF / SS |
| 13 | Alessandro Iannuzzi | CF |

### Left club during the 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 |
| 16 | GK | GER | Jens Lehmann |
| 15 | DF | BRA | André Cruz |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Cardone |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Oliver Bierhoff | Udinese | - |
| MF | Thomas Helveg | Udinese | - |
| GK | Jens Lehmann | Schalke 04 | |
| MF | Andres Guly | Gimnasia LP | - |
| DF | Roberto Ayala | Napoli | - |
| MF | Domenico Morfeo | Fiorentina | loan |
| MF | Bruno N'Gotty | Paris SG | |
| DF | Luigi Sala | Bari | - |
| GK | Christian Abbiati | Monza | |
| FW | Aliyu Datti | Ravenna | |
| MF | Massimo Ambrosini | Vicenza | loan ended |
| DF | Francesco Coco | Vicenza | loan ended |
| FW | Luca Saudati | Lecco | loan ended |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Patrick Kluivert | Barcelona | |
| FW | Dejan Savicevic | | |
| DF | Marcel Desailly | Chelsea | |
| FW | Filippo Maniero | Venezia | - |
| MF | Giampiero Maini | Bologna | |
| DF | Steinar Nilsen | S.S.C. Napoli | |
| DF | Dario Smoje | Monza | |
| GK | Gabriele Aldegani | Como | |
| GK | Massimo Taibi | Veneza | |
| GK | Simone Braglia | Monza | |
| DF | Daniele Daino | S.S.C. Napoli | loan |
| FW | Luca Saudati | Como | loan |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| GK | Giorgio Frezzolini | Inter Milan | loan |
| GK | Dida | Cruzeiro | |
| MF | Federico Giunti | Parma | |
| FW | Alessandro Ianuzzi | Lazio | loan |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| GK | Jens Lehmann | Borussia Dortmund | - |
| DF | André Cruz | Standard Liege | - |
| DF | Giuseppe Cardone | Vicenza | - |
| GK | Dida | Lugano | loan |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Milan (C) | 34 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 70 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Lazio | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 65 | 31 | +34 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Fiorentina | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 55 | 41 | +14 | 56 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Parma | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 55 | 36 | +19 | 55 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Roma | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 69 | 49 | +20 | 54 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
* ↑ ROM 7pts. JUV 5pts. UDI 4pts.

#### 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 | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | L | W | L | W | D | D | D | W | L | W | W | D | D | D | W | W | W | D | W | W | L | W | D | D | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W |
| Position | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |

#### Matches
### Topscorers

* Oliver Bierhoff 20
* Leonardo 12
* George Weah 8
* Maurizio Ganz 4
* Guly 4

## 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 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Abbiati | 18 | -15 | 17+1 | -15 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Costacurta | 32 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | ITA | Sala | 25 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Maldini | 33 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | MF | DEN | Helveg | 31 | 1 | 26+1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | MF | ITA | Albertini | 32 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Ambrosini | 29 | 1 | 23+3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | ARG | Guly | 23 | 4 | 20+1 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | AM | CRO | Boban | 31 | 2 | 21+6 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | GER | Bierhoff | 37 | 21 | 34 | 19 | 3 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | LBR | Weah | 30 | 9 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Rossi | 16 | -19 | 12+1 | -14 | 3 | -5 |
| 18 | MF | BRA | Leonardo | 29 | 12 | 16+11 | 12 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | FRA | N'Gotty | 29 | 1 | 15+10 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | GER | Ziege | 20 | 2 | 14+3 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | ITA | Ganz | 24 | 5 | 11+9 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | FRA | Ba | 18 | 0 | 6+9 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Ayala | 13 | 0 | 6+5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | ITA | Morfeo | 13 | 0 | 6+5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | GK | GER | Lehmann | 6 | -6 | 5 | -5 | 1 | -1 |
| 32 | MF | ITA | Giunti | 6 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | BRA | André Cruz | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Donadoni | 10 | 0 | 0+9 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | ITA | Coco | 6 | 0 | 0+6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | ITA | Maini | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | FW | NGA | Aliyu Datti | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | FRA | Beloufa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Cardone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | ITA | Frezzolini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | FW | ITA | Ianuzzi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/1998/1148/