In the 1967–68 season, Nereo Rocco returned to the club and rebuilt the team's offence around Rivera; as a result, Milan managed a double, as the team won both the "Scudetto", and the Cup Winners' Cup final, with a 2–0 win over Hamburger SV in the latter tournament. Rivera scored 11 goals in Serie A as Milan won the league title with a nine-point advantage over runners-up Napoli; he also played for Italy that summer as they won the 1968 European Championship on home soil, earning praise from journalist Gianni Brera, who described him as the greatest Italian player post-World War II. Despite his performances and success throughout the season, Rivera missed out on the "Ballon d'Or" however, which was awarded to European Cup winner George Best, with Rivera finishing in ninth place in the final rankings. The next season saw Rivera and Milan emerge victorious in the European Cup, winning the final over Johan Cruyff's Ajax, a match which is regarded as one of Rivera's greatest, most dominant, and most virtuosic performances: playing in the number 10 role, Rivera captained Milan to a 4–1 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, setting up two of Prati's three goals in the final. In addition to the European Cup that season, Rivera also won the Intercontinental Cup in a physical encounter against Estudiantes, scoring a goal in a 2–1 defeat in the second leg, after Milan had won the first leg 3–0; these successes finally earned him the "Ballon d'Or" in 1969, making him the first Italian-born player, and the second Italian player after Omar Sívori, to win the award.