Rui Costa
This season also saw Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti beginning to utilise the unconventional 4–4–2 diamond (or 4–1–2–1–2) formation, which he would continue to employ on many occasions in later seasons. This formation allowed Ancelotti to field both Andrea Pirlo and Rui Costa in the starting eleven, with Pirlo as a deep-lying playmaker or "regista" and Rui Costa as an attacking midfielder or "trequartista"; the 4–1–2–1–2 worked well for Milan in large part thanks to the effectiveness, hard work and stamina of central midfielders Clarence Seedorf and Gennaro Gattuso.