Gullit: “I turned into a man at Milan”, Van Basten: “The golden years? We were all strong, not just the Dutch”

Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten shared stories about their time at Milan as they paid tribute to Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi turned 80 yesterday and many figures from the worlds of football and politics have spoken about him this week.

With the upcoming sale to the Chinese, his birthday also marks the imminent end to his 30-year reign as Milan’s boss. A lot of great players played for his Rossoneri and two of the greatest are Gullit and Van Basten – who together with Frank Raijkaard (celebrates his 54th birthday today) – were the biggest stars of Milan from the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s.

“Silvio Berlusconi was our big boss,” Van Basten told Sky Italia. “I’m glad he’s fine, he still wants to do things and he’s full of life. Carlos Bacca? I’ve seen very little Italian football lately.” The former striker was also a guest on the show ‘Tiki Taka’, which was dedicated to the birthday of Berlusconi:

“The golden days of the Rossoneri? We were fortunate to find at Milan great Italian players who defended well. We were all strong together, it wasn’t only the Dutch that made Milan. Formations (Galliani admitted that Berlusconi always liked 4-3-1-2)? There are so many formations but the different is the players, not the system. A coach has to understand the formation based on his players.

“My header against Real Madrid in the 1988-1989 season? I remember that Mauro Tassotti (former Milan fullback and long-time assistant coach) always only ever spoke about the assist that he gave me but I also remember that what I did with my head wasn’t so bad…”

Gullit was also on Tiki Taka, saying: “I became a professional at Milan and the years there made me turn into a man, as well as a professional player. The relationship with Franco Baresi? He’s a good person, a real captain, he did everything for Milan’s good and I’m proud to have been his teammate.

“I still respect Baresi a lot although after the years at Milan we took different paths and ended up in different parts of the world. Anecdotes about my seasons at Milan? I tried to bring my Dutch mentality into Italy, to never be afraid of anything and always thinking to be the best.

“I had just arrived at Milan and they made us be in retreat for 10 days. I wasn’t used to it so I asked to go to the movies, so Van Basten and I went to the movies And then once before a game against Real Madrid, Ancelotti teased me because he didn’t close an eye in the night while I slept through it without feeling the tension of the game and he couldn’t understand how I did it.”