The thread for Ruud Gullit

Continuing this - here below the two previous installments:

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/the-thread-for-ruud-gullit.2130952/page-22#post-42502304
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/the-thread-for-ruud-gullit.2130952/page-24#post-42506076
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/the-thread-for-ruud-gullit.2130952/page-24#post-42506126

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Milan take first point after boring match in Athens

ATHENS, 20 OCT. In the same group as Ajax, AC Milan earned their first point in the Champions League last night in Athens. The Italian champions played 0-0 against AEK and had goalkeeper Rossi to thank for the draw. His teammate Maldini had to leave the field in the first half with a head injury. Ruud Gullit only distinguished himself with a failed long-range shot in the final phase of the very dull match but Capello said post-match (again) he is Milan's best player.

Milan were punished by the European Football Association last week for the so-called 'bottle incident' in the home match against Austria Salzburg. The 3-0 victory was turned into a defeat by UEFA. As a result, the team of coach Capello will probably have to earn four points in the next three matches to qualify for the quarter-finals. AEK and Salzburg currently have one point more than the sunken Milanese.

(this was Gullit his last European Cup game, aged 32. In his penultimate match, and last EC game at home, he had an assist)

AC Milan loses both on the field and at Jury of Appeal

ROME, OCT 27. AC Milan suffered two defeats yesterday. UEFA's Appel Jury confirmed the sanctions in the European Cup race, leaving Ajax four points ahead of Milan in the Champions League. A few hours later, the Italian champions were eliminated from the Italian Cup after a 2-1 defeat to arch-rivals Inter.

The faces of Adriano Galliani and other Milan leaders were stormy as they entered the San Siro stadium in the evening, fresh from Zurich. “It is an absurd statement,” Galliani said. He said he would meet with Prime Minister Berlusconi, who is still president of Milan, this weekend. “We want to see what we have to do now.”

The UEFA Appel Jury had to rule on the sanctions imposed on Milan after goalkeeper Konrad van Salzburg was hit by a bottle of mineral water in the European Cup match played in Milan. The goalkeeper, who initially continued playing, had to leave the field in the second half. Milan were initially deducted two points for this, with the additional sanction that the two upcoming home matches, against Ajax and AEK Athens, must be played at least three hundred kilometres away from Milan.

The jury acknowledged that there were doubts about the seriousness of Konrad's injury and noted that Salzburg's doctors should have taken their goalkeeper off the pitch immediately. Therefore, Salzburg's request to turn the defeat (3-0) into a victory was not granted.

At the same time, the jury found that “this incident seriously disrupted the course of the match”. Therefore, the sanctions against Milan were confirmed. The verdict cannot be appealed. In group 4 of the Champions League, Ajax now has five points, AEK and Salzburg two and Milan one. The first two clubs advance to the quarter finals.

As an aggravating factor, Milan has been reprimanded fifteen times in the past five years for similar incidents and nothing has been done to track down and punish the bottle thrower. Last night against Inter, goalkeeper Pagliuca was also pelted by Milan supporters. Pagliuca was given lighters, a firework, a bottle of mineral water and two drumsticks around his ears.

It was a derby without Dutch players. The 32-years old Gullit is tired and at Inter the positions of Bergkamp and Jonk, both injured, are under discussion. Milan, who had lost the first match 2-1, took the lead just after half-time. Post and bad luck prevented more goals. Milan was then surprised by two counters from Inter.

(honestly, when Bergkamp played against Milan he did very well. Both in 93/94 and 94/95).

Parma consolidates lead

October 31, 1994 - Parma has consolidated its lead in the Italian Serie A. In the top match against AS Roma, it won 1-0 on home soil. Two minutes before the end, however, Zola secured the win for Parma, which now has nineteen points after eight matches. That is two more than Lazio and Juventus.

Milan have lost seven times in sixteen official matches, including the Champions League match against Ajax, three league matches and two times in the cup against city rivals Inter. Milan have dropped to eleventh place. On Sunday, things went wrong again against Juventus. In front of 55,000 spectators in Delle Alpi, Roberto Baggio scored with his head just before half-time. Milan's attack is, after Reggiana, the least productive in Serie A. Number of goals: five, three of which by Gullit [+ one direct assist].

Inter won 1-0 against bottom side Reggiana, with a goal from young Delvecchio three minutes from time. Wim Jonk, who had just recovered from a back injury, came on in the 52nd minute. Dennis Bergkamp left the side after seventy minutes with a painful groin. He thought the 'old' contact injury had gone, but it returned when he fell unluckily after a duel.

Gullit not against AEK Athens

TRIEST, NOV 2 Ruud Gullit will be absent from AC Milan's starting line-up tonight for the Champions League match against AEK Athens. The striker suffered a muscle strain in the final training session in Trieste yesterday.
AC Milan will also be without Macedonian Savicevic in the key match due to a muscle injury. Massaro and Simone will take the honours up front.


Footballer Kreek from Ajax to Padova in Italy

AMSTERDAM, 2 NOV. Michel Kreek makes his debut in the Italian football league on Sunday. The Ajax player plays for debutant Padova, sixteenth in the Serie A ranking, until 1 July 1996. Padova plays Brescia on home soil on Sunday.
Kreek is the seventh Dutch footballer to earn his money in Italy this season. Gullit and Van Basten (AC Milan), Bergkamp and Jonk (Internazionale), Winter (Lazio Roma) and Van 't Schip (Genoa) preceded him. Netherlands is the best represented foreign nation in Italy. In Padova, the 23-year-old from Amsterdam will be the third foreigner, after the American international Lalas and the Croatian Vlaovic.

Kreek, who did not have a starting place at Ajax, initially seemed to leave for PSV. But it eventually became Padova, a club that also showed interest in the Ajax player at the start of this season. The national champion receives approximately one and a half million guilders for Kreek.


AC Milan beat AEK 2-1

AC Milan still have a chance to qualify for the quarter-finals in Group D of the Champions League. The title holders defeated AEK 2-1 after trailing at half-time. Milan climbed from fourth to second place behind Ajax on the back of a better goal difference.

Milan were under high tension in Trieste, where the team had to play two European Cup matches due to the 'bottle incident' in the home match against Salzburg. A defeat would make the gap to the competition almost insurmountable. At the Italian champions, Boban was suspended and Savicevic and Gullit were absent due to injuries. But with the pure defender Panucci in midfield, Capello, who sacrificed striker Lentini, still had a surprise in his line-up. It turned out to be a golden move.

Milan showed the familiar picture of the last few weeks in the first half. The defense was vulnerable, the attack could not force any chances and the center line was lost. After a quarter of an hour, AEK took the lead. Savevski scored from a deflected corner kick. Shortly afterwards, Manolas escaped a red card. The AEK player conspicuously touched the ball with his hand. He escaped mercifully with a yellow card. Seven minutes before the end, Manolas had to go to the dressing room after his second yellow card. After the break, Panucci seized his chance. He scored with a header in both the 68th and 74th minutes.

Average
[...]
[Column Hugo Camps] These gentlemen are always a bit Dutch of yesterday or of later. Rising above the vulgarity of the hic et nunc. Cruijff, Gullit, Rijkaard and Van Basten are also that but still with a halo of emotion: stars of the lost, doomed dissidents of a multiple identity. Still a bit of Holland on Sunday evening when the It opens its doors, further of no one else, only of the fragmented itself.
Lately, there has been talk in football of a remarkable export of Dutch mediocrity. Van der Sar, Kluivert, Taument, Graef, Numan and the De Boer brothers will be stuck with adhesive to the swamp delta until deep into the next century. Groningen is their foreign country. All roads to the future run through Hoevelaken. They only know the Brenner Pass from postcards.
The real foreign countries are only for the lower edge of the sub-top. Paus and Vanenburg play in Japan. Van 't Schip has learned to breviate on the bench at Genoa. Kreek is allowed to play away Van Gaal's successive humiliations at Padova. And for the outcasts who hang around in the Belgian, French and Scottish leagues, no repair robe is wide enough. In the meantime, Bergkamp and Jonk are ridiculed at Inter, Gullit is just barely tolerated at Milan because he is married to an Italian and Jordi is never allowed by his father to know what exactly is meant by a policy of tolerance. The exodus of Dutch footballers abroad nowadays has a large clown content or thereabouts.

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/1994/11/04/middelmaat-7244585-a853415

 

Rijkaard was the better and more well-rounded player imho, very underrated passer - he was World XI material in every season for Milan - but Pirlo played many more games and seasons for Milan. He was there for 10 seasons and Rijkaard 5. Pirlo has almost twice as many games. As a Milan player it is not so strange to pick Pirlo in your XI, like that Italian/Milan journalist did. As an overall player I'd strongly disagree with such notion, that Pirlo goes ahead.

An argument against this is that no other foreigner has more appearances than Rijkaard during the 'golden' Milan of 1987-1996. Van Basten has one fewer. Weah, Boban, Desailly etc are below. Also Gullit.

Pirlo his midfield partner Seedorf was there for 10 seasons as well and has 31 more games than him (and 13000 more minutes), and also more non-penalty goals (62 vs 25 goals). Pirlo didn't always feature in a few trophies he won for Milan, especially the beginning and the end (played around half the games in the 2003 CL win, reduced impact and contribution at the 2011 scudetto). That is another way of saying how playing 10 seasons there does not mean you are more indispensable than Rijkaard was (as you know, I'd say Rijkaard is a level better as Seedorf too; Rijkaard is a 3-9 player of his country imho)

 

Of course, but Baresi benefited as well. His first Ballon d'Or votes came when he was 28 years old. The arrival of Gullit helped Baresi to cement his place in the Italian national team. Even in the interlude between Scirea his final game (WC '86) and the start of golden Milan he was not 100% certain.

You had a series of games where he was fit, Milan team-mates got used (Donadoni, out of form then) but Baresi was not used, he had Napoli players and other people on equal standing or ahead of him. You had a game where Tassotti was on the bench but Baresi was not (as far as I know, he was not injured or something like that and it was a series of games comparable to this).

That's not to say he was not a good player, national teams can still make errors or contentious choices, but he benefited from the 'spark' Gullit et al. provided for his European standing and his national team career. Before Maldini you had Francini (Torino, from summer' 87 onward Napoli) in the left-back place. Maldini debuted 31 march 1988, as a substitute for Francini. He was then approaching the age of 20 (born 26 june 1968).

Gullit and people (like Sacchi - who mysteriously fell off very rapidly) quickened some things and made it a better team in which players could demonstrate they functioned at a high(er) level.

 

Gullit returns to Sampdoria after Milan dispute

ROME, NOV 9. Four months after his return as the prodigal son, Ruud Gullit has already left AC Milan. The European Cup holder swapped the Amsterdammer this afternoon with striker Alessandro Melli from Sampdoria, the club where Gullit played an excellent season last year. AC Milan coach Fabio Capello had spoken out against a possible player swap yesterday.

After an excellent start to the season, Gullit's love for the club where he played from 1987 to 1993 and to which he returned last summer after the intermezzo in Genoa cooled. Negative noises from the supporters' section, recent violent incidents, but especially a hard clash with his fellow players made Gullit decide that he had better leave.

Last Saturday he had a conversation about this with Adriano Galliano, who is in charge of daily management of Milan. The clubs had to conclude the negotiations this afternoon in a very short time. According to the transfer rules of the Italian Football Federation, the contracts must be signed before six o'clock tonight.
Milan coach Capello was convinced that he could still use the 32-year-old Gullit. He was against his departure, although the coach is unhappy about the attacker's physical condition. "Gullit makes a less fresh impression at the moment than the other players." Gullit's teammates have been fiercely critical of him in recent weeks. Massaro and Costacurta, two players who have been part of the regular group for years, have accused him of not sticking to the agreements on the field. At Sampdoria, Gullit was given more freedom to play as he saw fit, at Milan he has to stick more to the agreed game schedules. "Ruud must not think that he is still at Samp, we do things differently here," Costacurta said.

Gullit, for his part, has also had quarrels with his teammates, accusing them of leaving him too much alone in the attack. “I have to run and sacrifice myself for players who are just playing at a walking pace,” he said. “I want to play like I did at Sampdoria. I enjoyed the game there.” After the match against Juventus at the end of October, he said: “When the team plays like that, I don’t think I’m the forward they need.” These dressing room conflicts were met with criticism from some supporters. In the league match against Sampdoria, there were banners against Gullit and he was booed.

The main stumbling block for a player swap of Gullit for Alessandro Melli was the UEFA rule that a player who has played a European Cup match for one team cannot play for another club in European competition during the same season. Both Milan and Sampdoria play European football, and both have a problem in the attack. Milan coach Capello was also sceptical about Melli (25), who has been loaned to Sampdoria by Parma due to disappointing performances. The player himself has said that he officially knew nothing about it and that he would rather stay in Genoa. Milan themselves were very interested in Lombardo, the balding right midfielder of Sampdoria, but Sampdoria does not want to lose him.

Sampdoria coach Eriksson immediately said he would welcome Gullit back with open arms. “If Gullit wants to come back, the door is wide open,” Eriksson said. After the serious crisis that Milan went through in recent weeks, Capello's team is maybe on the way back. Last Wednesday, AEK Athens was defeated and last Sunday Milan played a deserved draw against leaders Parma. Gullit did not play in both games.

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Black Tulip has lost its grip on the football jungle; Gullit will have to tone it down for the time being

ROTTERDAM, 10 NOV. “Feelings are distrusted because they cannot be explained intellectually. If reason is not enough to make a problem disappear, then that problem is stored in the body. It nestles in your physical condition. If the problem is too heavy, or there are more that the mind cannot deal with, then you become ill. The body can no longer store that emotional garbage and protests.”

These are words that haptotherapist Ted Troost, who was in Milan last week, wrote down in his book 'The body never lies'. It is a plea to act more often on your feelings. That is what one of his most famous followers, Ruud Gullit, did when he decided to return to AC Milan in May, the club where he had celebrated the greatest triumphs of his career in six years. After having undergone a personal drama, the 32-year-old Amsterdammer now says that his feelings let him down at the time. But during the past difficult weeks, he was able to find support in Troost's wisdom again. "Adapting means an attack on your identity and creativity. You lose something that is unique about you."
At Sampdoria, a team was formed around him (and Mancini) it has been said. In Milan, he had to conform to the existing pattern. That led to a conflict situation, in which he received a lot of criticism from teammates, coach Capello and the tifosi in the stands. “I was blamed for everything, while I could not do anything about the malaise. The decision to leave Milan was not only made in my own interest. My departure was also better for the club,” Gullit explained yesterday about his decision to cooperate in a player swap with Sampdoria. Incidentally, this came about against Capello's wishes, but the coach is no longer in a position to make demands. Alessandro Melli, the 'swap object', said goodbye to his teammates in tears yesterday afternoon. Gullit quietly left for Genoa, where he may play a practice match for his new old club today. Milan is a thing of the past for the Black Tulip. The King of Lombardy has abdicated. He will never form a tandem with Marco van Basten again.
Ruud Gullit lived in a world of extremes in 1994. He was worshipped and vilified. At Sampdoria, he was glorified as a saint by his supporters until the very end. Even when he announced his farewell, there was understanding and gratitude. Once he arrived in the Netherlands, his teammates from the Dutch national team were not impressed by his increased charisma in Italy. And from the moment he turned his back on Oranje in deep disappointment, he could do no good in his own country. In the Olympic Stadium, in his own Mokum, he was as it were stoned by the piercing whistles against Ajax. Back at Milan, who had hugged him like a prodigal son in August, he was already the celebrated hero again a few days later. In the duel with Lazio Roma, he scored twice and thus gave the Rossoneri the full win.

That was actually his last major feat, and his third last strong game for Milan. He stayed out of the field for the last few weeks with a muscle injury. Nevertheless, with the decline of Milan, Gullit's popularity also declined. The Amsterdammer actually returned to the San Siro stadium against his better judgment. He knew in advance that the playing system would not be as it was at Sampdoria. He knew that as a heavyweight of 32 he could no longer muster the physical strength to excel on the right wing where running ability is a requirement. Shuttling up and down is not what he wanted at this point in his career. And he knew like no other that Milan had had its best time.
What inspired him to choose Milan again this spring? Was it the vote of his future wife Cristina, who could get a job at Fininvest, Silvio Berlusconi's empire? Was it the city of Milan, where both he and Cristina felt at home? Or was it the Surinamese pride, which told him that he still had some making up to do? Because in his last year at Milan he had suffered a great many humiliations as a reserve. The low point was that one time when he was refused access to the players' bus. "No, Ruud, you can't come today," Fabio Capello said to the bewildered megastar at the time. From that moment on, the relationship between the two could never be restored.
Gullit has always had boundless admiration for Silvio Berlusconi. Despite his questionable political activities, which must also be repugnant to the humane footballer. Since the day that Berlusconi publicly announced that he had made a big mistake by letting Gullit go, the footballer, who made his hairstyle a cult, felt very flattered. It was a remark that kept buzzing in his head last season. When Milan approached him again, his wife must have given him the decisive push. Just like on the day that he decided not to go to Bayern Munich. And perhaps also at the moment that he cancelled the World Cup shortly after his marriage. Incidentally, he himself denied that to this newspaper. "You think that I let my wife decide on matters that involve millions? Then I am on the wrong track as a professional footballer." Others filled in his thoughts.

In a short period of time, he has nevertheless made two rather impulsive decisions. There are parallels to be found in his return to Sampdoria and his sensational departure from the training camp of the Dutch national team, the truth of which has still not come to light. Both times he tried to impose his will on others who did not like it. And just as often he criticized the tactical concept. He was always disappointed. Gullit has long since lost his grip on the football jungle. The Black Tulip is withering, although that process takes place more off the pitch than on it. Not so long ago he criticized Dennis Bergkamp ("he does not adapt sufficiently"). Gullit will have to sing a lower tune for the time being. Although his footballing qualities, if used in the right way, are beyond dispute. But he can scrap one motto: "I have made many difficult decisions in my life, but eventually I always make the right ones."

Gullit: 'Leaving AC Milan is an absolute necessity'

ROME, NOV 10 - When Ruud Gullit made it clear ten days ago that he wanted to leave AC Milan, the club pushed for a swap with Sampdoria, as Milan had long been interested in striker Alessandro Melli.

“Milan took the initiative,” Gullit said yesterday. “My nostalgia for the atmosphere at Sampdoria has nothing to do with it, nor does the desire to avoid the stress of Milanello (Milan’s training camp). Those were the reasons that led me to choose Sampdoria last year. This time the motives are different.”
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has confirmed this. After the match against Juventus on 30 October, Gullit told the press that he is not the striker that Milan needs. "On Saturday Gullit explained to me that he wanted to leave," Galliani said yesterday. "The first club we contacted was Samp, because we have been watching Melli for years."
An agreement in principle had already been reached on Monday morning. A review of the UEFA regulations showed that neither Melli nor Gullit would be able to play in European competition for their new clubs. That is why Milan coach Fabio Capello did not want to let Gullit go. However, he stood his ground. Then yesterday, the last day that this was possible according to the Italian regulations, it was decided to swap the 32-year-old Gullit and the 24-year-old Melli. "We never stopped anyone who wanted to go," Galliani said.

In 1993, Gullit also left Milan, unhappy with the way he was being used. After a year at Sampdoria, he returned, welcomed with open arms by Milan president Silvio Berlusconi. Now there is no way back, Gullit admits. “I know there can be no return, not even as a collaborator. I had hoped to end this relationship in a different way.”
Gullit says he only had Milan's interests in mind. "I wasn't the right man for Milan. I'm not someone who waits for the right moment to score, I'm not even a real striker. It's not a pleasure to leave Milan, it's a necessity."
He did not want to comment on reports of quarrels with fellow players. Gullit has previously said that he does not receive any support, fellow players such as Massaro and Costacurta have accused him of not adhering to agreements and not being disruptive enough. The other Milan players have reacted coolly or with a shrug to Gullit's departure.
Sampdoria manager Eriksson has said he will welcome Gullit back with open arms. But not everyone is cheering. Many players find it strange that Sampdoria will now play in the UEFA Cup without a real striker. Melli burst into tears when he heard he was being promoted to Milan.

 

That's very good pass indeed. Awful pitch by the way.

Yesterday there was this pass by a player who was actually often compared to Rijkaard in his younger years (I was sceptical). Van der Vaart - not by definition a complimentary pundit - says that this is "pretty much the hardest type of kick to strike in football" (where is The Athletic now? oh well, Germany didn't win with 0-3 to continue the 'storyline' so no article this time). Before Germany equalized Oranje should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up really.

1833596578613051682 is not a valid tweet id

Vanwege zijn houding -rechtop, met het hoofd iets naar achteren- is hij vaak bestempeld als nonchalant. Maar wanneer hij vol vertrouwen speelt, lijkt het alsof hij over een rode loper voetbalt. Dan straalt hij iets majestueus uit. Deze Ryan Gravenberch is een openbaring.

— Süleyman Öztürk (@SuleyOzturk) September 10, 2024

Because of his posture - upright, with his head slightly back - he is often labeled as nonchalant. But when he plays with confidence, it looks like he is playing football on a red carpet. Then he radiates something majestic. This Ryan Gravenberch is a revelation.

I like Reijnders a bit more though and would say he comes closer to Rijkaard (in style, attributes):
https://theanalyst.com/2024/07/tijjani-reijnders-standout-netherlands-euro-2024
https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Seri...a-germania-da-trequartista-puo-svoltare.shtml
https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/internatio...druk-hij-speelt-net-als-cruijff-met-nummer-14

I like him more than Gravenberch.

Germany was angry about the Italian referee (13 games, 1 loss for Dutch teams with this man, in the last minute a loss by PSV vs Monaco). Kimmich mad, Musiala mad, Nagelsmann mad. Not good for his career or assignments for bigger occasions... (whenever Germany plays against a first tier or second tier team). It was a test; the German football elite now knows more when the bigger tournaments come along and who to strike down (when playing vs the politically powerless). The European Commission was clear (in 2004): a Portugal vs Greece final or even Porto vs Monaco is not desirable (in the first place, from an economic perspective).

Nagelsmann really did say orange is a nice color

Nagelsmann on the Netherlands: "The Dutch team is better equipped individually than Hungary. They have a lot of talent, including the substitute players. I expect the stadium to be sold out tomorrow. The atmosphere will be great, everything in orange. It's a nice colour to look… pic.twitter.com/3HQRxHb8CM

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) September 9, 2024

Here on tape:
https://nos.nl/video/2536551-nagels...-zo-n-klein-land-met-zoveel-goede-voetballers
(also mentioned Portugal as a positive example over the past number of decades there)

Also in women's football a cartel and closed shop is slowly formed (like Test status in cricket, a select group running the show).

"Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall slams Women's Champions League qualification tournament as a 'relic from the past' after Gunners edge past Rosenborg to reach next stage [1-0 victory on aggregate]"

Straight out of the early 1990s playbook from the men's game, and it is clearly not based on sporting merit either. That's what those colluding alliance folks pursue. Automatic entry, automatic money, which then influences the sporting side indeed.

 

He is kind of consistent (that in itself deserves a ):

Fellow former defender Giuseppe Bergomi also described Van Basten as the strongest player he ever faced in 2018, commenting: "The best player of all time for me [...] is Maradona, but the strongest player I ever faced was [V]an Basten because at least I could beat Maradona to the ball with my head."[57][58]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_van_Basten#Reception_and_legacy

 

10/11/1994 (De Telegraaf) Gullit has had enough of AC Milan

Ruud Gullit is returning to Sampdoria, the club he played for last season. The 32-year-old Dutchman will be swapped for 24-year-old striker Alessandro Melli. The two clubs reached an agreement yesterday afternoon, shortly before the Italian transfer market closed. Shortly before that, Milan coach Fabio Capello had vetoed Ruud Gullit's return to Sampdoria, where he scored 15 times last season.

The Dutchman, who scored three goals in the two months that he played for AC Milan again, has had a few difficult weeks. He repeatedly criticized his teammates. "The midfielders need to score more. At Sampdoria, the midfielders also scored goals. At AC Milan, I'm the only one in the front line. When I have the ball on the wing and I want to give a cross, there is no one up front."

This attitude was mainly seen as a reaction to the criticism that coach Fabio Capello delivered to the star two weeks ago. While the outside world felt sorry for the attacker, who was always on an island against a superior force in attack (such as during Ajax-AC Milan), his coach suddenly started criticizing his attitude. Since then, something seemed to have snapped in Ruud Gullit. It was also the Dutchman who suddenly fueled the transfer rumors himself last week, when he remarked, among other things: "I am not the striker that AC Milan is looking for, I am not the central striker who scores a lot of goals. Milan needs such a striker. I am someone who can make others play football better."

In the meantime, arrows were also aimed at Ruud Gullit from within the player group. "Gullit should not think that he still plays for Sampdoria," said striker Danielje Massaro. "He had all the freedom there and others did dirty work. At AC Milan, everyone has a fixed role. Gullit has to accept that."

Fabio Capello also complained about the attacker's physical condition. "Gullit makes a less fresh impression than the other players." After two months at AC Milan, he got injured again. Against Torino, he suffered a muscle injury that kept him out for two games. Just like six months earlier with the Dutch national team, when Ruud Gullit withdrew from the World Cup 94 at the last minute, he then decided to call it a day at AC Milan. An early end to what was still announced as a fairytale marriage in May.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010692013:mpeg21:a0586

10/11/1994 (Parool) - Italian press mocks Gullit's 'life choices'

ROME - "No, this is not a nice day. I expected to have a greater meaning for AC Milan," Ruud Gullit said yesterday evening in his wonderful Italian with a flat Amsterdam accent in front of the cameras of RAI television.

Gullit's decision to return to Sampdoria is not getting much sympathy in the Italian press today. They are mocking Le scelte di vita, the 'life choices' with which Gullit tries to justify his return ticket to Sampdoria. "Three life choices in a year and a half is a lot," writes the daily newspaper La Repubblica, "but in June Gullit will be free again and we can therefore expect his fourth life choice." The newspaper concludes that Gullit's departure from the Dutch national team should now also be viewed in a different light. "A famous footballer; rich, good on and off the pitch. Loved for his team spirit, but lately it seems as if he doesn't feel at home anywhere, not even in the teams he has known for a long time. Gullit is honest, but he is now attracting the suspicion that he has a very Gullit-centric vision of his work and life." La Repubblica notes that Gullit is actually not that different from his colleagues. "He is no less eager for money and he is not as socially aware as we always thought. By dedicating the Ballon d'Or to Nelson Mandela, he has misled most commentators. Certainly when AC Milan had to play in Soweto and Gullit chose to stay on the beach in Forte dei Marmi. Purely out of market calculation. Gullit is a handyman from a country of handymen. Good luck, Rodolfo Gulli."

Gullit himself hides in the Italian press behind the director of AC Milan, Adriano Galliani. "Milan took the initiative," he insists. But rumour has it that Gullit himself called Sampdoria president Enrico Mantovani on Saturday evening to check things out. Mantovani shields Gullit: "Ruud is a star. He left here as a great professional and now that he is back, he will be very important for the spirit in the dressing room." It is unlikely that Sampdoria will pay two million guilders a year (Gullit's base salary) for 'the spirit in the dressing room'. Moreover, the Sampdoria dressing room seems much more impressed by the tears of Sandro Melli, with whom Gullit was swapped and who, according to the press, was treated like 'a piece of dirt'.

Gullit's life choices are briefly mentioned: 27 May 1993, Ruud Gullit: "I understand that Milan no longer wants me. I consider the offer that was made to me as a personal insult." April 30, 1994, Ruud Gullit: "Milan is a part of me. Sampdoria understood this and I am very proud to have been part of this family." October 30, 1994, Ruud Gullit: "At Sampdoria I was much freer because there were others who were able to score a goal. I cannot give a cross pass and score a goal at the same time." November 9, 1994, Ruud Gullit: "In May I made a choice with my heart; this time reason wins. But it was Milan that made the proposal." Gullit continues to brandish his 'red-black heart'. "I am sorry, but I can only point the accusing finger at myself. This is part of my philosophy: I would rather make a choice with the risk of making a mistake than do nothing." Gullit says about Melli's tears: "I am very sorry for him. But I do not believe that I pushed him out." The Italian press reconstructs the negotiations between Milan and Sampdoria as if it were a detective story. One of the 'mysterious reasons' would be Ruud's wife Cristina, who wanted to return to Milan and can now go back to Genoa.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010841761:mpeg21:a0226


10/11/1994 - Gullit signs with a smile for 'Samp'

From our correspondent Genoa - Ruud Gullit may celebrate his return to Sampdoria this afternoon in a practice match against the amateurs of Sestri Ligure. His official comeback is scheduled for next Sunday in the league match with Torino. Yesterday Milan and Sampdoria decided to swap Gullit and Alessandro Melli. During the summer the Dutchman had returned to Milan after a stay of a season from Sampdoria. Gullit admitted that he no longer felt well in Milan. He shared in the malaise of the club and was booed by the supporters. "I was blamed for everything and I heard more and more often that it might be better to go back to Sampdoria. I also did not agree with the tactics." According to Ariedo Braida, the technical director of Milan, Gullit had recently felt alone in the cathedral city. "He was visibly suffering. He could no longer agree with certain matters. He felt abandoned.” Gullit: “The clubs and I are satisfied. When I returned to Milan this summer, it was a decision inspired by the heart. Now it is purely business.” Last Saturday, Ruud Gullit asked the management of Milan for a meeting. Vice-chairman Adriano Galliani: “He wanted to have a meeting on Sunday. On that day, shortly before the match against Parma, he asked whether Milan would let him go. I told him that we wanted to cooperate. We do not keep players in our selection who would rather play elsewhere. At his request, we therefore contacted Sampdoria.” On Tuesday, a day before the Italian transfer market closed, the matter was leaked. Yesterday morning, developments accelerated. Initially, Milan coach Fabio Capello wanted to block the exchange. Both Gullit and Melli are not allowed to play in EC matches during the season. After consultation with the board, Capello withdrew his objections. Gullit then signed the contract around noon in the Sampdoria office that ties him to the club until June. He could not suppress a smile. Melli signed his contract a few hours later in Milan. It was agreed that Milan would continue to pay Gullit's salary and Samp that of Melli. The Dutchman will talk to Samp in June about further cooperation. Milan has been given an option on Melli: if he extends his contract next year, Parma (which owns the rights to the striker) will receive an amount of more than 6.5 million. Gullit: "There will be a lot of problems with supporters in the coming period. Because they suddenly see me in a different shirt. But I will have to learn to live with that. It was a difficult period for me. I thought deeply. I was no longer performing as I was at Sampdoria. Milan's game is simply different. It is simply a matter of tactics." The Milan players were aware of his problems. Discussions about the tactics used did not improve the mutual understanding in recent weeks. Nevertheless, they were surprised by the news in the training camp of the national team.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBPERS01:003250009:mpeg21:a00176

 

I am not sure whether that is a totally 'fair' criticism.

As I understand it, in 1992 Gullit wanted to play as guest player in South Africa. Milan forbid him (13 july 1992).
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBNRC01:000030569:mpeg21:a0129

In 1993 it was a case of Gullit leaving Milan. After the European Cup final Milan played in Soweto indeed.
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010866362:mpeg21:a0593

Gullit did not go (12/06/1993):

Gullit's sadness that he cannot meet Mandela

Sports and politics do not go together in Ruud Gullit's life these days. In order to secure a decent future in football, Gullit did not travel with AC Milan that arrived in South Africa yesterday for a friendly match. Milan plays against Orlando's Pirates from Soweto, the oldest football club in South Africa. Gullit wants to work elsewhere after this season and has therefore decided not to take part in the trip that Milan will also take to Australia. In doing so, the ex-international misses a great opportunity to meet ANC leader Nelson Mandela. Six years ago, Gullit caused quite a stir after he dedicated his award as footballer of the year to Mandela, who was still in prison at the time. In a letter to Mandela, the footballer explains why he is not attending. 'I will stay in Europe to determine my future as a footballer', writes Gullit, whose further career has already been linked to Valencia and, since yesterday, Bayern Munich. 'I am very sorry to inform you that I will not be able to meet you during the visit of AC Milan to South Africa', Gullit begins his letter of apology. 'The meeting was of great importance to me, in the name of freedom and friendship.' He expresses the hope to travel to South Africa in the foreseeable future 'to express my gratitude for what you have done and continue to do for dignity and human rights.' Even more than Mandela, Gullit has disappointed South African football fans with his cancellation. Many visitors to the Pirates-Milan match had hoped to finally see Gullit in person. Bart Jungmann


Also Rijkaard was not there (14/06/1993)
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010821663:mpeg21:a0126

South African football fans reacted with disappointment and anger to the absence of Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard from the match that AC Milan played in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Italian champion won 3-2 against Orlando Pirates thanks to two goals by Papin. Among the 60,000 spectators was ANC leader Nelson Mandela. Gullit and Rijkaard had withdrawn because they are busy looking for a new club. In a letter to Mandela, Gullit had said that he found it a pity that the personal meeting with Mandela could not take place. The football fans were not satisfied with that. In campaigns, Gullit's name was mainly used to attract spectators. Incidentally, little concrete can be reported about Gullit's football future. After Italian newspapers first reported last week that Valencia was in the picture, the name of Bayern Munich is now being linked to Gullit. The German sports press agency SID reported yesterday that Bayern would have to pay around eight million guilders for the 30-year-old player. By UEFA standards, AC Milan can ask for more than twice that amount.


Gullit his name was used in the campaigns, that is right, but probably it was not known or foreseen yet that Gullit suddenly decided to leave Milan (with him not being on the bench at the '93 CL final as the final drop).

 

This was Bergomi in 1999, at his retirement, and then in 2013 when he turned 50. There is some consistency in this.

Bergomi in 1999:
Let's talk about your opponents: which striker made you suffer the most? "Nobody will remember, but I do, and well: Bittingel, from Dukla Prague, who drove me crazy in a round of the UEFA Cup. I've met many strong strikers, but if I had to choose, at the top I'd put Van Basten, Careca and Maradona: complete players, absolute champions".
https://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/1999/luglio/30/BEPPE_BERGOMI_gm_0_9907301702.shtml

Bergomi in 2013 (50 years old, the derby):
Which opponent made you suffer the most? "Two: Van Basten and Gullit".
https://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it...22_c9772998-6ad5-11e3-9e32-8d998981635a.shtml

Also, Van Basten refused to cooperate in 2004 with FIFA and was initially not on Pelé his living players list... Ricardo Texeira tried to influence the list, as the article says (@Wiliam Felipe Gracek ). It seems Pelé himself inserted Van Basten on the final list.

https://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it...corda_Van_Basten_negli_ga_10_0403049269.shtml
https://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it...orregge_lista_Fifa_Van_ga_10_0403059103.shtml

Bergkamp, from misunderstood to genius
[...]
He says, very kindly, that the Italian one for him was in any case a useful experience. As it was for Gullit. With one obvious difference: Bergkamp is so different, in everything, from the Italians. But he is also so different, in everything, from Gullit. Neither better nor worse, simply different.
https://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it//1998/luglio/06/Bergkamp_incompreso_genio_ga_0_9807063338.shtml
(as you know, I emphatically agree with this sort of idea!)

P.S. when Paolo Maldini retired in May 2009 he said this about who was his best team-mate he played with in all those years: "Among team-mates, technically speaking the best was probably Van Basten, although the one from whom I learned the most for my own game was Franco Baresi."

 

Maldini's "Dutch" Life

Published in the May 4, 2005 edition
From friendship with Van Basten to tears at Euro 2000: "What a joy to beat the great Cruijff"
[...]
"Of all the Dutch I've faced, the greatest, from what I've seen myself on TV, remains Cruijff". He saw three great Dutchmen live at Milanello and an epic was born there: Gullit and Van Basten signed the Champions Cup '88-89, Rijkaard that of '89-90. "I had an excellent relationship with all three. With Marco, perhaps, a wire of trust. We happened to walk together in the Duomo and he was always amazed because people recognized him before me. "You're the Milanese", he would tell me, always amazed. I replied: "You're Van Basten"
[...]
Stoichkov and Romario's Barcelona (a cobra who passed through Eindhoven) already feel like champions, coach Cruijff smears the eve with annoying statements like: Sacchi's Milan played better, Desailly as a midfielder is a disgrace. Capello gives him 4 slaps, each one more beautiful than the last. The last one is given by the "shameful" Desailly. Maldini is a majestic dam, not even in Holland on the Zuiderzee and he raises the trophy of pride to the Olympic sky. "Cruijff's arrogance? I learned from my teammates that all Dutch are a bit like that: they say what they think, without worrying too much about the consequences »
https://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it//2005/maggio/04/vita_all_olandese_Maldini_ga_10_0505041865.shtml

As noted, Cruijff said this after the '94 World Cup:

“I don’t think my approach to the game failed either. Not even in the European Cup final against AC Milan. Did you see Italy-Spain? Seven players of that European Cup final played on both sides [six Milan, seven Barcelona, to be precise]. Did you see how Ferrer was now three times as fast as Donadoni? In the European Cup final it was the other way around, just watch it back. We were done and knackered at the time. We had been living under extreme tension for three months in the battle for the Spanish title. We had just become champions. You can’t recharge your batteries then. I tried a few more provocative remarks to Milan, but that didn’t help much.”
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/the-thread-for-ruud-gullit.2130952/page-16#post-42477295


(10/11/1994) - Love between Milan and the Hollanders is over

MILAN (GPD) - 'The love between Milan and the Dutch is over', was the headline in large letters on the front page of Corriere dello Sport last week. Seven days later, the sports newspaper was already proven right. Ruud Gullit swapped AC Milan for Sampdoria yesterday and Inter is busy negotiating with Bayern Munich about the sale of Dennis Bergkamp.
Gullit looked relieved. The discussions with coach Fabio Capello and his fellow players are a thing of the past. There even seemed to be a smile on his lips when he signed the contract that will keep him at Sampdoria until June next year. Nevertheless, he spoke of disappointment: 'It is absolutely not a happy moment for me. I took the decision to return to AC Milan with my heart, now it has become clear that it was the wrong decision."
The return to the club where he had previously enjoyed six wonderful years ended in a personal disappointment. Old friends suddenly behaved like critics, the public became more hostile to Gullit by the week. "I could no longer play here the way I was used to. I was blamed for everything, while I could not do anything about the malaise," said Gullit.
The transfer took place at Gullit's request. Adriano Galliani, board member of AC Milan, underlined that. "Last weekend he said he wanted to leave. I told him straight away that we wanted to cooperate. We do not keep players in our selection who would rather play somewhere else."
Dennis Bergkamp, like Gullit, is going through difficult times in Milan, but does not seem prepared to capitulate. The striker is the subject of negotiations between Inter and Bayern Munich. The Bavarian club offered ƒl5 million for the former Ajax player on Tuesday, after Inter rejected a bid of ƒl3 million last week. However, Bergkamp refuses to cooperate on a transfer to Munich. "I am not finished with Inter yet, " he responded to the rumours yesterday.


14/11/1994 (Parool) - Dutch talent gets lost in the football paradise

Italy is still considered by Dutch top players to be the most appealing football country in Europe. Or does Bryan Roy's transfer from Italy to England mark the beginning of a new development?

THE TIME when Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit drew attention to themselves every week in the Italian Serie A is over. Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk do not meet expectations. At Internazionale, they are the representatives of a next generation of Dutch talent. Other Dutch players are also hardly noticed. The unmasking of Marciano Vink at Genoa is illustrative of the decline. The former Ajax player decided to move to PSV after one season. Club mate John van 't Schip quietly disappeared from the Dutch national team when he made the switch from Ajax to the relegation candidate in the Serie A.

For Bergkamp and Jonk, the Dutch national team offers the only remaining stage to do justice to their qualities. At least that was the case until recently. But against Norway it recently became clear that the Inter duo could not free themselves from the malaise at Inter, even in Oranje. Both Jonk and Bergkamp played poorly. Bergkamp was even substituted, while Jonk did not receive a pass from a teammate. The question is whether national coach Dick Advocaat should still be happy with players who move to Italy. The difference in football views between the two countries seems to be an increasing problem. "It is clear that things are not going well with Bergkamp and Jonk, but I do not know whether you can draw any consequences from that," says Advocaat, who in Aron Winter has the only Dutchman who does meet expectations in Serie A. Winter himself: "Anyone who performs can make their mark. Also in Italy, but every footballer has to adapt. I take into account the moods and views of the Italians without doing violence to myself. That is why I do not have any difficulties. Furthermore, you have to be lucky with your club. I have been luckier with Lazio Roma than Bergkamp and Jonk with Inter, where there is permanent trouble."

Van Basten and Rijkaard have given Dutch footballers a good name in Italy. They won everything that could be won for their club AC Milan and were, together with Gullit, recognised as the invisible architects of the greatest period of prosperity in the club's history. Gullit is getting to know the other side of Italian football in the autumn of his career. His departure, a few months after his return to Milan, clearly shows how the uncrowned king of the past is treated. At Sampdoria in Genoa, the club that also took him in lovingly last season when there were problems in Milan, Gullit must try to give a fitting final chord to a career that has now become tainted.

In the country where football is a religion, footballers are easily thrown out with the rubbish. Gullit has probably been seduced into a power game about the playing style at Milan again. It was a futile attempt to attune the team's qualities. Just as he had tried to do earlier with the Dutch national team. He could not win that battle this time either. Italian football has been plagued by scandals in recent years. The economic recession and Operation Clean Hands have exposed various unsavory matters. There is not much positive to report about Italy today. That should result in some modesty, but that is not the case at all. Bergkamp's choices are only accepted if he makes himself heard every week. The Italians continue to demand that foreigners subordinate themselves to the norms and values of their country. That is exactly what bothers a gifted footballer like Bergkamp. He wants to give the best of himself as a professional and at the same time be respected as a person. That is not tolerated. There is only one way for a foreigner to cope with the Italian mentality. With his qualities, Van Basten has managed to be accepted in Italy without doing violence to himself. Bergkamp thought he could keep himself standing in 'the boot of Europe' in the same way, but has to admit that such a task is impossible if the performances do not keep pace with the cherished ambitions. Bergkamp's mentality, which does not want to bend to the wishes of the Italian media, and the difference in his approach to the game breaks him. The newspapers write about his suspicious nature and his refusal to adapt to the Italian way of life.

These are matters that are dragged in by the hair. The point is that a footballer in Italy must have many qualities to be able to get things done to his advantage. Bergkamp could have gone anywhere after Ajax, but he did not want to make things too easy for himself. He chose Inter, because there was still something to be gained with that club. Somewhat naively, he thought that the club really wanted to free itself from its catenaccio past. That has proven to be a misconception. Bergkamp now notices more than anyone that he is clashing with the Italian football culture. Van Basten, Gullit and Rijkaard were lucky at AC Milan that they could work under a trainer (the current national coach Arrigo Sacchi) who understood how to best let these players perform to their full potential, if they are all available and healthy at the same time.

Bergkamp thought he had obtained the guarantees in advance to function optimally at Milan's second club, but the promises have not been fulfilled. Italian clubs will not quickly opt for the attack. "Two attackers," says Bryan Roy, "you can't expect more from the Italians. They really don't let the law dictate to them." Now that Inter's tactics are not being adapted to his qualities, Bergkamp has suddenly become a vulnerable footballer. The moment that he, after all the hype, gives up the fight seems imminent. The same goes for Jonk. Even trainer Bianchi has already dropped the Dutch international. Bayern Munich, Barcelona and, reportedly, Manchester United also want Bergkamp. The Spanish club and the English champions in particular seem attractive candidates. Leaving is the wisest thing to do and Inter sees a chance to recoup their spent money (wages excluded). Failed in Italy? So what? Isn't joy in the game the most important thing for a footballer? Even if those efforts then cost a million less.
Roy chose Nottingham Forest after Foggia. He has benefited from it so far. England is being flooded with foreigners. They are raising the level. The northern foreign stars are being given the chance to show themselves and are not being (literally) targeted after one bad match. Roy has already predicted it. England is destined to take over Italy's role as a 'pool' of international talent. That is almost inevitable. Isn't that where Bergkamp's future lies?
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ABCDDD:010841764:mpeg21:a0239

It was well seen by Bryan Roy when he moved to Forest (@PDG1978). Too bad how he later derailed and wanted to shoot down the prime minister (supporting Trump is okay for me, most of the other things in the list isn't).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Roy#Controversies

(04/07/20) - Bryan Roy on his heroes Johan Cruijff and Donald Trump: 'I see many similarities'
As a footballer, Bryan Roy (50) was elusive, as a person and as a tweeter he still is sometimes. He is also candid. About the black hole, the spiritual lessons of Eckhart Tolle and his two great heroes. "I see many similarities between Johan Cruijff and Donald Trump."
https://www.ad.nl/nederlands-voetba...ald-trump-ik-zie-veel-gelijkenissen~a183f084/

How it went:
https://www.premierleague.com/news/585146
https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/2023-2024/nations/2023-2024-Premier-League-Nationalities


Japanese club interested in Gullit

TOKYO, NOV 14. Yokohama Flugels is interested in Ruud Gullit. The Japanese club is prepared to pay more than 300 million yen (5.5 million guilders) for the footballer. Yokohama, seventh in the twelve-team professional J-League, wants to sign Gullit for the 1995-'96 season. The club gives the player free rein to decide whether he will be present at the start of the Japanese season in March or at the end of the Italian season in late May. The 32-year-old Gullit, who recently transferred from AC Milan to Sampdoria, has not yet responded to the offer.

Gullit doesn't want to go to Japanese club

GENOA, NOV 17. Ruud Gullit is not interested in a contract with a Japanese football club. The Sampdoria player said this yesterday. "I have been in contact with a few Japanese clubs, but there is no question of me going to Japan at the end of this season." The former international has so many business interests and other involvements in Europe that his presence here is required for at least another three years. Yokohama made an offer of 5.5 million guilders on Sunday for the attacker who returned to Genoa last week.

 

(transfermarkt fails to notice this assist)

21/11/1994 (NRC Handelsblad) "In Italy, football matches were overshadowed by a seriously injured police officer. The man was stabbed by a Roma supporter during the Brescia-AS Roma match in the Serie A. His life is still in danger. Argentinian striker Gabriel Batistuta equaled an Italian record that is more than thirty years old by scoring one (or more) goals in each of the first ten matches. Batistuta scored two goals for Fiorentina at Napoli yesterday: 2-5. In the '62-'63 season, Bologna's Ezio Pascutti set the record for goals in the first ten matches. Lazio Roma's Aron Winter was very successful with two goals against Padova. Lazio remains second, because number one Parma won 2-0 against Foggia. The difference between them is two points. Ruud Gullit celebrated his return to Sampdoria with a decisive pass, allowing Jugovic to score against Torino. Osio determined the final score at 1-1 in Genoa."

21/11/1994 (Algemeen Dagblad) Gullit's inconspicuous return

Ruud Gullit made an unremarkable return to Sampdoria, the club he left at the end of last season to rejoin AC Milan. The former international prepared Jusovic's goal. Opponent Torino made it 1-1 in the final phase through Osio. Gullit wrote an open letter to Milan's fans last week, in which he tried to explain his hasty departure. "There have been many things going on in the background that I cannot elaborate on," he wrote. The 30,000 spectators in Genoa, including Aad de Mos, who was fired from PSV, welcomed Gullit like a prodigal son. A banner read: Welcome back to paradise. The Dutchman, like last season, was in attack with Mancini. Gullit was not entirely positive about Sampdoria, who are now eleven points behind leaders Parma. "There will have to be more conviction in the game. I hope to contribute to that in the future. "I don't feel as strong as I did at the beginning of the season. It's a shame we gave up the lead because it wasn't necessary. I felt a lot of pressure before this game because it's not easy to come back to Genoa like this.

Disappointment for Gullit

GENOA - The conditions were ideal for the fans of Sampdoria to welcome Ruud Gullit back to their club. Opponent Torino was an ideal partner for the new start. Spring seemed to have arrived in Genoa (a cloudless sky and a temperature of twenty degrees) when Gullit made his comeback in the Marassi stadium, which was traditionally full for this occasion.
Two hours later, the fans left the stadium with a hangover and Gullit was also not feeling well. An off day for his new team ruined the return of the Amsterdammer. Sampdoria did not get further than a 1-1 draw and must forget about a high position in the rankings. The Genoese club is not yet in danger of relegation, but a defeat at Fiorentina next Sunday could already conjure up the ghost.
The stars, Lombardo, Mancini and Platt have been out of form for weeks, while the thirty-somethings Zenga, Vierchowod, Mannini and Evani seem to be suffering from wear and tear. Gullit tried to help his team over the dead centre with a few individual actions, but failed because goalkeeper Pastine knew an answer to all his shots. Even after Sampdoria took the lead via Jugovic (on Gullit's pass), the cup holder struggled with itself. Fifteen minutes before the end, Marco Osio equalised from a pass by Ghanaian Abedi Pele. In the final phase, Platt missed the best chance to make it 2-1, when he saw the ball go under him from a meter from the goal after a shot by Gullit.
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011005247:mpeg21:a0208

 

Are you aware of this assist @Wiliam Felipe Gracek? Transfermarkt surely misses it.

Let me repeat again that in some cases (I think) the articles are not fully correct but I want to reflect how it was covered.

-----------------------------------------------

22/11/1994 (Volkskrant) - Serie A has lost appeal

From our reporter MILAN Aad de Mos made a lightning visit to two matches in the Serie A on Sunday. 'My future is in Italy', he later told Italian reporters who wondered what the unemployed coach was doing at Sampdoria - Torino and AC Milan - Internazionale. Every talented footballer in the Netherlands speaks the same words as De Mos. But how long will Italy be the promised land? The ripples in the pond of the Serie A have become waves. On Sunday, Italy was shocked again when a high-ranking police officer was stabbed with a knife by supporters of AS Roma at the Mario Rigamonti stadium in Brescia. Three fans have now been charged with attempted murder, five other rioters will be tried today. The incident in Brescia is the umpteenth link in a long chain of scandals and incidents that have robbed Italian club football of its paradisiacal image in recent years. Anyone who sweeps away the appearances will discover a cesspool of scandals, including financial ones, football hooliganism and corruption on a very large scale.

Eleven chairmen, including Pellegrini of Inter and Ferlaino of Napoli, have been accused of financial malpractice. Seven club leaders have already been arrested. These are often men with political ambitions who play an important role in public life and make a good impression with football. After they were discredited, their clubs immediately found themselves in financial trouble. Operation 'Clean Feet' is in full swing and the stench has not yet dissipated. The Italian tax authorities raided 33 clubs at the beginning of October, after the former chairman of Monza had declared under oath that the tax authorities were being defrauded on a large scale. If there is one thing that has emerged from the investigation, it is that the football directors have been living beyond their means for years and have constantly cheated. From the beginning of the eighties, almost all clubs, including the big ones, had an eye that was bigger than their stomachs. At the start of this season, it was calculated that the eighteen clubs in Serie A had to carry a debt burden of almost six hundred million guilders. AC Milan owed more than one hundred million guilders, and that after a season in which both the national title and the European Cup for national champions were won. Public interest in Serie A is declining, as evidenced by the number of season tickets sold. The decline was alarming, from 352,681 last season to 237,243 this year. AC Milan sold ten thousand fewer season tickets than in 1993, for a part because of the change in playing style (Sacchi's 'offensive catenaccio' has become 4-4-2 catenaccio) and the departure of the stars Gullit and Rijkaard. The old money that Juventus represents has seen an increase.

It is also for this reason that chairman Berlusconi advised his colleagues at the start of the season to tighten their belts quite a few notches. Berlusconi himself set a good example by only picking up cheap players from the transfer market, such as Gullit, Orlando, Sordo and Stroppa, and later Di Canio. The time when the jewel in the crown of the Italian prime minister paid forty million guilders for a player like Lentini is over. This season, the clubs only signed eighteen new players from abroad and 31 moved to another competition. For the first time since 1980, the year in which Serie A opened its borders to foreign players, more was received on paper (ninety million guilders) than invested (sixty million) in foreigners.

On the part of the transfer market where the greatest talents are traded, it remained very quiet. Increasingly, foreign players continue their careers elsewhere. Of the ten German internationals who have settled in the promised land since 1991, only two still play in Italy, Kohler (Juventus) and Doll (Lazio Roma). Of the faces of the last World Cup, only Roberto Baggio is active in Italy. Hagi, Stoichkov, Bebeto, Redondo and Romario play in Spain and World Cup top scorer Salenko also ignored the lure of the Serie A. In Italy, 58 foreign players earn their living, but it is no longer clearly the best that world football has to offer. Often they are relatively cheap Eastern Europeans or hard workers, not players from the top layer. When Padova goes shopping at Ajax, they buy reserve Kreek, and not, for example, Ronald de Boer or Litmanen. Most Italian clubs currently lack the financial resources for this.

The Spanish Liga, the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga (in this order) and in some cases even the Dutch Eredivisie are increasingly competing with the Serie A. English club football in particular is increasingly successfully in attracting foreign stars. Italian football is not yet lost, although AC Milan is disgraced with an eleventh place and national coach Sacchi is under fire at the national team. But Milan still counts and raises itself in the Champions League and Sampdoria, Lazio Roma, Juventus, Napoli and Parma qualified for the next round of the other two European competitions this month. Moreover, in no other European country is football experienced as intensely and en masse as in Italy. That hardly seems to have changed. Nevertheless, the shine of the Serie A has visibly diminished and the podium, once the most beloved in the world, is on the verge of collapse. Dutch footballers are diversifying their focus. De Mos would have been wise to set his sights on Italy a few years earlier.


Milan - Inter was as fire melting the ice

By our editor GUUS VAN HOLLAND Milan, 21 Nov. The Milan Derby stands for battle and passion. Water and fire fight each other in Milan's Giuseppe Meazza stadium. There, the players of Milan and Inter are whipped up by their respective supporters who have travelled from all over Italy to the Lombardy capital. Whether Milan and Inter fight each other as top clubs or as mid-table teams, it remains a clash of fiery characters. Even now that Milan and Inter are on the brink of the abyss, a match between the Rossoneri and the Nerazurri remains a breathtaking spectacle. Of course, no one is satisfied with a 1-1 final score. Neither club can now call itself champion of Milan, because that is what the Derby is all about in the first place. The way Inter played, it could count itself lucky with the result. Just as it was swamped by the fighting machine of Milan for almost an hour and a half after Fontolan's surprising opening goal in the third minute. Without the injured attackers Sosa, Bergkamp and Pancev, without Manicone, without the passed Jonk, Inter constantly staggered under the force of Milan, who played without the injured Albertini and Savicevic. A Milan in decline did not want to lose to a clumsy Inter. At a breathtakingly high tempo, with rock-hard physical effort and supported by the driving force of Desailly and the ruthless libero Baresi, the beautiful technique of Maldini and dribbling by Donadoni, Milan did not let the spectators rest for a second.

With this football Capello tried to slaughter Inter, with this football Milan could give Ajax a tough evening on Wednesday. Because Milan has to win to avoid being eliminated from the quarter finals of the Champions League. Milan has not played eye-catching football for more than a year. Only on that memorable May evening in Athens did Capello's team pull out all the stops again in the final of the Champions League against Barcelona. At the forefront was a masterful Savicevic, who for once patched up his bad relationship with Capello, only to then mentally and physically fall into disarray again. As did the whole of Milan actually. Which meant a new trauma for the returning Gullit in his long series of disappointing life experiences. But that Milan is still a quality team, is proven when the club has its back against the wall. Not with constantly flowing combinations, but with an enormous power, which reminded us of the way Parma played Ajax off the field in March of this year with a combination of speed, technique, strength and athleticism. Parma showed it could run forever. Because it may be suggested that Italian football is in decline, at such a high tempo and with so much power it is probably only played in Spain and especially England.

Italian football is always tough and unfair. No matter how good the Italian referees are known, no referee can withstand so much passion and drive. The way Baresi fought with the young Inter striker Delvecchio, the way they hit and kicked each other, was poignant. In this violence Jonk was allowed to come on half an hour before the end. He had no part in it. He does not belong in such a match, he cannot shine in such a competition, no match is won in Italy with salon footballers. Milan's equalizer came four minutes after the break on the name of Maldini, after a pass from none other than Donadoni. It was a lucky goal because Maldini made a bad touch on the ball and goalkeeper Pagliuca was surprised by the bouncing ball in the far corner. But Milan deserved this equalizer. Milan wanted more, whipped up by the supporters who always sing in Italy. But no matter how Milan attacks, the team rarely scores. Only seven goals have been scored this season. But even without scoring, Milan can still play impressive football. Capello seems to have found a way to pull his vulnerable team out of the deep valley. He has convinced his players that the need is great. The veterans Baresi, Costacurta, Maldini and Donadoni prove their professional seriousness at the last minute. If Milan is not tired from its feat of strength in the Milan Derby, Ajax will receive a warm welcome in Triest, a match with Milanese violence.

(unfortunate but fun fact: it was Melli whose clearance caused the goal of Inter)

22/11/1994 (NRC) - Milanello still sings
[...]
Baresi, together with coach Capello, tried to keep Gullit for Milan in a conversation. "His departure was unstoppable. It was not a business decision but a human one by Gullit. And you have to respect that. I don't know if it was a good decision for him. But I can say that I prefer Gullit as a teammate rather than as an opponent. He was of enormous value to Milan. And he didn't realise that, or it was not very important for him. He is one of the best players I played with or played against." Baresi is more cautious than Maldini about the current form. "We have improved a little. But we are still not nearly as good as we should be. You can look for many reasons for our decline. But it is clear that many players, like me, were tired from the World Cup. We reached the final on strength, fortune and not on quality. Other Serie A teams have become physically more impressive. Maybe there has been a kind of saturation, after so many successes and matches by Milan. What is slowly returning is the strength and the work ethic. We have to keep working on that. Maybe then we will be at the level where Milan belongs based on the talent that is present."
[...]

24/11/1994 (Volkskrant) - Van Basten: "Milan especially missed Gullit in the game against Ajax"
[...]
Marco van Basten had few good words for his AC Milan teammates on Wednesday evening. 'Okay, we were missing a few players. But even with what was still on the field, we should have won.' The injured striker was upset about the powerlessness of the once so powerful AC. 'I hardly saw any real chances and opportunities. Of course, Ajax is a very strong team. But we should have won anyway. The fact that Savicevic did not play weighed heavily. But, it may sound strange, AC Milan missed Ruud Gullit the most today.' Milan coach Capello only had good words for the opponent: 'We lost to a great team, a young team, and many players will have a great future.'

25/11/1994 (Algemeen Dagblad) - Deja Vu to Cruijff and Neeskens

From one of our reporters Rotterdam - "This fantastic Ajax evoked memories of the super team of Cruijff and Neeskens after 20 years", was how the Gazzetta dello Sport paid tribute to Ajax yesterday, after the 2-0 victory over AC Milan in Trieste. The magazine expressed the landslide that the Amsterdam victory caused, with 'Aai Milan, what a blow'. 'When the Dutch played for AC Milan, they were an excellent team. Gullit has now returned to Sampdoria, Van Basten is injured and Rijkaard plays for Ajax; a fantastic team, of which we will hear a lot more', wrote Gazzetta dello Sport enthusiastically. Tuttosport, the sports newspaper from Turin, claimed: 'AC Milan: glory days, goodbye'. "Van Gaal's collective is younger, faster in the brain and more modern. Litmanen and an own goal by Baresi brought AC Milan to its knees. Once again, the natural athletic ability of Ajax's black players was proven. The defeat puts Milan on the edge of Europe..." Corriere dello Sport lavishly complimented Ajax, but believed that the Italians were due for a reorganization. "You too, old Franz (Franco Baresi)." Frank Rijkaard's masterful performance in particular garnered great praise. "If he quits at the end of the season, it would be a great shame for Ajax. He is the inimitable playmaker," Tuttosport continued. "Nobody is better in terms of tactics. Rijkaard is the conductor of a fantastic orchestra." Milan also has incredible respect for Rijkaard. "He is Ajax's most important player. He is of enormous value in every game situation," said Milan coach Fabio Capello, who placed the current Ajax alongside the Amsterdam super team from the seventies. Italian national coach Arrigo Sacchi also could not believe his eyes. "What a player. I enjoyed him. Rijkaard played like he did in his best days at Milan. Time has no hold on him.” Marco van Basten had harsh criticism of his Milan teammates. “There were hardly any chances. Ajax is a very strong team. It sounds strange, Milan missed Ruud Gullit the most,” Van Basten said.

https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBPERS01:003250022:mpeg21:a00178

 

Re: Gullit his first Sampdoria game. Pretty remarkable how he scored at his Serie A debut in 1987, then did for Sampdoria in 1993. Then did in the Supercup for Milan (against Sampdoria) in 1994, assisted in the first Serie A game. Went back to Sampdoria and had again a points-winning assist in the first match!

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Genoa will know that Ruud Gullit is back at Sampdoria. The Dutchman, who recently ended a short-lived return to Milan, earned Sampdoria a draw at Fiorentina. He made it 2-2 four minutes from time. League leaders Parma drew 1-1 at Inter and saw Juventus close to a point. Juve beat Michel Kreeks Padova 2-1. Gullit has now scored for two clubs in one season. He has had three successes for Milan in the league. However, his goal was not the most talked about during the duel in front of 38,732 spectators in Florence. After Platt's 0-1 from a controversial penalty, the first equalizer was a converted penalty by Argentinian Gabriel Omar Batistuta. 'Batigol', as he is nicknamed, thus broke a 32-year-old record of Bologna player Ezio Pascutti. He scored at least one goal in the first ten games of the 1962-63 season. Batistuta now scored in eleven matches. The Argentine celebrated so exuberantly that he was shown a yellow card by the referee. Vierchowod gave Fiorentina the lead with an own goal, before Gullit scored for 2-2.