THE VITALS:

Team: AC Milan

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2009-10 (Used for the 2009-10 Serie A season)

Name/Number: Beckham #32

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes to you in very good condition with only the defective #2 on the back of the shirt preventing it from being labelled as excellent. Elsewise, the material, vinyl sponsor, Adidas embroidery and club crest are still as good as they have ever been!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large (XL)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 21 inches

Shirt Length: 30.5 inches

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaCool’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2009; this shirt does say size small in the inside neck, however, the dimensions are clearly that of an extra large shirt, which has unfortunately led me to doubt the legitimacy of the shirt; something which is reflected in the price.

DESCRIPTION: 

Following on from the 2008-09 season home shirt; Adidas continued the theme of black as the prevailing colour for AC Milan’s home shirt in 2009-10, however, this presentation would come with two significant changes; firstly, the use of a white collar – hitherto seen before since Adidas took the reins as Milan’s kit manufacturer and there would also be a greater supply of red stripes to make this a more balanced ‘Rossoneri’ home shirt! This would also be the last home shirt to bare the ‘bwin’ sponsor after its first use in the 2006-07 season. The red bands were another addition, albeit a subtle one, which when added collectively, altogether makes this one of the finest AC Milan home shirts of the 21^st century! This would also be the last ever shirt that Paolo Maldini wore before his retirement, as well as Kaka in his first stint with the club as the club exhibited the 2009-10 home shirt on the final day of the 2008-09 Serie A season!

THE SEASON:

Only a worse head-to-head record with Juventus denied AC Milan a 2^nd place Serie A finish in 2008-09, but the 10 point deficit behind title winners – Inter was still too much for a squad of the calibre of a Milan side that brought in the likes of: Ronaldinho, Gianluca Zambrotta, as well as Andriy Shevchenko and later David Beckham on loans. Furthermore, tepid performances in the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup would have to ultimately classify the season as being a disappointment in what was Carlo Ancelotti’s final season at the helm after 8 wonderful season’s in charge.

He was replaced by former player – Leonardo in what was a bizarre decision given that he had never coached previously and was still acquiring his UEFA coaching badges! Despite repelling Manchester City’s monstrous bid for Kaka in January; they would allow him to join Real Madrid for a world record fee of €65 million while Paolo Maldini called time on his 24 year career at the end of the 2008-09 season. The funds would be invested in the likes of: Thiago Silva, Ignazio Abate and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, meanwhile, Mancini was signed on loan from Inter.

Although the Leonardo era began with just wins from his opening 7 league games; the club would embark on a fantastic 13 game spell between October 18^th and the 17^th January where they won 10 games including the scalps of: Roma, Parma, Lazio, Fiorentina and Juventus; a run which lifted them to 2^nd place and just 3 points behind league leaders Inter after 20 games!

A defeat to their city rivals in their next outing would burst the bubble on that run of form as the club struggled for consistency in 2010; in fact, they would win just 6 more times in the league – fortunately, their final day of the season triumph over Juventus was enough to seal another very creditable 3^rd place finish.

The cup competitions would yield another season of disappointments as they were eliminated in the quarter final of the Coppa Italia by Udinese and were brutally beaten 7-2 on aggregate in the Last 16 of the UEFA Champions League by Manchester United; this coming after a fine Group Stage showing where they beat Real Madrid on Match-Day 3.

The notable players that season were:

Marco Boriello, Filippo Inzaghi, Alexandre Pato, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Mancini, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf, Mathieu Flamini, David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini, Massimo Oddo, Kakha Kaladze, Alessandro Nesta, Luca Antonini, Thiago Silva, Daniele Bonera, Iganzio Abate, Giuseppe Favalli, Marek Jankulovski, Gianluca Zambrotta, Christian Abbiati, Dida