Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Zinedine Zidane Biography
Although considered a talented player even since he was a youngster, no one thought of Zinedine Zidane as a serious contender to Michel Platini's position as the best player in France's history. Platini, who lead France in two World Cup semi-finals in 1982 and 1986 and won the European Championship in 1984, France's first trophy until recently.
However, the World was up for a surprise, as Zinedine Zidane had an outburst of skill and managed to place a serious mark wherever he played, as well as leading France to winning their first World Cup in 1998, their second European Championship in 2000 and lead France to a new World Cup final recently, as they lost against Italy in 2006, a final marked by the famous "Zinedine Zidane headbutt" incident, that you probably saw on TV over and over again (but we'll talk about that in a bit).
Zinedine Zidane – France Career
Zinedine Zidane started playing soccer professionally in 1988, for a rather mediocre France team, namely Cannes. His 4 years spent at Cannes, saw him going from sporadic appearances to earning a first squad place at only 18 years of age.
His first goal scored for the team occurred on February 8th, 1991. Besides the joy of having scored for his team in the first French league, Zidane won a Renault Clio for that goal, as Cannes' club owner promised him a car when he will shake the opponent's goal for the first time.
Although Zinadine Zidane was still not at his top potential at Cannes, French giants Girondine Bordeaux spotted him as a future talent and signed him.
Zizu, or Zizou as he would soon be nicknamed by fans around the world, spent 4 years at Bordeaux, where he learnt what winning trophies and playing at the highest level meant. He won the Intertoto Cup with Bordeaux in 1995, then earned the silver medal in the UEFA Cup in 1995/96.
Unlike many players that simply boomed from being nobody to huge stars, Zinedine Zidane worked hard to earn his success and the steps of his career slowly, but constantly rose. The next step, would be the most important one, as he joined Juventus Torino, a team that there aren't many locations you can move to that are "higher" from a professional soccer player's point of view.
At Torino, Zizu found a performance-hungry environment and joined a star-studded, including France colleague Didier Deschamps, or world class superstars Alessandro Del Piero and Edgar Davids. Although winning two Serie A titles with Juventus, Zidane also suffered a major disappointment on the Champions League front, as his team lost two consecutive finals, in 1997 and 1998, the latter against what will soon become his home, namely Real Madrid.
Ending his career after 5 years spent with the Real Madrid "Galacticos", Zidane already had a long career behind him, marked by decisive goals, assists, brilliant technique and the love of his fans, who already swiped away the title of "Best French Player of All Time" from Platini and gave it to Zizu.
Zinedine Zidane – Decisiveness
Amongst his other qualities, such as great vision, strength or technique, Zidane had something that all great players share, namely decisiveness to change an important match result. This showed in the 2001-2002 Champions League Final, when he scored a superb winning goal against Bayer Leverkusen, volleying the ball right into the top left corner of the goal.
In the 1998 final, Zizou managed a sensational "double" against Brazil, basically winning France its first World Cup almost all by himself.
He also proved the same decisiveness in his last World Cup, in 2006, where he lead France to the final, however 5 minutes before the end of the match, he lost his nerves and did the famous "Zidane headbutt".
Striking down Italy's Marco Matterazzi with his head, in his final match as a professional player, brought him a contradictory set of feelings from the fans, some being extremely disappointed, others thinking he was rightful to do so and attributed that Zidane's headbutt was his way of leaving football as a warrior, not a loser.
Cristiano Ronaldo Biography
Cristiano Ronaldo Biography - Preview - It's rare that a soccer player gets a biography before even reaching a mid-age in his career. So why write this biography now, when the player is just 22 years of age? I guess the reason beneath this decision is quite obvious, Cristiano Ronaldo being already a consecrated footballer and is already one of the biggest stars of the show, despite his young age.
Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Name Confusions - Usually, the name of Ronaldo, at least in soccer, was firmly tied to the Brazilian striker, as he was immensely renowned after winning almost anything a footballer could dream of winning.
However, entering a poorer period of his career at Real Madrid, Ronaldo slowly began to succumb and young Cristiano Ronaldo was there to grab the name for his own.
So, nowadays, most people will think of the young Portuguese rather than the ex-"Il Phenomeno" when hearing the name Ronaldo. (By the way, this name was given to Cristiano by his mother after former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, so there's no connection between him and the Brazilian player).
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Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Youth Period
Despite being raised as a supporter of SL Benfica in his childhood, a twist of events made him join rivals Sporting Lisboa as a professional player.
His first team was a youth amateur team named Andorinha where Cristiano Ronaldo's skills attracted several professional scouts from the local Madeira teams, CS Maritimo Funchal and CD Nacional Madeira.
Cristiano Ronaldo was just 10 when taken to CD Nacional's youth team, with which he won the youth league title, giving out a substantial hand to this success. This brought him in the lights of Sporting, which, despite having lost the youth championship to Nacional, had one of the most prestigious and well equipped youth facilities in Europe.
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Receiving first-class instruction at Sporting's Alcochete youth academy, Cristiano Ronaldo's skills quickly drew the eyes of first squad manager Ladislau Boloni, who took him to the senior team at 17 years of age, together with his youth team colleagues, Ricardo Quaresma and Hugo Viana.
Finally becoming a professional footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo starred in his first game against Madeira, scoring two goals and impressing the audience. But most importantly, he impressed the staff of the Under 17 Portuguese national team, who quickly added him to their squad. In the same year, the U-17 championship took place, with Cristiano Ronaldo being one of the tournament's best players, drawing the eyes of several huge European clubs, of which Liverpool and Manchester United.
However it was not until 2003 that he truly came into the attention of Manchester United's coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, when his team played a friendly match against Sporting, a game lost by the English team with 3 to 1, Cristiano Ronaldo decisively contributing to his side's success. It's supposedly then that Sir Alex Ferguson decided to sign the young winger.
Cristiano Ronaldo Biography – Manchester United
After the departure of David Beckham from Manchester United in 2003, Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for a replacement on the right wing and after seeing Cristiano Ronaldo's goals and skills in several matches for Sporting (including the one mentioned above, between Sporting and Manchester United) he decided he was the perfect candidate for that role and signed him on a fee of approximately 16 million euros.
As if the pressure of moving to such a big club as Manchester United, combined with the hardship of adapting to a new country, a new language and a new soccer style, Cristiano Ronaldo was also given the extra-pressure of having to wear the red number 7 shirt, formerly owned by Man U legends such as George Bet, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona or David Beckham.
Although his career is still at an early stage, Cristiano Ronaldo's skills on the wing already earned him a lot of fans throughout the World as he is widely considered the most technical player in the World at this point, in competition with FC Barcelona's Ronaldinho. However, he also attracted several boos and jeers across many stadiums, being considered a tricky player that tends to cheat and dive a lot.
Most notably, an incident at the 2006 World Cup in Germany almost ended his career at Manchester, when he encouraged the referee of the Portugal – England game to give a red card to his Man U colleague, Wayne Rooney, after an vicious foul from Rooney (Click here to play a funny online game dedicated to that incident).
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Manchester United fans told him they don't want him back in England and Real Madrid quickly tried to seize the opportunity and sign him. In the meantime, having rejected Real's offer, Cristiano Ronaldo won back the hearts of his club's fans with his sheer skills and impressive (and often decisive) goals and also made friends again with Wayne Rooney, after the World Cup incident.
Ronaldo Biography
Probably one of the most resounding names in today's soccer, Ronaldo put his mark on the last decade, becoming not only a prolific striker for his various club teams and national side, but also a famous "product face". This biography will take you through El Fenomeno's life and career, from his poor childhood to his super stardom.Ronaldo Biography – Youth Career
Born in a poor neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, he started playing soccer on the streets, with the rest of his neighborhood friends. At age 14, he decided it's time for a little organization in his life as a soccer player, so he went on to train with the Social Ramos Youth Club for one year. His next youth team, Sao Cristovao is where Ronaldo made a name for himself, being spotted by Brazilian World Cup winner Jairzinho as a future talent.
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Jairzinho, who played for Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, recommended the young Ronaldo to the club and they signed him when he was 18 years old. His first and only season as a professional soccer player in Brazil was extremely successful, as he scored 12 goals in 13 games, quickly attracting the eyes of Europe.
Ronaldo Biography –
PSV Eindhoven
The first club to spot Ronaldo and make Cruzeiro an offer was Dutch PSV Eindhoven. Admittedly, not one of the mammoths of Europe in terms of soccer, but nevertheless a powerful club where a young player like Ronaldo could hone his skills and get some experience in Europe.
His 2 seasons at PSV were extremely successful, scoring 42 goals in 46 matches at just 21 years of age. His performances could not remain unnoticed and FC Barcelona moved in with a heavy offer to take the Brazilian on.
Ronaldo Biography – FC Barcelona and Internazionale Milano
His only season with Barcelona would be one of the best of his career, scoring 47 goals in 49 matches in all competitions for Barca and helping the Catalan club win the UEFA Cup Winners Cup (He actually scored the winning goal in the final) and the Spanish Cup. This great season confirmed him as an outstanding player and a goal scoring machine and Internazionale Milano moved in to take the Brazilian to Italy.
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During the 5 seasons in Milan's shirt, he managed to score 50 times, but his efficiency was a lot lower than for PSV or FC Barcelona, due to several problems. First of all, the tough defensive air of the Italian Serie A reduced his ability to use his lethal dribbles as often as he could at FC Barcelona or PSV.
His personal issues with his girlfriends and wife, as well as a string of injuries also kept him from being as prolific as before. Nevertheless, he was loved at Inter and he helped the Italian club win the UEFA Cup in 1998, which is actually his only trophy with the club. In 1997 however, he became the European Footballer of the Year, European Golden Boot and after the UEFA Cup success, he was named UEFA's MVP that season.
Still, in 2002 after no league titles with Inter, it was time to move on and Real Madrid took him on to form the so called "Galacticos" team of super stars.
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Ronaldo Biography – Real Madrid
For Ronaldo, Real Madrid was angel and devil alike. Used to the Spanish league and escaping the Italian one's defensive toughness, he regained his scoring pace and in his 5 seasons with Real, he scored no less than 127 goals in 83 league games.
He helped Real Madrid win the league twice, in 2002-2003 and 2006-2007, as well as the European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup in 2002. Although he played well for Madrid, his past with FC Barcelona, his numerous injuries and news of him partying before and after matches, created a gap between the Brazilian striker and his fans.
He also gained a few pounds, which decreased his stamina, speed and agility attracting the anger of Real's supporters, after a poor 2005-2006 season. Not finding his pace at Real Madrid anymore, he decided to move back to Milan, but this time for Inter's arch-rivals, AC Milano.
Ronaldo Biography – AC Milano
Ronaldo plays for Milano since the winter of 2007 and although he only had half a season to settle back in Serie A, he did it with ease. He started scoring again and helping AC Milan win important points and he even managed to score against his former team, Inter, in the Milanese super-derby.
Although he could not participate in Milan's Champions League Win in 2007, he showed signs of improving his game and he also lost most of the extra pounds that made Real Madrid fans criticize him.
In the international field Ronaldo always was a vital member of the Brazilian team. He made history on June 27th 2006 during the World Cup games as he broke the all-time World Cup scoring record of 14 that was held by Gerd Muller (Germany) after scoring his 15th goal against Ghana.
Ronaldinho Biography
Ronaldinho Biography – IntroductionI doubt there's a part of the World where the name Ronaldinho doesn't spark a light bulb, but nevertheless, many people don't know the player before he became a world class superstar. It's this side of the FC Barcelona attacking midfielder that I'll try to focus on in this biography & you're bound to find some interesting & probably unknown facts about him by reading the remainder of the article.
Ronaldinho Biography – Early Career
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira by his full name, Ronaldinho was often called Ronaldinho (or little Ronaldo) by his friends, even from his younger days.
Raised in Porto Alegre, in the Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil, he was also given a secondary nickname in Gaucho, which is how Brazilians call people from that particular area (later on he would use the name Ronaldinho Gaucho to distinguish himself from Ronaldo, who was also referred to as Ronaldinho at times).
Following the footsteps of his older brother, Roberto, who was playing professional soccer for local club Gremio, Ronaldinho's skills drew a lot of eyes, even during his early days as a soccer player. When he joined Gremio's youth team, he already had some experience with different branches of the game, such as futsal or beach soccer.
At age 13, he managed to get the first media praises, as he scored all 23 goals in one of his futsal team's game.
Afterwards, a string of good games for Gremio's youth squads brought him in the Brazil national squads, his brightest performance being the one in Egypt 1997 for the Brazilian Under-17 team, where he scored 2 goals and assisted a few more.
Ronaldinho Biography – The Big Move – Paris Saint Germain
Since he already made a name for himself at the 1997 Under 17 World Championships and at the same time, managed to get promoted in Gremio's first squad, it was expected that a big European club would move in to sign a deal with the young Ronaldinho Gaucho.
Despite having several offers from big Premiership clubs like Arsenal or Manchester United, the work permit complications and the style of soccer played in England turned Ronaldinho to sign with a slightly smaller team, but one that could still offer an opening to world class soccer: Paris Saint Germain.
Ronaldinho earned a first squad place at Paris Saint Germain, under the whip of coach Luis Fernandez, however he was criticized for not having a focused lifestyle. Being still at a raw age (and let's face it, any Brazilian likes to party!) Ronaldinho was constantly tempted by the Parisian night life and had some incident that he would later regret.
Nevertheless, getting back on track, he managed to get more and more solid performances and was raising the crowds with his dribbling quality. It's at Paris Saint Germain that he made himself known as simply Ronaldinho, the soccer player with the best technique in the game!
Ronaldinho Biography – FC Barcelona
His awesome performances in the 2001-2002 season for PSG already meant that the big European clubs started renewing their interest for Ronaldinho, but it was his great performance at the 2002 World Cup (and his already legendary goal against England's David Seaman) that made them throw contracts at the Brazilian player.
When Barcelona offered him a deal, I doubt he looked twice on the sum on the contract and signed immediately, since it's not every day that you get the chance to play in one of the World's most important clubs.
Many thought Ronaldinho would lose his charm in a star-studded Barcelona team, since here he would not be the main player anymore. He proved his critics wrong, as he became that main player again and most of Barcelona's game now relies on Ronaldinho's skills and genius.
During his time with the blau-grana squad, he managed to achieve an impressive goal/match ratio, at the end of his 3rd full season at Barca, having a 60 goal tally, in just 126 matches (considering he’s not a pure striker, even more so a midfielder, that is an outstanding record).
He also managed to be crowned king of Europe in 2006 with Barcelona, as they won the Champions League and the La Liga trophy and Ronaldinho won the FIFA Player of the Year award twice while he was here, namely in 2004 and 2005. Despite several offers from other European giants, FC Barcelona will probably not release its key player in the near future, or at least not until his contract expires in 2010.
Biography of Pele
Where do I start writing a biography of Pele, Brazil's finest product in terms of soccer and the same guy that's considered as being the best all-time soccer player in the World? I could start with his achievements and countless records, but I'd rather leave them for later as the cherry on top of the cake. For now, let's take a look at the cake itself, and slice through the striker's career in this Pele's biography.
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Biography of Pele – Early Career
Edson Arrantes de Nascimento by his full name, Pele was born in Tres Coracoes in Brazil, in a family that loved soccer, his father being himself a player for Fluminese (his father was known as Dondinho). In this sporty atmosphere, the young Pele learned to enjoy the game, despite the poverty he grew up in.
The family's situation was even harder when his father had to quit playing soccer professionally due to a knee injury. Thus, for young Pele, soccer was what he regarded as the only way out of poverty and he started training daily, but since he had no money to buy a real ball, he used a stuffed sock instead.
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After forming up a "shoeless team" with his street kids, Pele and his team participated in a youth tournament, with Pele ending up as top goalscoarer. He was immediately noticed by former Brazilian international Waldemar de Brito, who called him to the youth squad of Baquinho, whom he trained and, for the first time, offered Pele money to play soccer.
During his year at the club's youth team, Pele managed to win the championship after a dazzling performance: 148 goals in just 33 matches.
Biography of Pele – Santos
At just 15 years of age, Pele was bought by Brazil giants Santos, where he would later team up with some of Brazil's finest players of that era and future World Cup winners, such as Zito, Pepe or Coutinho.
Just one year later after he joined Santos, he became the youngest player to start in the Brazilian first division at age 16 and even more incredibly, he became league top scorer at the end of the season! Talk about starting with the right foot.
As it was not yet the era of Brazilian players running for European careers, Pele remained at Santos for almost 20 years, time in which he scored (read carefully) 1087 goals in 1120 matches. Even if you're not that good at maths, I'm sure you can acknowledge that as an astonishing goal per match ratio.
Biography of Pele – 1000th Goal
One of the milestones in the history of Pele was definitely his 1000th goal scored in all competitions. It was both a highly anticipated moment and an emotional one. On November 19th, 1969 Pele already had scored 999 goals in his career, either for Santos or Brazil's national team. Playing on the Maracana Stadium, Brazil's "cathedral of soccer", against arch-rivals Vasco Da Gama, Pele managed to score from a penalty kick and broke all records standing in front of him.
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Biography of Pele – National Team and Records -
Throughout his 15 years spent at the Brazil national team, Pele managed to break hundreds of records, but we'll just follow up on those that are deemed most important:
>> He became the most prolific striker in Brazil's history, with 77 goals in 92 matches.
>> Pele, the footballer who used to shine shoes in order to raise money for a real soccer ball, scored 12 goals in different World Cup matches, being beaten only by Ronaldo.
>> He is considered by FIFA the most prolific scorer in soccer history, with 1281 goals in 1363 matches in all competitions.
>> He is the only player to have won three World Cups (gasp!), although he did not receive a medal for the one in 1962, since he was injured in the final (he played on several other matches throughout the campaign though)
>> He is one of the few players to achieve the performance of scoring in two different World Cup finals, sharing this record with Paul Breitner, Vava and Zinedine Zidane.
Diego Maradona Biography
It's difficult to talk about Diego Maradona without comparing him to Pele. C'mon, despite both former soccer players' flattering declarations towards the other one, there's clearly a rivalry between them for the title of "Best Player of All Time".
Still, I'll try to detach myself from this comparison, since they are different players, with different game styles, different positions on the pitch and, most importantly, played in different leagues.
If we want to make peace between both sides, we can just say that Pele was the best striker of all times, whereas Diego Armando Maradona was the best midfielder, but that's about as far as I will go with the comparison. So since I covered Pele in his biography, let's take a short look at this Diego Maradona biography that will take you from his youth, all the way to his career's end.
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Diego Maradona Biography – Early Years
Born in poverty in one of Buenos Aires' outskirt areas, Diego Armando Maradona certainly had no favorable conditions to become a soccer player. His numerous family, including 3 older sisters and 2 younger brothers meant that the family budget went into necessities and the small boy couldn't even afford a ball to play with on the streets of his neighborhood.
Luckily, some of the other kids could afford one and invited Diego to play, since he proved to be extremely talented even during his early years. It was in one of these "street matches" that Maradona was first spotted by a talent scout and, at age 10, was offered a place in the youth squad of Argentinos Juniors.
Despite being shorter than most of his youth teammates who grew up above him, he used his physical constitution to his advantage. His strong legs and low center of gravity meant that he could fire up short sprints past defenders and also control the ball much quickly on the ground.
These characteristics made him debut to the Argentinos Juniors in 1976 and played for the team for 5 more years, before being bought by Argentinian bigwigs, Boca Juniors.
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Diego Maradona Biography – Boca Juniors and the National squad
Since he played well constantly for Boca and already had a few sporadic appearances in the national squad before, Diego Armando Maradona was called for the 1982 World Cup and pretty much to everyone's surprise, the young Argentinean played in all of his country's five matches, without being substituted and even managed to score twice against Hungary.
His performance attracted the eyes of European giants such as FC Barcelona, who eventually bought him from Boca.
Diego Maradona Biography - Barcelona, Napoli & the 1986 World Cup
His transfer to Barcelona wasn't the big blast he and the Barca fans had hoped for, as a series of injuries and the adjustment to his new team made him shine out less than at Boca.
After just two seasons, he chose to change the Spanish air with the Italian one, transferring at what was then a rather mediocre Italian team, SSC Napoli. It's here that Diego Armando Maradona found his career’s highest point, as he became one of the most adored players in Napoli and Italy and managed to bring this uneventful mid-table team to win its first championship in 1986/87, then went on to be runners up the next two seasons, before eventually winning the "Scudetto" again in 1989/1990.
In 1986, with another World Cup closing in, Maradona was on the top of his game and he was expected to be one of the stars of the tournament. He did not let his fans down, as he captained the Argentinean national squad in what was one of the most rampant runs from a World Cup team. Maradona himself scored 5 goals and had 5 assists throughout the tournament, with one of the goal, scored against England in the quarter finals, viewed by many as the "Goal of the Century".
Maradona then received the ball in his half, around 60 meters from England's goal, started a madman's sprint, dribbling everything in his way (6 English Players and the goalkeeper) and scored a goal that will be remembered for some time. Although he also scored a controversial handball goal, called the "Hand of God" he received the Golden Ball award and was voted player of the year.
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Diego Maradona – Career End - The end
of Diego Armando Maradona's career found him switching teams to find his recently lost spark, as he moved from Napoli to FC Sevilla in 1992, then to Argentinian side Newell's Old Boys in 1993 and eventually back to Boca Juniors in 1995, for which he played two more years.
The temperamental Argentinean captained his national side in Italy's 1990 World Cup and Argentina was close to defending its title, but despite reaching the final, the team did not play as well as in 1986 and an ankle injury did not allow Diego Armando Maradona to play at his best either. Eventually, they lost the final to West Germany 1-0.
His final soccer years found him playing for yet another World Cup, the 1994 one held in the United States, but an aged Diego Maradona, hindered by his numerous mistakes only managed to play in two games, before being sent home after failing a controversial drug test. However, all problems aside, he became part of a select group of players that managed to play in 4 different World Cups and at that, score in all 4 of them!
Ricardo Kaka Biography
Admittedly one of my favorite players of today, the decision as to whether or not write a Kaka biography was easy to take. Despite his young age (he is currently 25) Kaka is one of the most popular footballers of today and he is often considered one of the most important players in Brazil's national team, despite having other famous teammates such as Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo or Adriano. This Ricardo Kaka biography will take you through his entire career, from his early life to his rise to stardom at AC Milan.
Ricardo Kaka Biography – Early Career
Most brazilian footballers come from poor families and sport is one of their only ways to get out of this state. Of course, there are exceptions and Kaka is one of them, as he was born in a relatively rich family that encouraged him to focus on both school and soccer at the same time.
Playing for Sao Paulo's youth team, he was already considered one of the future stars of Brazilian soccer and at age 17 he even had the chance for a move in Europe, although not necessarily at a big club, as Turkish side Gaziantepspor made Sao Paulo an offer. Despite the Turkish team being a possible launch pad to a big European club, the deal was off as Sao Paulo requested 1.5 million dollars, a heavy price for a youngster.
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Ricardo Kaka Biography – The Miracle
At the age of 18, he was taken for the senior squad of Sao Paulo for the first time and even started playing in a few matches, gaining more and more confidence. However, his escalating performances were brutally stopped by a career-threatening injury, when the young Ricardo Kaka slipped at a swimming pool fracturing his back.
Not only did doctors believe he would never again play soccer, but they feared the worse, as the injury could easily lead to a paralysis.
Fortunately for the footballer, Kaka managed to miraculously recover and even came back on the pitch the next season! Since then, grateful to God that He saved his life, Kaka donates one tenth of his yearly salary to the Brazilian Church. But the miracle didn't stop here. Just one year after recovering from his injuries Kaka drew the eyes of Brazil's national team staff. Making his debut for Brazil, Kaka was ready for a European career.
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Despite playing one more season for Sao Paulo, his tremendous performances, having scored 23 goals in 58 matches for the club and also contributing to several others with his assists, earned him a visit from AC Milan's scouts.
Impressed by the young Brazilian's vision, passing ability and dribbles, Silvio Berlusconi, Milan's club owner had no second thoughts when he had to sign the 8.6 million dollars deal for Kaka. Later on, Berlusconi would describe this sum as being "peanuts" when compared to the footballer's tremendous success.
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Ricardo Kaka Biography – AC Milan
When he came to Milan, everyone thought Kaka would be the substitute of their current playmaker, Andrea Pirlo, but Carlo Ancelotti found room in the team for both of them as attacking midfielders with playmaking roles, covered by a defensive "guard dog" in Gennaro Gattuso.
With this trio in the starting line-up, Milan marched on to win the Italian league in 2003-2004, with Ricardo Kaka scoring 10 goals in 30 matches. The following year, despite Milan losing the league title to rivals Juventus Torino, they managed to have a wonderful Champions League run, playing and losing the final against Liverpool FC in a tremendous match. After a series of Kaka great plays all throughout the tournament, the Brazilian was named the best midfielder in Champions League that season.
After being involved in the Calciopoli scandal and threatened with relegation to the second division, AC Milan was almost at the point of losing most of their valuable players, including Ricardo Kaka.
With the dust settling down and the departure of Andrey Shevcenco, Milan's most appreciated footballer, Kaka was given a more offensive role and this paid off in the 2006-2007 season, when Milan managed a superb Champions League run, with Kaka scoring 7 goals and being the competition's top scorer.
Meeting Liverpool in the final of the competition, Milan managed to take their revenge on the side that miraculously beat them in the 2005 final. The game ended 2-1 for AC Milan and Ricardo Kaka's great plays were decisive at both goals, as the Brazilian dribbled his way to earn the free kick responsible for the first goal and also gave the assist for the second (both goals being scored by striker Filippo Inzaghi).
