Franco Baresi

Franco Baresi was the 'Steel Man' of AC Milan's defence and the Italian national team for over two decades. He is the greatest Italian defender of all times even though some people may think different.

He started his career in AC Milan and he played only for The Devils.

He was born on the 8th of May 1960 in a place named Travagliato, near Brescia, in the Lombardy region of Italy.

He debuted in the Italian Serie A on the 23rd April 1978 in a match played against Verona away. Milan won that match with a 2-1 score.

He went with AC Milan from glory to failure and from failure to glory as he played for the 'rossoneri' in the two era's: one is the darkest period in the clubs history, when Milan played for the first time in Serie B for two years due to a betting scandal in which was involved the club president and some players (Baresi was not one of them); the other one is the best period of AC Milan, from 1988 to 1994.

He is also one of the players who was on the pitch for the most matches in Serie A (444, all for AC Milan), in which he scored 12 goals. (he also played for AC Milan in two seasons in Serie B in which he scored some goals, not counted here).

Silvio Berlusconi, AC Milan's club president wanted to retire himself when he heard that Baresi will retire. He left the parliamentary chambers to see Baresi's last match as a proffesional player in the red-and-blacks stripes shirt.

The last game played by Baresi for AC Milan was freindly with Capello and Sacchi on the training bench and with Van Basten and all the other players who formed the golden team of late 80's and early 90's. 50.000 people came to see Baresi's testimonial match that night. The game's landmark was Baresi goal in the end.

He is now working as a scout for AC Milan.

Trophies won:
::6 x Italian title
::3 x European Super Cup
::3 x European Cup
::2 x Intercontinental Cup