Franco Baresi

Franchino Baresi (born 8 May 1960) is an Italian football youth team coach and a former player and manager.

He mainly played as a sweeper or as a central defender, and spent his entire 20-year career with Serie A club AC Milan, captaining the club for 15 seasons.

He is considered to be one of the best defenders of all-time.

Originally an AC Milan youth product, Baresi went on to spend his entire 20-year professional career with Milan, making his Serie A debut at age 17 during the 1977–78 season on 23 April 1978.

He had initially been rejected by the Internazionale youth team, who chose his brother Giuseppe instead, hence the Milan youth team signed Franco Baresi.

The two brothers ended up captaining their respective teams shortly after, with their image while exchanging pennants became the trademark of Milan's derby della Madonnina throughout the 80s.

The following season, he was made a member of the starting 11, playing as a sweeper or as a centreback, winning the 1978–79 Serie A title, Milan's tenth overall, playing alongside Fabio Capello and Gianni Rivera.

Baresi also represented Italy at two UEFA European Championships, in 1980 and 1988, and at the 1984 Olympics, reaching the semi-finals on each occasion.

The younger brother of former footballer Giuseppe Baresi, after joining the Milan senior team as a youngster, Franco Baresi was initially nicknamed "Piscinin", Milanese for "little one".

Due to his skill and success, he was later known as "Kaiser Franz", a reference to fellow sweeper Franz Beckenbauer.

This success was soon followed by a dark period in the club's history, when Milan was relegated to Serie B twice during the early 1980s.

Milan were relegated in 1980 for being involved in the match fixing scandal of 1980, and once again after finishing third-last in the 1981–82 season, after having just returned to Serie A the previous season, after winning the 1980–81 Serie B title.

Despite being a member of the Euro 1980 Italy squad that had finished fourth, and the 1982 World Cup-winning team, Baresi elected to stay with Milan, winning the Serie B title for the second time during the 1982–83 season and bringing Milan back to Serie A. After Aldo Maldera and Fulvio Collovati left the club in 1982, Baresi was appointed Milan's captain, at age 22, and would hold this position for much of his time at the club, becoming a symbol and a leader for the team.

When the attacking Dutch trio of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard arrived at the club in the late 1980s, Milan began a period of domestic and international triumphs, and between 1987 and 1996, at the height of the club's success, the Milan squad contained many Italian and international stars, such as Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and later Demetrio Albertini, Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, Marcel Desailly, George Weah, Jean-Pierre Papin, Brian Laudrup and Roberto Baggio.

With the Italy national team, he was a member of the Italian squad that won the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

During this bleak period for Milan, Baresi did manage to win a Mitropa Cup in 1982 and reached the Coppa Italia final during 1984–85 season, although the team failed to dominate in Serie A. During the end of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, Baresi was at the heart of a notable all-Italian defence alongside Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti and later Christian Panucci, under managers Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello, a defence which is regarded by many as one of the greatest of all time.

Under Sacchi, Milan won the Serie A title in 1987–88, with Baresi helping Milan to concede only 14 goals.

This title was immediately followed by a Supercoppa Italiana in 1988 the next season, and back-to-back European Cups in 1988–89 and 1989–90; In the 1990 European Cup Final, Baresi turned in a dominant performance as the team's captain, helping Milan to defend the European Cup title and keep a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory over Benfica.

Baresi was also runner-up to teammate Van Basten for the Ballon d'Or in 1989, finishing ahead of his other teammate Frank Rijkaard, and was named Serie A Footballer of the Year in 1989–90.

Milan also reached the Coppa Italia final during the 1989–90 season.

He also played in the 1990 World Cup, where he was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team, finishing third in the competition.

Baresi went on to win four more Serie A titles with Milan under Fabio Capello, including three consecutive titles in 1991–92, 1992–93 and the 1993–94 seasons.

Baresi helped Milan win the 1991–92 title undefeated, helping Milan to go unbeaten for an Italian record of 58 matches.

Milan also scored a record 74 goals that season.

Baresi also won three consecutive Supercoppa Italiana under Capello, in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

Milan also reached three consecutive UEFA Champions League finals during the 1992–93, 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, losing to Marseille in 1992–93 and Ajax in 1994–95.

During the 1993–94 season, Baresi helped Milan concede a mere 15 goals in Serie A, helping the club to finish the season with the best defence.

Baresi won the third European Cup/UEFA Champions League of his career in 1993–94 when Milan defeated Johan Cruyff's Barcelona "Dream Team" 4–0 in the final.

At the 1994 World Cup, he was named Italy's captain and was part of the squad that reached the final, although he would miss a penalty in the resulting shoot-out as Brazil lifted the trophy.

Baresi also managed to win the 1994 European Super Cup, although Milan were defeated in the 1994 Intercontinental Cup, the 1993 European Super Cup and the 1993 Intercontinental Cup.

Under Capello, Milan and Baresi were able to capture another Serie A title during 1995–96 season, Baresi's sixth.

Baresi retired at the end of the 1996–97 Serie A season, at age 37.

After his final season at Milan in 1997, the club retired Baresi's shirt number 6.

In 1999, he was voted Milan's Player of the Century.

He was named by Pelé one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at the FIFA centenary awards ceremony in 2004.

Baresi was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Baresi grew up in a farmstead on the outskirts of a small north Italian town, Travagliato.

He did not watch football on television until he was 10.

He was ranked 19th in World Soccer magazine's list of the 100 greatest players of the 20th century.

With Milan, he won three UEFA Champions League titles, six Serie A titles, four Supercoppa Italiana titles, two European Super Cups and two Intercontinental Cups.