Today in Serie A – April 19, 1989: Milan Thrashed Real Madrid in the European Cup | OneFootball

It was not simply a football game gone bad for Real Madrid. When Los Merengues, coached by Leo Beenhakker, left the San Siro on the night of April 19, 1989, football may have changed forever. Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan had just absolutely annihilated them, winning 5-0 and advancing to the European Cup Final 6-1 on aggregate.

The European Cup was the top continental competition back then and featured only one team per country, i.e., the domestic league champions. A battle between Milan and Real Madrid did not happen very often and, when it did, it was set to be a clash of two footballing schools. Only, the offensive ones were supposed to be the Spanish.

But when the two sides squared off in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu two weeks earlier, Milan showed the world that the old cliché of Italian clubs mostly playing defensively was gone as they set an incredible game pace, pressing high up the pitch for 90 minutes. It ended 1-1 despite the Rossoneri‘s domination as Marco Van Basten equalized Hugo Sanchez’s opener with an incredible twisting header – a goal that, still as of today, defies any logic and laws of physics.

The second leg at the San Siro pretty much followed the same pattern but, this time, Milan showed no mercy from the get-go. They opened the scoring with a phenomenal screamer from Carlo Ancelotti (yes, the Merengues‘ present day coach…), then Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit doubled and tripled the Diavoli‘s lead with two headers before halftime.

The second period was a mere formality on the path to the Final for Milan, but Sacchi and his boys had no intention of pulling the brakes. Van Basten put his stamp on the proceedings on 49 minutes, then Roberto Donadoni capitalized on Francisco Buyo’s terrible night as he caught the Real goalkeeper unprepared with a sharp left-footed shot at the near post.

Milan’s fast-paced football, full-pitch pressing, and aggressive approach tore Real Madrid apart. The Rossoneri would go on to win that edition of the European Cup, putting four goals in the net of Steaua Bucuresti in a one-sided Final, and would confirm themselves European champions again in the following season.

Their thrashing of Real Madrid perhaps remain their most scintillating performance, the zenith of a star-studded squad that virtually had no weak points and showcased a revolutionary idea of football.