Mankind knows hundreds of outstanding and dozens of great representatives of the sports world . But truly legendary and unique personalities are only a few. Today, one of them has become less. Silvio Berlusconi has died. He was 86 years old.
He spent the last days of his life in the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he was taken last Friday — just a few weeks after being discharged from the clinic. In April, he was diagnosed with leukemia, after which he underwent chemotherapy. This oncological disease was not the first for Berlusconi — he had previously undergone treatment for prostate cancer.
«It's difficult, but I will do it again. I managed to get out even in difficult and delicate situations,» Berlusconi said after another difficult diagnosis. A week later, Don Silvio was transferred from the intensive care unit to a regular ward and, after staying in the clinic for 45 days, was discharged. June 12 Berlusconi passed away.
«Age is just numbers» — Don Silvio always attached relevance to this quote. Even at his age, Berlusconi looked truly alive: active, energetic and willing to attract public attention. He did great with the last one. The life path of Silvio Berlusconi turned out to be just as energetic and rich. He built a career in business and public affairs politics, presented himself as the patriarch of Italian and European politics, and also «succeeded» in participating in scandalous stories. But at the same time, Berlusconi has become an integral part of world football.
February 20, 1986 is a historic day. The day Don Silvio officially became the owner of AC Milan. Then the club already had a glorious past, but the future of the Rossoneri was vague. But Berlusconi, being a real Milan fan, took the club to the top and made it one of the main forces of European and world football. It was extremely important for him not only to lift the club out of the pit, but also to make it a role model, an example of high class and style. With Berlusconi, a new era began. The era when the majority of Italian football was associated with Milan. Just like it happened in the 2010s with Spain and Barcelona. Entire generations of football players and coaches passed through Berlusconi and his constant companion Adriano Galliani. It would take at least an hour to list the names of all of them.
«Today's sadness does not erase the happy moments spent together. There remains endless gratitude to the President, but above all to the ironic, loyal, intelligent, sincere person who played a fundamental role in my journey, first as a football player, and then as a coach. Thank you, President,» said Carlo Ancelotti, the legend of Milan, who thanks to Berlusconi has become one of the best coaches in Europe.
The result of just over 30 years of Berlusconi's rule speaks for itself: =»article__list-item»>Italian Champion — 8
And that's just the trophies. But «Milan» of that era fell in love with millions of football hearts not only with titles, but also with the passion that was characteristic of Berlusconi and was completely transferred to the team. Circumstances forced Don Silvio to leave the club. In the 2010s, Italy was no longer the center of football in Europe, and the financial component, with rare exceptions, became a key indicator of the success of the clubs. Modern directions of the economy have developed for Milan in a sad way: the club no longer had the opportunity not only to surpass, but even to be on the same level with other teams on the continent, bathing in the money of new investors, and therefore had to part with the leaders, because of which and the results of the Rossoneri have deteriorated greatly.
The sale of the club became inevitable for his Patron. This step was necessary for both Milan and Berlusconi himself, although the Italian functionary could not part with his favorite team for a long time. It took years to find a buyer and reach all agreements with him. The negotiations were extremely difficult: Berlusconi was ready to sell a controlling stake in Milan, but wanted to keep a small part, which scared off new investors. It was only in April 2017 that El Presidente left the club:
“I am leaving Milan after 30 years of work at this club with pain and sadness. But I will forever remain a fan of Milan, a team that I loved since childhood instilled by my father, a dream that we all realized».
But Berlusconi did not say goodbye to football. Over the next few years, he did not hide his disappointment with the work of the new owners of Milan, and he himself embarked on another managerial activity.
Together with Galliani, he acquired Monza in September 2018 and did so on the eve of his 82nd birthday. Then the team played in Serie C — the third division of Italian football. But already in 2020, his new club reached Serie B, and two years later it made its debut in Serie A. The first season of Monza in the Italian major league ended quite successfully for the Berlusconi team: 11th place in the standings, along victories over «Juventus» and «Inter» — the main enemies of «Milan». Once Berlusconi even made a promise to the players of his team that if they manage to beat Juventus, then «they will be met by a full bus of prostitutes.»
Whether Don Silvio fulfilled his promise, the Monza players did not tell.
«»They they ask me to fulfill my obligations. I received a hundred phone calls, «Berlusconi said after one of the victories over Juve.
Passion and charisma — this was all Silvio Berlusconi, as well as Italian football. Such a personality will be greatly missed in the sports world.