AC Milan's success in the international football world cannot be separated from the role of their world-class strikers. Those strikers become major foundations of the team in scoring goals and play important role in helping the team win a lot of prestigious achievements. No wonder, many fans consider that the roles of those strikers are very essential for the team.
In this article, I write a list of 15 best AC Milan forwards from time to time. Not only from Italy, there are also some foreign strikers who achieved a lot of great feats at this club. In your opinion, who deserves the title as the best AC Milan striker of all time?
15. Alexandre Pato
Alexandre Pato joined Milan from Internacional when he was 18 years old. He was believed to be a young talent who could bring a lot of glorious achievements for the club. Indeed, Pato has excellent technique and a high scoring instincts. Unfortunately, this player was very often hit by injuries and spent most of his time at Milan to recover from his injury. Before moving to Corinthians in 2013, Pato presented a Serie A title for AC Milan.
14. Jon Dahl Tomasson
Jon Dahl Tomasson's best period in AC Milan occurred in the 2003-2004 season, where he was instrumental in helping Milan win the Serie A. In most of his career at the club, this Denmark striker was more often given a role as a super-sub for the number one striker, Andriy Shevchenko. As he rarely got the chance to play regularly and with the arrival of Christian Vieri, Tomasson finally decided to move to Stuttgart in 2005. At AC Milan, he won one Coppa Italia trophy and one Serie A title
13. Alberto Gilardino
Alberto Gilardino is a very effective striker. His left and right legs are equally strong and he is also reliable in scoring with a header. This player was signed from Parma AC Milan for a fee of 25 million euros. At Milan, Gilardino won one Champions League trophy and a FIFA Club World Cup trophy. Although he was quite prolific in scoring goals, Gilardino showed inconsistent performances at the club so that he was sold to Fiorentina in 2008.
12. Oliver Bierhoff
Oliver Bierhoff is one of the best German strikers of all time . He joined AC Milan in 1998, after in the previous season he became the top scorer of Serie A when playing for Udinese. Bierhoff is a striker with a very good heading ability and scored many goals through headers. His duet with George Weah presented a Serie A title for AC Milan in the 1998-99 season.
11. Robinho
Robinho has to thank AC Milan as this club saved his career after failing to show his best performances at Manchester City. This player was signed from City by Milan in 2010 for a fee of 18 million euros. He immediately shone in his first season at AC Milan, where his duet with Zlatan Ibrahimovic led the club win the Serie A. At Milan, Robinho is often played as a second striker, sometimes as a winger.
10. Zlatan Ibrahimović
Ibrahimovic only played for two seasons for AC Milan, but his outstanding performances made him regarded as one of the best strikers ever to play for this club. His technique, dribbling skills and goal scoring instinct are very great, making Ibrahimovic is often being compared to the legendary AC Milan striker, Marco van Basten. For two years playing for this club, Ibrahimovic won a Serie A title and become one-time top scorer in the Italian League.
9. Pietro Paolo Virdis
Pietro Paolo Virdis is an ex-Italian striker who played for AC Milan for five years in the period 1984-1989. At Milan, he won a Serie A title, a Champions League trophy, as well as being the top scorer in the Italian league in 1987. As he was getting older, Virdis finally left Milan in 1989 to join Lecce. He retired as a professional footballer in 1991.
8. Marco Simone
Marco Simone was an agile Italian winger who joined AC Milan for nine years. He was signed by AC Milan from Como in 1989, and during his period at AC Milan, Simone was the favorite player of Arigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello. Simone showed his best performances, despite having to compete with world-class striker such as Marco van Basten, George Weah and Roberto Baggio. During his career at Milan, Simone won two Champions League trophies and four Serie A titles
7. José Altafini
Jose Altafini is a retired Brazilian striker who played for AC Milan in the period 1958-1969. Together with Lionel Messi, Altafini became the most-scoring player in a season of Champions League competition with a total of 14 goals. Altafini had considerably successful career at AC Milan, where he won three Serie A titles and two Champions League trophies. He also played for two different national teams, Brazil and Italy.
6. Daniele Massaro
Daniele Massaro is one of the strikers with the most caps for AC Milan. He played in the period 1986-1995 and he won four Serie A titles as well as two Champions League trophies. Massaro was also part of the Italian squad that won the 1982 World Cup, although he didn't play even in a single match in the tournament. Massaro's best period at Milan occurred in the 1993-94 season, where he became the top scorer of the team and scored two goals in the Champions League final, helping Milan to defeat Barcelona by 4-0.
5. George Weah
Weah's best individual achievement as an AC Milan player is winning the Ballon d'Or in 1995. During four years joined the club, Weah showed brilliant performances. He scored a lot of great goals as well as presented two Serie A titles for Milan. His duet with Marco van Basten and Oliver Bierhoff was regarded as the most dangerous striker duo in Serie A competition in the late 1990s.
4. Marco van Basten
If only he didn't have to retire due to injury, Marco van Basten could have topped this list. Van Basten played for Milan in the period 1987-1995. His scoring record is quite fantastic, in which he scored 124 goals from 201 appearances. During eight years joining Milan, he won three Serie A titles and two Champions League trophies. Not only that, he also became the top scorer of the Italian League twice and once elected as FIFA World's Best Player.
3. Gunnar Nordahl
With a total of 221 goals from 268 appearances, Gunnar Nordahl is AC Milan's top scorer of all time. This player played for Rossonero from 1948 until 1956, winning two Serie A titles and four Coppa Italia trophies. Together with his Sweden country-mates, Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm, Nordahl formed a reputable offense trio known as Gren-No-Li. Throughout his career at Milan, Nordahl became the top scorer of Serie A for five times.
2. Filippo Inzaghi
Smart and effective. Inzaghi is not a striker with incredible physical ability, but he is very good at positioning and effective in converting chances into goals. He played for AC Milan for 11 years, won two Champions League trophies and two Serie A titles. Inzaghi is one of the most loyal AC Milan striker, where he still played for the club at the age of 39 years old. His last appearance with the club occurred in May 2012 in a match against Novara, in which Inzaghi scored a decisive goal that led to Milan's victory.
1. Andriy Shevchenko
Indeed, the title of AC Milan's best striker should be given to Andriy Shevchenko. The Ukraine striker played for Milan for eight years, winning a Serie A title and a Champions League trophy. Shevchenko's best period occurred in the 2003-04 season, where he helped Milan win the Serie A and became the top scorer of the competition. Not only that, in the same year he also won the Ballon d'Or award. In total, Shevchenko scored 175 goals from 322 appearances for AC Milan.
