++ [ originally posted by Kaiser Franco ] ++
Goalkeeper : Clearly Juve wins hands down here. Goalkeepers have always been kind of Milan’s weak spot. We’ve had some good and excellent ones such as Albertosi, Cudicini, Giovanni Galli or Dida, but in all honesty they are inferior to Zoff, Tacconi and Buffon. Milan-Juventus : 0-1
Sweeper : Gaetano Scirea and Franco Baresi. Two names, two equally legendary gentlemen. Milan-Juventus 1-1.
Left-back : On one side we have Cabrini, De Agostini and Zambrotta (Fortunato would certainly be there too if fate hadn’t decided otherwise). On the other side we have Lord Paolo. No need to look for his predecessors. Milan-Juventus : 2-1
Centre-back : Trapattoni, Schnellinger, Costacurta, Desailly OR Bonini, Cannavaro, Kohler, Ferrara, Montero ? It seems that over the years there have been more of these players at Milan than at Juve. Milan-Juve 1-1.
Defensive midfielder : Liedholm, Rijkaard, Ancelotti, Albertini, Gattuso. OR Furino, Tardelli, Deschamps, Conte, Emerson ? The former. Milan-Juventus 3-1.
Left-winger : Hmm, I can’t really think of many "pure" left-wingers that made an impact right now, except maybe Evani for Sacchi's Milan and Stacchini for Boniperti’s Juve. These kind of players are a rarity, and it’s just too bad Bruno Conti played for Roma. Still 3-2 for now.
Offensive midfielder : This is really a broad category in which I think diverse players such as Schiaffino, Rivera, Gullit, Savicevic, Sivori, Baggio, Platini, Boniek could all fit. Rivera + Schiaffino were slightly better than Sivori imo, but Gullit + Savicevic don’t = Platoche. One could also note that Baggio, despite being the best Italian of his generation, only brought a UEFA Cup to Juventus. And he also played for Milan. But then of course there is Emperor Zidane. 3-3 dammit.
Striker : Im referring to support strikers here. Guys like Del Piero if you like. And to be honest, I don’t think we ever had a player with the talent of Godot in our squad (sorry Prati, Massaro and Simone). Juventus-Milan 3-4 !
Centre-forward : The reason why we never had an outstanding support striker though is because we have a long tradition of producing top-class "centravanti". Juve had Charles, Boniperti, Bettega, Rossi, Vialli, Vieri (only for one season tho) and today Trezeguet (which many of you seem to unduly underrate). Impressive no doubt. Now look at this : Boffi, Amarildo, Nordahl (200 + seria A goals), Altafini (nearly 200), Weah, Shevchenko and the man who scores the equaliser with a magnificent last-minute volley from the corner flag : HM the Swan of Utrecht, Marco Van Basten !