From Ballon d’Or strikers George Weah, Marco van Basten, and Andriy Shevchenko to the impenetrable defensive trio of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, and Billy Costacurta, we ranked the top 10 greatest AC Milan players of all time.
10. ST George Weah
AC Milan only had George Weah for about five years, but the Serie A giants had the Liberian sensation at his peak after he had already conquered Ligue 1 with a league title and three cups between his tenures at PSG and Monaco.
But it was in Milan where Weah would become the first African to win the Ballon d’Or, following that season up with three straight appearances in the FIFA World XI.
Weah had the seemingly impossible task of filling the shoes of Marco van Basten, widely regarded as the best striker in world football history, and he filled those shoes with aplomb, offering a blend of power, grace, speed, intelligence, and technical ability that had the sport firmly in his grasp during his time at the San Siro to close the millenium.
9. RW Roberto Donadoni
The versatile Roberto Donadoni is the most underrated player on this list and an AC Milan legend through and through, capable of playing at a world-class level as either a winger or a midfielder.
Donadoni was one of the best one-on-one dribblers and creative players of the 90s in either a wing or 10 role, and he was so good, in fact, that multi-time Ballon d’Or winner Michel Platini regarded him as the best Italian footballer of the decade.
In total, Donadoni won six Serie A titles, three Champions Leagues, and three Supercups, and his success with Milan as a team is arguably the best supporting argument for Donadoni’s place in the top 10.
8. ST Andriy Shevchenko
Ukrainian icon Andriy Shevchenko is one of the greatest strikers to ever grace this game, and you cannot tell the story of the 2000s without discussing Shevchenko, who was just as lovable as he was lethal in front of goal.
A born leader, Shevchenko won Serie A and the Champions League for Milan, and he was also a Ballon d’Or winner in 2004, carrying on the Rossoneri’s impressive lineage of players who could claim to being the best in the world.
Shevchekno led both Serie A and the Champions League in goals twice, scoring 24 league goals on three separate occasions. He was regularly on the top 10 ballot of best players in the world.
7. AM Ricardo Kaka
It may seem like Ricardo Kaka is a little low on this list, but that’s a testament to the sheer quality of footballers AC Milan have boasted over the years. After all, only Real Madrid have won more Champions League titles than the Rossoneri.
And Kaka was there for one of those triumphs in 2006/07, even winning the UEFA Supercup and the Club World Cup in 2007 to place exclamation marks on Milan’s status as the best club in the world of the day.
Kaka himself would be named the best player in the world that year as the Ballon d’Or winner, showing off a blend of speed and technical quality that was simply unstoppable.
One of the most adored players in the history of the game at any club, Kaka reached double-digit goals in four of his six seasons at the San Siro, earning praise from legendary teammates Ronaldinho and Andrea Pirlo for his all-around skill-set and the way he inspired fear in the hearts of the opposition.
6. AM Gianni Rivera
While more people around the world have heard of Kaka, Gianni Rivera has an even more impressive resume than the former Brazil World Cup winner, and Rivera was a Ballon d’Or winner, too, finishing second in a separate season.
Furthermore, Rivera won two Champions League titles for Milan, back when it was dubbed the European Cup, along with four Coppe Italia and three Scudetti. One of the best creators of all time, Rivera was ahead of his time in the way he saw the game, and Platini would later herald him as one of the best passers ever.
5. CB Franco Baresi
So good that he earned a nickname in homage to the great Franz Beckenbauer, Franco Baresi established a legacy of his own as one of the greatest center backs of all time, and he is one of the few defenders who began his career in the 80s to remain a household name among average footballing folk in the 2020s.
Baresi was an imposing and intelligent central defender who anchored a unit that is easily the most highly regarded back line ever, forming not just one but two of the best center back partnerships in history with Alessandro “Billy” Costacurta and, later, Paolo Maldini.
An ageless wonder, Baresi won six Serie A titles and a further two Serie B championships, hoisting three Champions League and one World Cup while finishing in the podium for Italy on the world stage on two other occasions.
4. CB Alessandro Costacurta
While fewer fans today have heard of Billy Costacurta than either Baresi or Maldini, the versatile defender was honestly just as good as these other two Milan legends and just might be the most underrated icon in world football history.
Take it from a former Juventus rival in Paolo Cannavaro, a Ballon d’Or winner who actually called Costacurta the best player he’d ever played with, and if you’d seen any footage of the grace Costacurta had on the ball, then you’d have to agree with his assertion.
Costacurta was a dominant player on several dominant Milan sides, winning a total of seven Scudetti in his career along with a whopping five Champions League titles. It’s really no coincidence that Costacurta was an indispensable player in Milan’s best period as a club, and it says a lot that he is the reason why Maldini initially began his career at left back and not center back.
3. AM Ruud Gullit
There are so many exceptional midfielders in the history of AC Milan, but there is only one Ruud Gullit, who was so good and such an epitome of the new Total Football mindset in the 90s Netherlands that he could quite literally play anywhere on the pitch.
And that’s exactly what he did for Milan. Gullit was an attacking midfielder who defended first and foremost, putting in the work equivalent to three players in a shift, never taking games – or even plays – off.
He was impossible to beat in duels or dispossess, with the attacking quality to score at least five goals in five separate Serie A seasons. Gullit finished his career with three Serie A titles and two Champions League titles, winning the Ballon d’Or win 1987 and then nearly winning it again in 1988. He is one of the best to ever play this sport, and, yet, it still feels like he isn’t fully appreciate in the modern day.
2. LB Paolo Maldini
Paolo Maldini needs no introduction, and on a list ranking players at just about any other club in world football history, the likely GOAT left back and center back would be the unquestioned No. 1.
It’s extremely rare that a player has a legitimate GOAT case at two very different positions, but such were the unique gifts of Maldini, who is one of the most intelligent leaders in football history, as well as one of the most athletic and technically gifted defenders ever.
Maldini literally had no weaknesses as a defensive player and was a matchup nightmare for any striker, with even contemporary icons like Zlatan Ibrahimovic extolling the virtues of a player who lived by the mantra that if he needed to make an intervention, he had already made an error.
Impressively, Maldini won seven Serie A titles and five Champions Leagues, reaching the finals in three other UCL campaigns. Individually, he was a four-time Serie A Team of the Season member and reached the Ballon d’Or podium twice, a rare feat for a defender.
1. ST Marco van Basten
There are so many incredible strikers to have walked this earth, but none were quite like Marco van Basten, who won three Ballons d’Or between 1988 and 1992 and would have definitely won a few more if injuries didn’t cut his career short; he’d never play another game for Milan after a devastating knee injury in 1992/93.
Van Basten was targeted so frequently by unscrupulous defenders that FIFA had to enact widespread protections for star players from ferocious tackles, especially those from behind, because of how tragically the Dutch striker’s career ended.
Ask any of Van Basten’s contemporaries, and they will all say the same thing: he is the greatest striker who ever lived. His catalogue of goals is beyond jaw-dropping and yet surpassed by the fact that the physically imposing Van Basten was also a graceful dribbler and adept creator, not just a scoring machine.
If Ronaldo Nazario, whom Milan icon Fabio Capello stated was right there with MvB as the best player he’d ever coached, had the edge in God-given athleticism, Van Basten beat him in the technical game – and those are fine margins.
From Maldini to Giovanni Cornacchini and Adriano Galliani, there is a laundry list of Milan icons who firmly believe that Van Basten is the best player they lined up with in Black and Red colors, and even though he stopped playing at 28, his list of individual accolades, particularly the three Ballons d’Or, speaks for itself. It takes a truly special player to usurp Maldini, and the greatest 9 of all time is certainly a special one.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.