AC Milan are one of the most storied clubs in the history of world football. Like most Serie A clubs, AC Milan are synonymous for elite defensive talents, yet the Rossoneri have also boasted a fine group of attacking superstars over the years at the San Siro.
Here are the seven best strikers in AC Milan history you need to know. Only true No. 9’s were included, so while Ricardo Kaka is as good as any of the players on this list of seven, he was more of an attacking midfielder than striker and does not count.
Marco Van Basten
Marco Van Basten has a case for being the greatest striker of all time – not just the greatest AC Milan striker of all time. The Dutch superstar scored some of the finest volleyed goals in history, bringing a level of technical quality to the fore that no striker – not even Robert Lewandowski or Luis Suarez in the modern game – can match.
From 1987 to 1995, Van Basten made Milan his home after a successful career at Ajax, with the Utrecht-born striker scoring 91 goals in 147 Serie A matches for the Rossoneri.
He would win the Serie A title four times, including three straight Scudetti from 1992 to 1995. With Milan, Van Basten would also win the European Cup, European Supercup, and Italian Supercup twice each.
A two-time Serie A golden boot winner, all three of Marco Van Basten’s Ballon d’Or triumphs came while playing for AC Milan. He set a new standard of greatness in Milano – one that no other striker has reached since then.
Andriy Shevchenko
That said, Andriy Shevchenko was quite the player in his own right, even though the Ukrainian and AC Milan icon never quite replicated that success after a failed big-money move to Chelsea in 2006.
From 1999 to 2006, Shevchenko took the mantle from Marco Van Basten as Milan’s main man, scoring even more total goals in his Rossoneri Serie A career with 127 in 208 matches.
Shevchenko was integral to Milan’s Champions League triumph in 2002/03, and he also reached the final a couple of years later in 2004/05 when Milan were unforgettably toppled by a scrappy Liverpool side.
The 2004 Ballon d’Or winner while playing for AC Milan, Shevchenko earned his spot in rarified air by matching a career-high 24 goals in the 2003/04 season, leading Milan to their only Scudetto win during his tenure with the club. It was the third time he scored exactly 24 goals in a league season and the second time he registered six assists.
One of the greatest strikers of the 2000s, Shevchenko was prolific in Serie A and the Champions League, winning the Capocannoniere twice. His consistency and clinical finishing made him the envy of just about every other club on the continent.
Gunnar Nordahl
Gunnar Nordahl’s goal-scoring record for AC Milan has to be seen to be believed. The Swedish striker scored 210 goals in 257 matches for the Rossoneri, and he still ranks third in Serie A history in goals scored.
A two-time Scudetto winner with Milan, no player in the club’s history has scored more goals than Nordahl, who dominated the 1950s and was so good that he had more nicknames than anyone else on this list.
Aldo Boffi
Another OG great of AC Milan, Aldo Boffi played for the Rossoneri from 1936 to 1945, scoring 109 goals across 163 league encounters. Boffi would be crowned Serie A’s top scorer on three different occasions, including a career-high 24 goals in 30 matches during the 1939/40 season.
Filippo Inzaghi
Sir Alex Ferguson once famously quipped that Filippo Inzaghi was “born offsides”, to which Inzaghi himself responded that he took pride in toeing the line between on and offsides, noting it was a key aspect of his game that led to his prolific scoring record.
Inzaghi was an elite striker for a number of top Italian clubs. He scored 24 goals in a single season for Atalanta before moving to Juventus, where he added 57 more. Clearly, though, “Pippo” Inzaghi is most well-known for his work with AC Milan, as he scored 73 goals for the Rossoneri to close his legendary Calcio career.
One of the most agile and skillful strikers in Italian football, Inzaghi was more than just a goal-getter with an astute eye for space and the finish. He was an unselfish, hard-working partner for Andriy Shevchenko and others in Milan, sacrificing his own goals for the good of the team.
It is, therefore, unsurprising that Inzaghi helped Milan win two Champions League and two Serie A titles, having already won the Scudetto with Juventus before his arrival. He scored double-digit goals across five league seasons with an unforgettable 10 goals in the 2002/03 Champions League-winning campaign.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
A somewhat controversial figure in the history of Italian football because of his disciplinary issues and the fact that he also played for chief rivals Juventus and Inter Milan in his career, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is undoubtedly one of the most talented players to grace the San Siro – or Serie A as a whole, for that matter.
Zlatan first joined AC Milan in 2010 on loan from Barcelona, as Pep Guardiola soured on the veteran striker with the team built around Lionel Messi. The Swedish international scored 14 goals in a solid campaign, earning a permanent move to Milan so that he could win the Capocannoniere with 28 goals in the campaign.
He was so good for the Rossoneri that PSG signed Zlatan to make him the new centerpiece of the Qatar project. After dominating French football but still not winning the Champions League, Zlatan made a failed transfer to a doomed Manchester United side before dominating MLS.
Not written off yet, Zlatan took one last trip back to Serie A to play for AC Milan, and he turned back the clock by playing a pivotal role in Milan’s return to dominance, winning the 2021/22 Scudetto alongside MVP left winger Rafael Leao. Zlatan would score 33 goals in his 3 full seasons in his final stint with Milan.
Pierino Prati
Pierino Prati was more of a left winger than a striker in every match for AC Milan, but he played enough at striker throughout his career to earn a spot on this list.
A Milan legend through and through, Prati joined the Rossoneri in 1966 after beginning his career with Salernitana. Prati would play for Milan through the 1971/72 season, scoring 72 goals in 143 Serie A appearances for the historic Italian giants.
A two-time Coppa Italia winner and one-time Scudetto winner, Prati also helped Italy win the 1968 European Championships and reached the Final of the 1970 World Cup. He was one of the greatest athletes of his time and one of the best all-around forwards in Italian football before the golden era truly hit.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.