Another Dynasty Bites The Dust European Powerhouse Ac Milan Suffers Through Dismal Season

The Boston Celtics, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Islanders.

All sports dynasties eventually crumble, and European soccer powerhouse AC Milan is the latest. The speed and magnitude of the team’s collapse are shocking.

A year removed from its fourth Italian League title in five years, the continent’s - and perhaps the world’s - most dominant club of the late 1980s and early 1990s is 12th place in the 18-team first division.

With seven games left in the season, AC Milan is 10-11-6 - six more losses than in 1991-94 combined and its most defeats since 1982, when it was demoted to the second division for a season.

AC Milan hit bottom this month. First came a 6-1 loss to league-leading Juventus of Turin - the most goals AC Milan has allowed in 47 years and its worst loss ever at San Siro Stadium, its home ballpark. Then came a 3-1 defeat against crosstown rival Internazionale of Milan.

“We’re in a slump where we manage to let in goal after goal and make the other goalkeeper look like the best player on the field,” midfielder Demetrio Albertini said. “It’s just that sort of season.”

Since 1989, AC Milan has been European Champions Cup champion three times and runner-up twice; no other club has taken the title more than once in that span. This year, the club failed to get past the first round of the Champions Cup.

Another lowlight was AC Milan’s quarterfinal loss in the Italian Cup against Vicenza, a provincial club without any trophies in its 95-year history.

The fans turned on the team during the Inter match, showering the players with derisive chants - along with flares and bottles.

Team owner Silvio Berlusconi, a media mogul and former Italian premier, called the fans “barbaric” and “unworthy of a squad that for 10 years dominated the world.”

“Real fans - and I underscore ‘real’ - stay with the team in tough times,” he said.

The question now is who will remain following a likely offseason shakeup. Coach Arrigo Sacchi is surely on the way out, as is 1993 European player of the year Roberto Baggio, who’s sought by Arsenal of London.

What happened to a club whose roster was stocked with international stars such as Italian captain Paolo Maldini, George Weah of Liberia, Marcel Desailly and Christophe Dugarry of France, and Dejan Savicevic of Montenegro?

AC Milan’s downfall could be pinned to May 1, 1996, when coach Fabio Capello announced he was leaving for Real Madrid of the Spanish League.

Berlusconi, a meddling owner in the spirit of the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones or New York Yankees’ George Steinbrenner, turned the team over to Oscar Washington Tabarez of Uruguay, who had little experience in the Italian first division and less success.

Tabarez made changes to the strategies Capello had employed since 1991 and the team floundered. After a 3-2 loss to lowly Piacenza Dec. 1, Berlusconi replaced Tabarez with Sacchi, who led AC Milan to European titles in 1989 and 1990 before leaving to coach Italy’s national team.

Sacchi has done little more than fiddle with the lineup, and the team’s record is worse with him at the helm.

He benched Baggio, hero of the Sacchi-coached Italy team that finished second in the 1994 World Cup and a $19 million transfer from Juventus in 1995. A series of leg injuries has diminished Baggio’s finesse and stamina, but he still can spark a team (the increasingly disgruntled Baggio scored against Inter, his first start in over a month).

Sacchi failed to instill confidence or cohesion and rarely makes mid-game adjustments.

One example: in the Juventus debacle, it was clear AC Milan’s defenders couldn’t contain their opponents, but no midfielder was ordered to lend support.

While AC Milan allowed 15 goals in 34 league games during the 1993-94 season, it has been outscored 36-35 this season. Part of the problem is an aging defense that includes Pietro Vierchowod (38), former Italy captain Franco Baresi (37 next month), and Mauro Tassotti (37).

Berlusconi, who bought the team in 1986, has a penchant for wooing top talent. He was conservative last summer, actually turning a profit of about $3.5 million by selling off some young players. That strategy backfired and Berlusconi is already changing course.

Forward Patrick Kluivert and defender Winston Bogarde, mainstays of 1995 European champion Ajax of Amsterdam, are signed for next season, as is German defender Christian Ziege. Those deals total $22 million.