2004–05 Ac Milan Season

Lazio">Lazio (the winners of the previous season's Coppa Italia), thanks to a hat-trick by Andriy Shevchenko.

AC Milan

2004–05 season
President	Silvio Berlusconi
Manager	Carlo Ancelotti
Stadium	San Siro
Serie A	2nd
Coppa Italia	Quarter-finals
Supercoppa Italiana	Winners
UEFA Champions League	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: Andriy Shevchenko (17) All: Andriy Shevchenko (26)
Highest home attendance	79,775 (Serie A) vs Internazionale (24 October 2004)
Lowest home attendance	2,170 (Coppa Italia) vs Udinese (26 January 2005)
Average home league attendance	63,595
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The Serie A began with a 2–2 draw against Livorno. For most of the season, Milan were second to Juventus, in a close points race. However, after matchweeks 25 through 30, and again matchweeks 33 through 34, Milan were in first place. On 8 May 2005, Milan faced Juventus at home; by matchweek 35, the two had almost identical statistics of 76 points, 23 wins, 7 draws, and 4 defeats, with Milan's marginally superior goal difference of +36 against Juventus' +35 keeping them on top. Having lost the potential title deciding game 1–0 to a goal by David Trezeguet, Milan drew three more times afterwards and finished in the second place.

In the Champions League, Milan were successful and sure-footed, comfortably topping their group (which included Barcelona, Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk) and then knocking out Manchester United, cross-city rivals Inter and PSV Eindhoven, thus reaching their second Champions League final in three years. The final was against Liverpool. In the first half Ancelotti's men scored three goals, one from Paolo Maldini, the club captain, and two from Hernán Crespo. However, in the second half, the English opponents managed to do the same in just 6 minutes, meaning the match went to extra time. Milan were not able to find a fourth goal and had to face a penalty shoot-out. Unlike in 2003, Milan players went first and missed the first and second penalty kicks (taken by Serginho and Pirlo). Shevchenko, who scored the deciding penalty two years earlier, had to score from the fifth penalty to keep Milan in the game, but failed to beat Dudek, and Liverpool won the Champions League, in one of the most famous come-backs in European football history.

Throughout the season, Ancelotti mostly used the 4–4–2 diamond (or 4–1–2–1–2) formation, which he had previously employed with much success, especially in 2002–03; the fact that four top-quality strikers were available (Shevchenko, Crespo, Inzaghi and Tomasson) made it almost imperative that two of them would have to be used as regular starters. On rare occasions, however, formations with three centrebacks and two wingbacks (usually Cafu and Serginho), such as 3–5–2 or 3–4–1–2, were used.

Squad information

Squad at end of season

Squad no.	Name	Nationality	Position
Goalkeepers
1	Dida		GK
17	Christian Abbiati		GK
12	Valerio Fiori		GK
Defenders
3	Paolo Maldini (Captain)		CB / LB
2	Cafu		RB
13	Alessandro Nesta		CB
31	Jaap Stam		CB / RB
4	Kakha Kaladze		LB / CB
5	Alessandro Costacurta		CB
14	Dario Šimić		CB / RB
27	Serginho		LB
26	Giuseppe Pancaro		LB / RB
30	Harvey Esajas		LB
Midfielders
21	Andrea Pirlo		CM
8	Gennaro Gattuso		CM
10	Rui Costa		AM
22	Kaká		AM
20	Clarence Seedorf		CM / AM
23	Massimo Ambrosini		CM
24	Vikash Dhorasoo		CM
32	Cristian Brocchi		CM
Forwards
7	Andriy Shevchenko		CF
11	Hernán Crespo (on loan from Chelsea)		CF
9	Filippo Inzaghi		CF
15	Jon Dahl Tomasson		CF

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW   ITA Nicola Pozzi (to Napoli) 19 DF   ARG Fabricio Coloccini (to Deportivo La Coruña)

No. Pos. Nation Player 45 DF   ITA Ignazio Abate (on loan to Napoli)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 40 GK   ITA Giuseppe Dei Forti 41 FW   ITA Davide Barbieri 42 FW   ITA Carlo Ferrario 43 DF   ITA Elia Legati

No. Pos. Nation Player 45 DF   ITA Ignazio Abate 46 DF   ITA Lino Marzoratti 47 DF   ITA Romano Perticone 50 FW   ITA Matteo Ardemagni

In

First-team

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
31	DF		Jaap Stam	31	EU	Lazio	Transfer	Summer	2006	Undisclosed	BBC Sport
24	MF		Vikash Dhorasoo	30	EU	Lyon	Free transfer	Summer	2006	Free	UEFA
30	DF		Harvey Esajas	29	EU		Free transfer	Summer		Free
11	FW		Hernán Crespo	28		Chelsea	Loan	Summer	2005	Season-long loan	UEFA

Total spending:   €

Out

First-team

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
5	MF		Fernando Redondo	35		Retired	End of contract	Summer	Free
11	MF		Rivaldo	32		Olympiacos	Transfer	Summer		The Independent
18	FW		Marco Borriello	22	EU	Reggina	Loan	Summer	Season-long loan	Sky Sports
24	DF		Martin Laursen	26		Aston Villa	Transfer	Summer	€3,000,000	Aston Villa
25	DF		Roque Júnior	27		Bayer Leverkusen	Free transfer	Summer	Free	ESPN
19	DF		Fabricio Coloccini	23		Deportivo	Transfer	Winter	Undisclosed	World Soccer

Reserves

N	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
18	FW		Nicola Pozzi	18	EU	Napoli	Loan	Summer	Loan
42	FW		Roberto Bortolotto	19	EU	Biellese	Transfer	Summer
43	FW		Alessandro Matri	19	EU	Prato	Loan	Summer	Season-long loan
45	DF		Ignazio Abate	17	EU	Napoli	Loan	Summer	Season-long loan
48	MF		Patrick Kalambay	20	EU	Fermana	Loan	Summer	Season-long loan
51	MF		Claiton	19		Prato	Loan	Summer	Six-month loan
52	FW		Michele Piccolo	18	EU	Prato	Loan	Summer	Six-month loan
41	MF		Mattia Dal Bello	20	EU		Deceased	Winter

  Total income: € Net income:   €

  Win   Draw   Loss

Supercoppa

Milan v Lazio

21 August 2004	Milan	3–0	Lazio	Milan
20:45 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Shevchenko   36', 46', 76'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 33,274 Referee: Pierluigi Collina

Serie A

League table