Berlusconi's "colorful" life is not just red and black
At 9:30 a.m. Italian time on June 12, the 86-year-old Berlusconi lost his last game, or campaign, after months of fighting leukemia. How to define this legendary figure who made great contributions in many fields in many capacities during his lifetime, but also full of controversy, may be difficult for Italians: he was a successful businessman, media mogul, politician, and best known as the founding of Milan; But at the same time, he speaks wildly, is riddled with lawsuits, scandals are constant, and his private life is extremely chaotic...
Compared to other club presidents in post-World War II modern football, Berlusconi has more prime ministership; His television media resources are also an advantage that his contemporaries of the Ranieri family, the Moratti family, and even Florentino of Real Madrid in the 21st century did not have. However, Milan profited from Berlusconi's political and media dominance, achieving a red-black dynasty that spanned 20 years; It also became a victim and abandoned son due to Berlusconi's decline in both political and business circles, and experienced a 10-year trough.
Berlusconi in the "red and black" world is enough to describe it as great; But this Italian political and business legend with multiple identities cannot be simply defined by "red" or "black" - even if he is the most exposed, controversial and personal football club president, Milan for him and football for him, are only part of the "colorful" life.
With the death of the elder Bey, many Milanese celebrities paid the highest tribute to the former president. Paolo Maldini, who has just left the club, may best represent the Milanese heart: "A visionary visionary visionary dreamer left us, he changed the history of Italy, he made us who we are, Milan fans have lived in dreams for 30 years." Berlusconi, who has been a Milan fan since childhood, has revolutionized the landscape of Italian football with his pioneering and innovative ideas since he acquired Milan in early 1986.
Real Madrid President Florentino's superstar strategy, the all-media packaging and publicity of European giants in the era of globalization in the 21st century, and even the emphasis on sports science and rehabilitation medicine, Berlusconi has been realized in Milan almost more than 10 years in advance. He flew to Amsterdam by private helicopter and won Basten's approval with his charisma to complete the construction of the "Dutch Three Musketeers". After Florentino's poaching of Figo, Abu signing Shevchenko on the yacht, you can see the shadow of Old Bay.
With 29 trophies in 31 years, including 3 Club World Cups, 5 Champions League trophies, 8 Serie A trophies, 7 Serie Super Cups, 5 UEFA Super Cups and 1 Coppa Italia, Berlusconi's achievements are not only far superior to his contemporaries Ranieri and Morati, but also inferior to Florentino and Laporta in the 21st century. Milan has monopolized the top three Ballon d'Or for two years in a row, and only Barça in 2010 can replicate the history of the Ballon d'Or.
Lao Bei is known as the "great innovator", not only for investing heavily in turning Milan into a star-studded giant, but also for upgrading Milanello, which focuses on sports medicine and science. The "Milan Laboratory" has long been a symbol of sports medicine and technology in the world of football, which is an achievement of advanced thinking that other great football presidents of his time and later generations could not match, and even contributed to the upgrading of the training base of the English national team after Capello became the manager of England.
Berlusconi has a brilliant vision, Sacchi, Capello and Carlo Ancelotti were not top coaches before Milan's success, but they have brought out three generations of successful squads that have attracted countless fans for the Rossoneri.
Of course, he has also had a number of outrageous moves that now seem to be beyond the responsibilities of a club president: in 2004 he claimed that he had been developing the squad, tactics and buying players for 18 years, and he was constantly and publicly criticizing the Milan coach; He described Zacheroni as "a careless tailor who will ruin quality fabrics", and bluntly said that the reason for losing the Serie A title in 2009 was that Ancelotti did not listen to his advice on tactical style; He compared coach Tabares to a singer at the San Remo Entertainment Festival, who ended up holding out of class after only 5 months.
The influence of Lao Bei on Milan club's operation, first-team formation, tactical style positioning and media packaging is far beyond that of his peers. Before the rise of globalization and the Internet in the 21st century, Milan was the most successful club in media packaging and commercial operations, behind which Berlusconi used his resources in both political and business circles and media giants. In this sense, it can be said that the comprehensive rebirth and success of modern AC Milan is tied to Berlusconi. Without him, there would be no Milanese dynasty that flourished for 20 years from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 21st century.
"It would be great to name Milan's new stadium after President Berlusconi." What Galiani said is also what countless Milanese who have missed Old Bay think, but the new owner of Milan will probably not meet their wishes.
However, Berlusconi in Milan is only part of this legend. More than 30 years of success in politics, business, media and football has been accompanied by controversy.
The law-trained elder at the University of Milan, who has been plagued by dozens of lawsuits over the years (still 35 judicial charges at the beginning of this year), has always saved himself from jail time, but it has also exhausted his accumulated reputation with the Rossoneri. He is remembered not only for the successful president of Milan, but also for the tycoon who monopolized the power of Italian media, the Italian prime minister who rose and fell three times, and the controversial political career that brought Italian society to more than ten years.
Even Milan fans may have had a love-hate relationship with Berlusconi at one point. He personally created the Milan dynasty with 29 trophies and 10 Golden Globes. But he also because of the fall of the political arena, endless scandals and lace news to Milan shame, as a politician Berlusconi has an unshirkable responsibility for the rise and fall of Italian society in the past 30 years, which in turn eats away at the Milan club, Italian-style family businesses can not adapt to global capital competition, Tanzi, Cranioti, Sensi family has collapsed, with power and money transactions, peach scandals have come, Lao Bei's business empire has also suffered serious losses, and when it is in crisis, the "baggage" he chose to give up is the most proud masterpiece. Ac milan.
"Berlusconi's big bed" is an endless mockery of Milan's abandonment, implying that Old Bay was more enthusiastic about the party than he invested in Milan. In the second decade of the 21st century, European football has entered the global capital competition, and the declining Italy, especially the business empire of Lao Bei, is unable to continue to maintain the huge investment in Milan, and selling Milan is the helplessness of Berlusconi's family business to stop the loss in time. Although the comeback Berlusconi and his old partner Galiani have returned to the center stage of Italian football with the small club Monza, the protagonist of European football is no longer Milan or Italy.
Berlusconi is a combination of genius and devil, no extreme supporters or opponents can judge his life by "red" or "black" alone: spanning football, business, media, politics, he can continue to succeed in several ups and downs, and is the most memorable figure in Italy after the war; But at the same time, he also showed the controversial evils of human nature, and the controversial behaviors that were spurned by morality and law made him scandalous from the time he became famous, and also buried his political career and the Milanese dynasty.
Whether Italians love or hate, Berlusconi has become a lasting memory that defines Italy's last 30 years of history.