Berlusconi: is AC Milan club falling apart?

Monday, 17 March 2014. After a resounding 2-4 defeat at home against the humble Parma, AC Milan show all their weaknesses as the president Silvio Berlusconi point the finger against his long-time friend Galliani, ex-iconic player Carlo Maldini slams the team's management and Mario Balotelli (apparently) bangs Internazionale's player's grilfriend.

Parma FC players – among them AC Milan's reject Antonio Cassano – would have never dreamed of beating the rossoneri in San Siro, a few months ago, but now, as everybody seem to be able to beat Berlusconi's team (not only Atletico Madrid), things are different and the 2-4 win doesn't sound so uncanny. But still, AC Milan's fans did not take it well, and started to stage a protest.

Silvio Berlusconi and AC Milan's trophies
on an old photo from the times when the club was a successful team.

“[New coach] Seedor is not the problem” declared Silvio Berlusconi – who handpicked the Dutch after sacking Massimiliano Allegri - in a quick interview, “there are no discussions, he will be here next year as well”. Berlusconi's stubbornness is pretty well known in Italy, the supporter might be tempted to wait and see, instead of tackling head on the Cavaliere.

Barbara Berlusconi to revolution AC Milan (with a little help from her father Silvio)?

Saturday, 9 November 2013. Barbara Berlusconi seems to be taking control of AC Milan, as her father Silvio meets Vice President of the team for lunch at Arcore's Villa San Martino, possibly to kiss him goodbye.

Barbara Berlusconi: taking over?

AC Milan season hasn't been a triumphal march so far: the football team is ranking 11^th in the Italian Serie A table, the side have won only one of the five matches played in the Champions League so far (last week Barcelona beat them 3-1) and the talented striker Mario Balotelli has tuned out to be more of a nuisance than a winning goal scorer, collecting much more yellow cards than goals (the ratio is a disheartening 9:5).

That's why a take over of the club might be under way by Silvio Berlusconi's family, more precisely by his daughter Barbara Berlusconi (a member of the board of directors since 2011). The coup could lead to the axing of vice-president (loyal man and good old friend of the former Italian prime minister) Adriano Galliani, head coach Massimiliano Allegri, problematic player Mario Balotelli, and god only knows who else.

Silvio Berlusconi and the “bad apple” in his team

Wednesday, January 30, 2013. After being slammed as “bad apple” by AC Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi only a couple of weeks before, footballer Mario Balotelli wears the red-and-black shirt for the first time.

Super Mario Balotelli

Former striker of Inter Milan and Manchester City and Italian National football team's player Mario Balotelli is  travelling to Milan today, as hundreds of texts and tweets anticipated in the previous days.

A jubilant Barbara Berlusconi – member of AC Milan's board of directors and Silvio Berlusconi's daughter – declared to Italian news agency ANSA how the team could manage to make a major hit by acquiring from British football club Manchester City the talented Mario Balotelli, while her father – in mid January – said that the young striker was a “rotten apple” (alluding to the young talent's sometimes problematic behaviour) who could "infect any group or team, even AC Milan" and there was no interest in him.

Silvio: "Rotten apple"

In Silvio's words: "No one from my club has held any talks with him, and neither [Vice Executive President and CEO Adriano] Galliani nor I has identified him as a transfer target.". The AC Milan's management seemed also wary about spending 20 million euro (£17.2m or $27m) in order to sign the player of Ghanaian descent (here's the Mario's page on Wikipedia).

Well, in the world of football it is a widespread (and somehow understandable) practice to deny any interest in players when a negotiation is on course, but did Silvio Berlusconi really have the necessity to call Mario a “rotten apple” and say that he is prone to "infect" his team, only in order to apologise the day after?

Barbara: "Major hit"

Sometimes it looks like if the former prime minister of Italy just love to say things that well soon need any apology, perhaps in order to get exposure to the media twice: when he says something nasty or rude, and when he makes amends, playing good cop/bad cop all by himself. Have a look at Silvio's quotes, to get an idea...

Massimo Moratti - the president of AC Milan's derby rival Internazionale Milan - said to journalists that the signing of Mario "Bad Boy" Balotelli will be "useful to Berlusconi in many ways" hinting at  political motives. Forecasters state that the player's transfer might contribute to the former prime minister's People of Liberty party's polls with 2 percentage points in next month elections.

One's for sure: as you can see from the photo, Mario Balotelli's (commonly known as Super Mario, for his talent) hairstyle is not going to improve the “hair war” within the Italian football team (see our blog's article “Silvio Berlusconi and the cockscomb of the Pharaoh”).

Mario Balotelli: is he worth 400,000 votes?