Alessandro Costacurta lasted 15 minutes of his first game at San Siro. He was, admittedly, not playing, but tagging along to watch his older brother’s favourite team. It was my brother who supported Milan.
The first time I went to San Siro, I was 12, my brother was 14. I think it was Milan-Bologna. But San Siro wasn’t covered back then, and suddenly this downpour started, so much rain.
We were with our dad and after a quarter of an hour he just said: ‘No, that’s it, we’ve got to go.’ So that was the first time I saw San Siro.” But happily, far from the last. Costacurta was recruited into Milan’s academy a year later and played 663 times for their first team – helping them win Serie A seven times and the European Cup five, either side of its Champions League rebrand. Only his fellow defenders Paolo Maldini (902) and Franco Baresi (719) have made more appearances for the Rossoneri.
Many of those were alongside him. At one point, Costacurta refers to that Milan team as the “best in the world for 25 years”. He quickly corrects himself to “one of the best”.
If he wanted to avoid boastfulness then let me say it for him: the back four he formed with Maldini, Baresi and Mauro Tassotti might be – for quality and longevity – the greatest ever. And they played in one of the planet’s most famous arenas. We are speaking in the days leading up to San Siro’s 100th birthday, an occasion that feels more profound for the knowledge it will not host football games much longer.
Milan and Inter completed a joint-purchase of the stadium, and a surrounding parcel of land, from the city council at the end of 2025. They plan to begin construction of a new ground early next year. A necessary step, for Costacurta.
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