Memories of the legendary Christmas tree diagram at AC Milan

The club, which just celebrated its 117th birthday, is the big sister of Italian football in the European sky. They are loved all over the world, and had a great decade in the early 21st century with the magical playing system of Carlo Ancelotti.

AC Milan was founded on December 16, 1899, just a week before Christmas, where twinkling pine trees heralded the arrival of the season. 102 years after its founding, AC Milan called Carlo Ancelotti, the great Milan midfielder of the Sacchi empire, to San Siro to take charge. The man from Reggiolo created the team's third successful cycle with a Christmas tree formation (4-3-2-1). That formation is a great reference to the day AC Milan was founded, when Jingle Bells rang through the streets.

With Ancelotti, Pirlo and the "Christmas tree" formation, Milan has lived a bustling and exciting life in its 117-year history.

To create this forward-thinking tactic, Ancelotti embarked on a journey that began with the most important person in Carlo Ancelotti's empire. That character was the fulcrum of AC Milan's tactics in the first 10 years of the 21st century, but was too quiet underneath to let the spotlight shine on him - Andrea Pirlo.

At the 2000 European Under-21 Championship, Pirlo appeared, playing just behind a striker as a classic No. 10. He arrived at Inter Milan in their doldrums, and was loaned out to Brescia. At the small club, he was pulled back 15 meters by a master coach, Carlo Mazzone. That historic turn of events provided a major hint in the tactical system that would later make Milan the dominant force: a deep-lying playmaker would be the “gateway” to the so-called “pine tree” formation.

At that time, Ancelotti had just been called to replace Turkish coach Fatih Terim at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season. With the instinct of a player who used to play in the holding midfielder position, he saw that Pirlo possessed a quality that could create a new dynasty that he was about to build, that is the quality of a director of the ball development right above the defense line, and Pirlo was the foundation of that project. Thanks to his perfect long-range passing ability, in addition to his talented reading of the game, Pirlo could organize an attack right after a pass. Everything therefore became much more favorable for Milan, because up above, Andrey Shevchenko and Pippo Inzaghi did a very good job of receiving those passes.

The formation that Milan used to win the 2002-03 Champions League was a 4-3-1-2 with the back four Kaladze, Maldini, Nesta and Costarcurta. Pirlo, Gatusso and Seedorf formed the midfield, and above them, Rui Costa played as an attacking midfielder behind Pippo and Sheva. Ancelotti brought on three playmakers at the same time: Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Rui Costa: two high up the pitch and one low down. Therefore, for this artistic midfield to work, Ancelotti needed the second most important player of the "Christmas tree" - Gennaro Gatusso.

Gatusso was not only the one who protected the space for Pirlo to direct, but also the one who "pumped blood" for the entire midfield to operate. Gatusso's competitive energy also helped Seedorf freely coordinate with Rui Costa. Thus, a great Milan was born with a midfield like a chain with gears that fit together perfectly.

Rui Costa, Seedorf, Pirlo and Gattuso are the foundation stones for Ancelotti to build and maintain the Christmas tree scheme throughout his eight years in charge of Milan.

In the 2003-2004 season, Milan brought a young Brazilian to San Siro to gradually replace Rui Costa who was on the other side of his career, and what they got was more than that - a genius. Kaka - that guy's name - three years later led Milan's exhausted train straight to the 2006-2007 Champions League title.

With Kaka, the Christmas tree formation became 4-3-2-1, the defense had a big change when Stam and Cafu were brought in next to Nesta and Maldini, and Kaka stood a little further than Rui Costa, playing right below Sheva. Before the Gerrard - Torres pair took England by storm, Kaka - Sheva had done the same thing five years earlier in Italy. With their high form, Ancelotti won the only scudetto of his career in the 2003-2004 season.

In 2006, Calciopoli broke out, Shevchenko went to England, Rui Costa also returned to Portugal. On the pitch, everything started to go against Ancelotti's formation when Pirlo began to be noticed and blocked. To overcome this, Massimo Ambrosini - a highly combative midfielder was brought into the main squad. The Christmas tree formation was now changed to 4-3-2-1 but Seedorf played lower than Kaka, because the Brazilian midfielder was not as simple as Rui Costa.

After the brilliant period with the Christmas tree of Ancelotti, Kaka, Ambrosini, Pirlo, Milan gradually lost its sparkle and sank into the current darkness.

Kaka, with his intelligent, technical but very effective playing style, possessing the ability to shoot from afar, create and score goals, played a role that was more than just a normal midfielder. The 10 goals of the Brazilian angel in the journey to win the Champions League 2006-2007 embodied the best of what Milan - Ancelotti did in the final days of the empire.

Then, winter knocked on the door and Christmas stopped playing. The red and black empire built by Ancelotti gradually collapsed with each step of Kaka, Maldini, Ancelotti (2009) and Pirlo (2011). Closing behind a beautiful “Christmas tree” with glorious achievements, and heroic names, indelible in the memories of football lovers.

According to VNE