The Best XI to Represent Both AC Milan and Juventus

The first eight rounds of the Serie A season have passed as many expected. As they continually have in recent years, Juventus once again sit top of the table, with the reigning champions already enjoying a five-point lead over their domestic rivals.

It is widely expected that the Bianconeri will win a sixth-consecutive title at the end of the campaign, setting a new record along the way. However, that AC Milan are sitting joint-second has to be a major surprise, with few expecting the ailing giants to be competitive this term.

Yet there they are alongside AS Roma, with coach Vincenzo Montella overseeing the club’s best start to a season since 2010/11, which is coincidentally when they last claimed a Scudetto of their own.

Clearly nobody expects them to remain in such close proximity to the leaders, but the sight of the Rossoneri—who in the past three years have finished 8th, 10th and 7th—fighting in those places brings a smile to most fans of Italian football.

“Milan near the top is what Calcio needed,” Rossoneri supporter Gino told Bleacher Report. “It brings back excitement that we have lacked and restores some sort of unwritten order to football fans; Milan challenging Juventus!”

He added that “the football order is somehow restored with the table like this” and this Saturday sees those two old foes go head-to-head at San Siro, a match between Calcio’s most highly decorated sides.

So many great players have featured in clashes between this pair of giant clubs, with a select few having represented both during their stellar careers. What follows is a look at the best XI to have represented both Milan and Juve, starting with a difficult choice between the posts.

Perhaps the most well-known goalkeeper to have featured on both teams is Christian Abbiati, but his brief tenure with the Bianconeri lasted just one season. Gigi Buffon suffered a dislocated shoulder in a pre-season friendly in the summer of 2005, and Milan allowed their man to replace him on loan.

Abbiati would make just 19 appearances, meaning he misses out on a place in this combined XI to Marco Storari, who did far better with the Turin giants. A long-term understudy to Buffon, he won four league titles with the Bianconeri before leaving for Cagliari last summer.

Before that, Storari had been a backup in Milan, claiming a UEFA Champions League winner’s medal in 2007 despite not featuring in the competition. Fans of both Juve and the Rossoneri were celebrating this Sunday after he helped Cagliari defeat Inter, but the next player on the list undeniably made even more impact.

Gianluca Zambrotta began life as an average right-winger with Como and Bari, but his career was transformed at Juventus. Following the signing of Mauro Camoranesi, coach Marcello Lippi decided to convert him into a left-back, and he would never look back.

Playing with limitless energy, sound defensive intuition and a wonderful ability to cross the ball, Zambrotta helped the Old Lady to win four league titles and was part of Italy’s 2006 FIFA World Cup triumph.

Moving to Barcelona when the Bianconeri were relegated that summer as punishment for the Calciopoli Scandal, he returned to Italy with Milan two years later, helping them claim the Serie A title in 2010/11 under coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Joining him in defence is Nicola Legrottaglie, who helped the Bianconeri win the Serie B title in 2006/07 and eventually left to join Milan in 2011, making one appearance as they clinched that aforementioned Scudetto.

Beside him is one of Italy’s most underappreciated central defenders in Sandro Salvadore. Known as “Old Billy” because of his admiration of England’s Billy Wright, he won two league titles at Milan before captaining Juventus for four years, winning three more Scudetti and helping them to a place in the 1973 European Cup final.

They would lose to Johan Cryuff and Ajax despite the best efforts of a defender who also helped Italy claim victory at the 1968 UEFA European Championships—the only time the Azzurri have won that tournament.

At left-back is Alessandro Orlando, who won a Serie A-Champions League double with Milan in 1994 before joining the Bianconeri 12 months later. There he won a league-and-cup double, narrowly losing out in the UEFA Cup final to Parma and quickly moving on to Fiorentina.

The next man on the teamsheet needs little introduction. Having won the Champions League with Ajax, Edgar Davids joined Milan in 1996, spending 18 months with the Rossoneri before being sold to Juventus, where he enjoyed incredible success under Marcello Lippi.

They never played together at club level, but Andrea Pirlo arguably enjoyed more success with Juventus and Milan than any other player. The midfield maestro spent a decade with the latter, becoming one of the world’s best passers and winning no fewer than nine trophies, plus the 2006 World Cup.

Yet in 2011, the Rossoneri inexplicably let him leave. Pirlo joined the Old Lady on a free transfer, winning four more league titles and endearing himself to yet another group of fans in the process.

Patrick Vieira may be most famous for his time with Arsenal, but before he followed Arsene Wenger to north London, the Frenchman made two brief appearances in the red and black stripes of Milan. Almost a decade later, he joined Juventus, spending just one season with the Bianconeri before joining Inter Milan.

Ahead of that trio of midfielders sits Roberto Baggio, perhaps the most naturally gifted player Italy has ever produced. Starting his career with Vicenza and Fiorentina, he introduced himself to the wider footballing world with a five-year spell at Juventus in which he became the best player on the planet.

Lifting the UEFA Cup, a Serie A title and the Coppa Italia, he was also voted the 1993 Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner in 1993 in recognition for his incredible performances.

Baggio also carried Italy to the 1994 World Cup final, joining Milan a year later and winning the Scudetto in his only season with the Rossoneri. His skill, goalscoring prowess and sheer brilliance cannot be understated, while his breathtaking ability left defenders and fans alike astonished at what he could do.

That was so rarely the case with Pippo Inzaghi, but he could certainly find the back of the net. The striker had already played for four clubs by the time he joined Juventus in the summer of 1997, but he scored 89 times in 165 appearances before moving on to Milan.

There he claimed 10 trophies in 11 seasons, netting 126 goals in 300 games, with one of his team-mates the final player in this joint XI. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was just 22 years old when he signed for Juventus in 2004, with then-coach Fabio Capello helping him develop into the deadly striker he eventually became.

After two seasons he would join Inter, then Barcelona before returning to the peninsula with Milan in the summer of 2010. Bagging 56 goals in just 85 appearances, the Swedish star would lift the Rossoneri to a Scudetto, and he ended his final campaign with Milan in second place behind Juventus.

Bleacher Report's Combined Juventus/Milan XI (4-3-1-2): Storari; Zambrotta, Legrottaglie, Salvadore, Orlando; Davids, Pirlo, Vieira; Baggio; Inzaghi, Ibrahimovic