37 years ago today, Franco Baresi made his AC Milan debut in a 2-1 win at Hellas Verona. The libero would go on to make 719 appearances and win 21 major honours in a legendary career.
“He never had the slightest fear,” former AC Milan captain Gianni Rivera told La Gazzetta dello Sport when asked to describe the debut of a little-known libero on April 23, 1978.
With regular sweeper Maurizio Turone suspended, Rossoneri coach Nils Liedholm opted to start with a 17-year-old from the Primavera for the third last game of the Serie A season, away to Hellas Verona at the Stadio Bentegodi.
The player in question was “Franchino” (little Franco), or Franco Baresi, who was just in his second season with the AC Milan youth team after previously being spurned by city rivals Inter and Atalanta for being too small.
Undeterred at being denied the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of older brother Giuseppe Baresi and play for Inter, Franco instead tried out with the club of his heart and would earn a contract with AC Milan.
The 1970s were frustrating time for AC Milan as three second-place finishes led to innumerable arguments with the referees, while an incredible 5-3 defeat at Verona on the final day of the 1972-73 season handed the title to Juventus.
The Rossoneri had since failed to win in their next three visits to the Bentegodi, but would finally emerge with a 2-1 win on this occasion, coming from behind after Aldo Bet had scored an own goal on 35 minutes.
Verona attacker Livio Luppi had missed several opportunities during the first-half to extend the home side’s lead, and was punished as AC Milan turned the game around in six second half minutes with an Alberto Bigon goal and Ruben Buriani penalty.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dUS9IInidk[/youtube]
The press at the time were not as kind on Baresi as Rivera after the win, with Venetian journalist Franco Mognon briefly dismissing the younger brother with a few unflattering words in his match report.
“His brother plays for Inter: a debut that did not impress,” Mognon wrote in La Stampa before going on to deride the AC Milan side of being devoid of ideas during the first-half.
Elsewhere, Baresi would earn a six in the pagella (player rating) from Giordano Marzola in L’Unità, a mark that is given for a sufficiently good, normal performance.
The journalists may not have been initially over enamored with his debut, but Baresi was overjoyed just to have received an opportunity to play alongside his heroes.
“It could not have gone much better than that,” a nervous Baresi was reported to have said in the Monday morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I think I went wrong on only a couple of balls, although the really bad pitch was also
to blame.“I am delighted, but now I must go back to my teammates in the Primavera. The position belongs to Turone. For me, the compliments of his teammates are enough for now.”
Baresi would then make a further two appearances during the remainder of the 1978-79 season in Coppa Italia games against Taranto and Juventus, when the semi finals of the tournament were held in a group format at the end of the league season.
He did not have to wait too long for further opportunities in the league though, as Turone departed for newly promoted Catanzaro the following campaign, Baresi was promoted from the Primavera to take his place in the first team.
Nicknamed “Il piscinin” (meaning “baby one” in Lombardy dialect), the 18-year-old now only earned excellent reviews as he featured in every single Serie A match that season, breaking into a side with veterans such as Enrico Albertosi, Fabio Capello and Rivera.
The 1978-79 season was also one of the most memorable in AC Milan’s history as they finally ended an 11-year wait for a Scudetto and earned their first stella (gold star), awarded for 10 championships, finishing three points ahead of undefeated runners-up Perugia.
Baresi soon outgrew his moniker as the baby of Milan, instead becoming a symbol for the club during the subsequent bad and good times, surpassing the then club record number of appearances held Rivera during the 1995-96 season before his retirement in 1997.
Twenty seasons after first appearing for the Rossoneri, Baresi had made a total of 719 career appearances and a host of domestic and continental honours, including six Scudetti and three European Cups.
The fabled No. 6 shirt that he had worn since his debut against Hellas Verona on April 23, 1978, would also be withdrawn in tribute, never to be used by future Milanisti again.
