Nils Liedholm

A player for us in the 50s along with Gunnar Nordahl and Gunnar Gren to form the Grenoli trio (argubly the deadliest strikeforce ever). For those who don't know, the Swedish trio are legends in Milan and football, with especially Nordahl having some truly stunning strike rates. In Serie A, he's the greatest goalscorer ever with 225 goals in 295 games, in Milan he's our top scorer ever with 210 in 257 games and for Sweden he notched an impressive 43 goals in 33 games.

Gunnar Gren was also deadly, and though I don't know his stats with Milan (if someone can provide them I would be grateful), he scored a very impressive 32 goals in 57 appearances.

However, Liedholm who played a deeper role as the playmaker was a massive influence in Milan. Back then he was a mix of Pirlo and Rijkaard, as his passing was legendary and his tall athletic build made him physically imposing and tough. As Tony29 mentioned elsewhere, he's legendary with his passing, and it's thought that for 2 years at Milan he never misplaced a single pass. When he finally did, the stadium gave a standing ovation for 5 minutes.

As a coach, Liedholm was successful in winning the 10th scudetto with Milan and gave the debut to one Paolo Maldini.

A legend in Milan, I came a rare video of him in action...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VmLZSep-KE

Thanks Dev, the picture quality is great considering it must be pretty old.

Here's the story for those who missed it :

You all know the legendary Nils Liedholm, the great Swede, of the 50's of Milan. He was if you want, the Rijkaard of that time, but in even more dominating style, especially technically. Technically, few matched him and his passes were so spot on, so precise, that he never missed a pass. Actually he did miss one pass. It was 3 seasons after he joined Milan, I don’t remember the exact game, or the exact year, but all the old Milan fans are saying it, that at one time, at the San Siro, Liedholm missed a pass in midfield. He wanted to pass the ball to a teammate and instead, the ball went straight to an opponent. At that time, happened one of the most extraordinary moments ever lived in the San Siro, as related by the old timers. The crowd couldn't believe their eyes. In 3 full years, that Liedholm has been playing for Milan, no one could remember him making a bad pass. At that time, the whole San Siro gave Liedholm, one of the warmest and longest standing ovation ever witnessed in that great stadium. The opposition team was going nuts, not understanding what was going on!!!!The standing ovation lasted for 5 whole minutes !!!!Can you believe that???? A 5 minutes standing ovation for having missed a pass!!!!

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Gunnar Gren was also deadly, and though I don't know his stats with Milan (if someone can provide them I would be grateful), he scored a very impressive 32 goals in 57 appearances.

With Milan he scored 38 goals in 133 appearances (according to the Italian wikipedia ) http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Gren
But i think this goes only for Seria A because i checked RSSSF and according to them :
In 1949/50 he scored 18 goals in serie A
In 1950/51 he scored 9 goals in serie A
In 1951/52 he scored 7 goals in serie A
In 1952/53 he scored 4 goals in serie A

Edit : Actually, when he was in Milan there wasn't Coppa Italia and there weren't european cups, so these may be the official numbers.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Here's the story for those who missed it :

You all know the legendary Nils Liedholm, the great Swede, of the 50's of Milan. He was if you want, the Rijkaard of that time, but in even more dominating style, especially technically. Technically, few matched him and his passes were so spot on, so precise, that he never missed a pass. Actually he did miss one pass. It was 3 seasons after he joined Milan, I don’t remember the exact game, or the exact year, but all the old Milan fans are saying it, that at one time, at the San Siro, Liedholm missed a pass in midfield. He wanted to pass the ball to a teammate and instead, the ball went straight to an opponent. At that time, happened one of the most extraordinary moments ever lived in the San Siro, as related by the old timers. The crowd couldn't believe their eyes. In 3 full years, that Liedholm has been playing for Milan, no one could remember him making a bad pass. At that time, the whole San Siro gave Liedholm, one of the warmest and longest standing ovation ever witnessed in that great stadium. The opposition team was going nuts, not understanding what was going on!!!!The standing ovation lasted for 5 whole minutes !!!!Can you believe that???? A 5 minutes standing ovation for having missed a pass!!!!

Are you sure, I've only ever read it was 2 seasons

Anyway, thanks for Gren's stats

We should copy this into the "Milan history: Things you should know" thread...

Originally Posted by SANT

We should copy this into the "Milan history: Things you should know" thread...

you can if you want, but I created a thread mostly to post the vid rather than inform about Liedholm lol

yes, Dev... I wouldn't merge them because this thread has a meaning for itself... but your initial post and Tony's are worth keeping in the other one too...

Sant if you'd like to add it you're more than welcome (though I'd suggest finding out if it was 2 or 3 years Liedholm didn't misplace a pass ). If you want me to add it myself, just let me know

Please do.

BTW - Wikipedia says it was 2 years.

I'll post it and make it 2 years (I read it on channel 4 too) for now (until there is some further and more conclusive evidence is brought forward to suggest otherwise

all these players stats with the Swedish national team are suffering from a beyond idiotic law we had that professional players where not allowed in the national team! Can you imagine that? all players not playing in Sweden where not allowed in the national team. the law was changed some time in the 50s, but by then all three careers was either over or at their end. None of them played in the national team during their peak years.

Sweden