1992/93 was the 1st season of the new Champions League format. It had replaced the old European Champions Cup from which Europe`s leading club team, Italy`s AC Milan, had been banned during its final season in 1991/92. Having won the Champions Cup twice in a row in the late 80s, the team had shown signs of fatigue - the football revolution manager Arrigo Sacchi had brought about threatened to devour its own.
An altercation between superstar Van Basten and Sacchi provided the long-desired opportunity for dismissing Sacchi. With Sacchi being replaced by Capello, the counter revolution was in full swing, but It took Capello 2 seasons to roll back the tactical innovations his predecessor had introduced and turn Milan into an ultra-austere defensive machine. To achieve this goal, Capello thought he needed to part ways with the 3 Dutchmen who iconically embodied the attacking spirit of the recent past. In the summer of 1992, Capello signed 3 more foreigners: Frenchman Jean-Pierre Papin and the 2 Jugoslavs Dejan Savicevic (Montenegrin) and Zvonimir Boban (Croat). Van Basten was sacrosanct for the time being, but both Gullit (who had been quite outspoken about his antipathy towards Capello) and Rijkaard proved quite easy to get rid of.
