1975–76 AC Milan season

At management level, the 1975-76 season was troubled for Milan: at the end of the previous season Albino Buticchi, president of the club, had come into conflict with Gianni Rivera for having planned an exchange transfer between the Golden Boy himself and Torino's Claudio Sala.[2][3] In September 1975 Rivera acquired from Buticchi the majority of the shares of AC Milan, and shortly before the end of the year Bruno Pardi assumed the presidency. In February of the following year Rivera sold his shares to the entrepreneur Vittorio Duina who became the new president of Milan the following May.[4]

The football season began with Gustavo Giagnoni as manager for the first four group matches of the first round of the Coppa Italia, where Milan got three wins (with Perugia, Brindisi and SPAL) and a draw (in the last match against Catanzaro), ending the group in first place with seven points and thus qualifying for the second round, which would be held at the end of the season. Giagnoni also directed the Rossoneri in the round of 64 of the UEFA Cup, which saw Milan going through against English side Everton thanks to a 0-0 draw in Liverpool and a 1-0 victory in Milan, before leaving the position of coach. Nereo Rocco is called back as technical director of the team, with Giovanni Trapattoni as manager.

In the league, Milan collected eight wins, three draws and three defeats in the first half of the season, finishing in third place on equal points with Napoli and Cesena. Even in the second half, the Rossoneri remained in the upper areas of the standings and finished the competition in third position with 38 points behind Torino and Juventus. The placement was valid for the qualification to the 1976-77 UEFA Cup.

In the UEFA Cup, after beating Everton in the round of 64, Milan eliminated the Irish side Athlone Town in the round of 32 (0-0 in the first leg in Athlone and 3-0 in the second leg in Milan) and in the round of 16 the Soviets Spartak Moscow (4-0 home win and 2-0 defeat in Sochi). In the quarter-finals, Milan faced the Belgians of Club Bruges who went through thanks to the 2-0 victory obtained in Bruges and the 2-1 defeat suffered at San Siro.

The season finished with the remaining Coppa Italia matches. After the first match played in May and won against Sampdoria with Rocco and Trapattoni on the bench, in the following matches in June Paolo Barison replaced Trapattoni, who moved to Juventus. Milan, in group B with Sampdoria, Napoli and Fiorentina, obtained two victories (with Sampdoria), two draws (with Fiorentina) and two defeats (with Napoli) finishing with six points, behind the Neapolitans (winners of group with 9 points and qualified for the final) and the Viola.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ITA Enrico Albertosi — GK  ITA Pier Luigi Pizzaballa — GK  ITA Franco Tancredi — GK  ITA Giuseppe Cafaro — DF  ITA Aldo Bet — DF  ITA Angelo Anquilletti (vice-captain) — DF  ITA Filippo Citterio — DF  ITA Fulvio Collovati — DF  ITA Luciano Zecchini — DF  ITA Maurizio Turone — DF  ITA Giuseppe Sabadini — DF  ITA Aldo Maldera — DF  ITA Giulio Zignoli — MF  ITA Romeo Benetti (Captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ITA Giorgio Biasiolo — MF  ITA Duino Gorin — MF  ITA Gianni Rivera — MF  ITA Franco Bergamaschi — MF  ITA Michele De Nadai — MF  ITA Walter De Vecchi — MF  ITA Nevio Scala — FW  ITA Luciano Chiarugi — FW  ITA Graziano Gori — FW  ITA Alberto Bigon — FW  ITA Egidio Calloni — FW  ITA Alessandro Turini — FW  ITA Silvano Villa — FW  ITA Francesco Vincenzi

• AC Milan

• Almanacco illustrato del Milan, ed: 2, March 2005. Panini.
• Enrico Tosi. La storia del Milan, May 2005. Italia/Italy cid Tosi.
• Milan. Sempre con te, December 2009. Mondadori. 2009. ISBN 978-88-04-59118-4.

• "Stagione 1975-1976". Magliarossonera.it.