Name

Dejan Savicevic

Date of Birth

15.09.1966 (Titograd, Yugoslavia)

Height

1.81m

Position

Playmaker

Nationality

Yugoslavian

3 x Yugoslavian League : 1989-1990, 1990-1991, 1991-1992
3 x Yugoslavian Cup :
1989-1990, 1991-1992, 1998-1999
3 x Italian League :
1992-1993, 1993-1994, 1995-1996
2 x European Cup :
1990-1991, 1993-1994
1 x European Super Cup :
1994
1 x Intercontinental Cup :
1991

Season

Team

Games

Goals

Position

1982-1983

Buducnost Titograd

2

0

14th

1983-1984

Buducnost Titograd

7

1

14th

1984-1985

Buducnost Titograd

29

6

15th

1985-1986

Buducnost Titograd

32

10

14th

1986-1987

Buducnost Titograd

31

9

7th

1987-1988

Buducnost Titograd

29

10

9th

1988-1989

Red Star Belgrade

-

-

-

1989-1990

Red Star Belgrade

25

10

1st

1990-1991

Red Star Belgrade

25

8

1st

1991-1992

Red Star Belgrade

22

5

1st

1992-1993

Milan

10

4

1st

1993-1994

Milan

20

0

1st

1994-1995

Milan

19

9

4th

1995-1996

Milan

23

6

1st

1996-1997

Milan

17

1

11th

1997-1998

Milan

8

0

10th

1998-1999

Red Star Belgrade

3

0

3rd

1999-2000

Rapid Vienna

22

11

3rd

2000-2001

Rapid Vienna

22

7

2nd

 

Buducnost Titograd

130

36

0.28 GPG

 

Milan

97

20

0.21 GPG

 

Rapid Vienna

44

18

0.41 GPG

 

Red Star Belgrade

75

23

0.31 GPG

 

Yugoslavia

56

29

0.52 GPG

 

Totals

402

126

0.31 GPG

 
Red Star Belgrade succeeded Milan as Champions Of Europe in 1991 playing some
wonderful football until nerves took hold in an insipid final decided by penalties.
The team was decimated, Savicevic, scorer of the winning goal against Bayern Munich
in the semi-finals, joined Milan.

After spending much of his first season on the bench, Savicevic forced his way into
the team following a superb performance in a Champions League victory over Porto
in 1993. Milan, desperately lacking a match winner following the enforced retirement
of Van Basten, had found their saviour. He inspired Milan to a league and European
Cup double. His performance in the European Cup final was arguably one of the
finest individual displays seen in the completion. He created the opening goal for
Massaro and scored the third in the club's infamous 4-0 victory, a spectacular
35 yard half volley from an acute angle. Despite the teams indifferent form the
following season, Savicevic lead Milan to their third successive European Cup final
but didn't play due to 'injury'. Milan, without their main creative threat, lost to Ajax.

Milan bounced back and won the scudetto the following season. Once again Savicevic
played an integral part. It would prove to be his last successful season in Italy as
injuries, which had plagued him throughout his Serie A career, took their toll.

It's fair to say Savicevic and Capello's relationship was strained. Had it not been for
the intervention of club President Silvio Berlusconi, Savicevic would probably have
been left to rot on the Milan bench. Capello controversially left Savicevic out of the
1993 Intercontinental Cup final claiming the player was 'tired' and even more
controversially out of the 1995 European Cup final claiming Savicevic was injured,
Savicevic insisted he was fit.

A player with tremendous close control and vision Savicevic was nicknamed Il Genio
(The Genius) by Berlusconi, his biggest fan. He was often criticised by an Italian
media obsessed with Baggio and Zola for his lack of effort against the 'smaller
teams' but unlike Baggio and Zola, Savicevic was one of the finest big match players
of the last decade (at club level). His contribution to Milan cannot be overstated.
His window of greatness may have been small but while he remained relatively fit he
was, in my opinion, the best player in the World. Unquestionably he was the most
underrated.