Gre-No-Li, the Milan of Swedes

In recent years it has been difficult to connect Sweden with AC Milan thanks to two magnificent seasons Zlatan Ibrahimovic left to remember in San Siro. Moreover, if we think in three foreign stars who left their mark on the immortal Italian club comes quickly to mind the Dutch Milan with Rijkaard, Gullit and Van Basten. But Ibra many years before that historic and Arrigo Sacchi team existed, since the late 40s and during the 50s, a magnificent Milan in which the stars were three Swedish players who made ​​history in the Rossoneri squad , in Calcium and the Sweden: talk about Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm, the Gre-No-Li.

The first major success of these three players would come in 1948 when Sweden won the Olympic gold in London after beating Yugoslavia. That triumph was not lost in Italy and Milan turned their sights to the Nordic country where these players razed in the Allsvenskan, the local championship. The first to arrive would Nordahl after the victory of London, the great striker of that combined, scorer of the tournament and had won four leagues in the country, four top scorer trophies and scandalous figure of 144 goals in 172 games. One might think that the jump to competitive Serie A would mean a decrease in the numbers Nordahl scorers, but this assumption is in no man's land when we see that the Swedish striker managed in his career in Italy 225 goals in 291 games (210 in 257 with Milan): the second top scorer in the history of the legendary Calcio after Silvio Piola.

Upon arrival in 1948 Nordahl come a year later Gren and Liedholm. Gren was an interior with great scoring ability and was one less remained at Milan, remaining until 1953, giving him time to win a Scudetto and a Copa America, the precedent of the European Cup. Later played at Fiorentina and Genoa. Instead more time was Liedholm who was in the club, leaving Milan in 1961. Nils was a midfielder with an unusual kind, while there is a legend, you may have a lot of myth and some reality, that never missed a pass in San Siro for two years. Real or fictional is something that speaks to the kind of midfielder was Nils Liedholm, Nordahl arguing with the title of best player in the history of Sweden.

A good example of the importance of these three players is the 49-50 season, the first in which they all agreed with the Rossoneri shirt when Milan managed to score 118 goals in 38 games. Incredibly, the runner-up that year was Milan after Juventus. The first titles come a year later with the conquest of the Scudetto and the Copa America. In 1955, without Gren, repeated title in Italy and a year later reeditarían Cup success in America. It was that year, 1956, the last of Nordahl at AC Milan after being five times Capocannoniere Calcium and leave at 35, in 1950, the record for goals scored in a season by a player in Serie A. After leaving San Siro played two years in Rome.

As mentioned earlier was Liedholm, known as il Barone for its restraint and elegance, never starred in a word higher than another, the oldest of them all, and no longer as fellow Nordahl and Gren accumulated two championship titles in Italy 1957 and 1959, as well as being a finalist in one of the first editions of the European Cup of the season 57-58, in which the Heysel Milan before he succumbed in Madrid of Di Stefano could only win the Rossoneri after Gento mark the winning goal in overtime. was such a game that Di Stefano Liedholm Swedish footballer invited to give a lap of honor with Real Madrid, who declined the invitation on the grounds that such an honor was reserved only for champions. After retiring as a player succeed as a coach going on to win a league with Milan, but mostly is remembered his career on the bench of the Roma, whose squad won a league, three cups and a runner in Europe with that team Conti or Falcão .

But there is still one more chapter in the history of the Gre-No-Li, and was with the Swedish national team. First it should be noted that for some years they could not play for his country since his shirt was reserved only for the players who played in the National League. Still time to give Nordahl accumulating 43 goals in 33 appearances for his country. For the 1958 World Cup, held in Sweden, the standard was already extinct and Gren (although he had returned to Swedish football) and Liedholm could represent their country. Nordahl, already on the decline of his career, was not present at the finals. That was the best performance of Sweden in a World Cup, reaching the final after defeating Germany or Russia Lev Yashin, and only the Brazilian a very young 17 year old Pele, Garrincha, Didi, Vava Gilmar or could defeat the hosts. Liedholm mark the first goal, following Gren assistance in that final in Sweden ended up losing 5-2.

It may be a chapter in the history of football is not as well known, but what they did Gren, Nordahl and Liedholm in Italian football and for football as the Swede deserves to be remembered.