Remembering the late, polarising Silvio Berlusconi

Chaotic, colourful and highly controversial, Silvio Berlusconi was the architect of AC Milan’s greatest team and was more famous than most of his star players.

The former Prime Minister of Italy, who died in Milan on Monday aged 86, was one of the highest-profile owners in the history of the modern game: imagine Margaret Thatcher in charge of Arsenal, or Boris Johnson running Liverpool.

For a time in the 1990s, Berlusconi shaped not only Italian football but Italian life.

Not happy with simply providing the funds to sign Marco van Basten, Roberto Baggio or Andriy Shevchenko, Berlusconi wanted to be front and centre, too. He would often criticise his coaches in public and advise them on…