Fresh from winning their ninth Scudetto, AC Milan went into the 1968/69 season with five players in the squad - Anquilletti, Lodetti, Prati, Rivera and Rosato - who had just won the European Championship with Italy. After getting through their Coppa Italia group (before falling to Torino in the quarters), Rocco's side began Serie A with five wins and two draws from their first seven matches. Fiorentina and Cagliari engaged in the title race, as AC Milan ended the first half of the season in third but well off the pace. The balance of power was not to shift in the remainder of the campaign and, despite the Rossoneri boasting the most miserly defence that season with just 12 goals conceded, the Diavolo would not win back-to-back titles, with Fiorentina finishing top by four points.
Our European run was a memorable one, with the Rossoneri going into it as holders of the Cup Winners' Cup. Their European Cup campaign kicked off with a comeback against Malmö; after a 2-1 loss in Sweden, AC Milan turned it around with a 4-1 win in the return leg at San Siro. AC Milan knocked out Celtic, who had one it two years prior, in the quarters (0-0 at home, 1-0 in Glasgow), before beating defending champions Manchester United in the semis, winning 2-0 at San Siro (Sormani, Hamrin) which was enough to go through after a 1-0 loss at Old Trafford. The final was held at the Bernabéu in Madrid, and that night on 28 May 1969 went down in history. AC Milan beat Ajax by four goals to nil with a Pierino Prati hat-trick - still the last player to score three in the final of the competition - and a goal from Sormani. The Rossoneri were crowned champions of Europe for a second time.
