Ruben Amorim walks into Turin on Sunday night chasing more than just three points. He is chasing history that not even the giants of Milan’s past managed to touch.
Two games, two wins. A 2-1 comeback away to Torino, then a controlled 2-0 over Venezia at San Siro. The start has been sharp, purposeful, and already loud enough to echo around Milanello. Now comes the first real measurement of what this new Milan might be: Juventus away, under the lights, with a record from 1958 on the line.
Chasing ghosts of the greats
The numbers are simple. If Amorim wins in Turin, he becomes the first Milan coach since 1958 to win his first three Serie A matches in charge. Not Arrigo Sacchi. Not Fabio Capello. Not Carlo Ancelotti. None of them began like this.
Sacchi, the man who rewired Italian football, stumbled at the second hurdle. His Milan lost their second league match, beaten by Fiorentina with goals from Ramon Diaz and a young Roberto Baggio. The revolution came, but not with a perfect opening act.
Capello started with the authority that would define his reign. Two wins from two in 1991 set the tone, yet the third match halted the charge: a 1-1 draw, away to Juventus of all teams. The same fixture that now stands in Amorim’s path once blocked another era from starting in flawless fashion.
Ancelotti’s beginning was even more subdued. His first Serie A match in charge of Milan in 2001 ended in a 0-0 draw against Piacenza. No early flourish, no immediate statement. His greatness arrived over time, not in a blaze of opening victories.
Amorim has the chance to outstrip them all in just nine days of league football.
A record untouched for almost 70 years
Only three men have ever won their first three league games in charge of Milan. The last did it 68 years ago.
- Mario Sperone in 1952.
- Gipo Viani in 1956.
- Cina Bonizzoni in 1958.
Names from another era, when the game looked different, felt different, and yet the pressure of Milan’s bench already weighed just as heavily.
Since Bonizzoni, no coach has walked in, looked at the fixture list, and simply swept aside the first three Serie A opponents. Not even the architects of some of the greatest sides the club – and Europe – has ever seen.
That is the scale of what awaits Amorim in Turin. It is not just about a clean start. It is about stepping into a space that Sacchi, Capello and Ancelotti never occupied.
A test worthy of the moment
The context makes it even more compelling. This is not a soft landing. Torino away is never gentle, yet Milan emerged with a 2-1 win. Venezia at San Siro brought a different demand: control, patience, a professional 2-0 that suggested structure as well as spark.
Juventus away is something else entirely. It is the kind of game that bends narratives, the kind that either confirms a promising start or exposes its limits.
Win, and Amorim writes his name alongside Sperone, Viani and Bonizzoni while stepping beyond Sacchi, Capello and Ancelotti in one specific, striking metric. Fail to win, and he simply joins a long list of Milan coaches whose real stories only began after the first few weeks.
For a club obsessed with its own history, Sunday offers a rare twist: a new man with a chance to do something even the legends did not. How often does that come around?
