AC Milan’s current and former owners say allegations from prosecutors are false

AC Milan’s current and former American owners each said Wednesday that allegations from Italian prosecutors disputing who runs the seven-time European champion are false. (Shutterstock/File)
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Updated 13 March 2024
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AC Milan’s current and former owners say allegations from prosecutors are false

  • Milan prosecutors claim Elliott still owns and controls the Italian club
  • Milan could nevertheless be fined or docked points by the Italian soccer federation

MILAN: AC Milan’s current and former American owners each said Wednesday that allegations from Italian prosecutors disputing who runs the seven-time European champion are false.
Milan’s offices were raided by police on Tuesday as part of an investigation by Italian prosecutors into the sale of the Serie A giant.
RedBird Capital Partners purchased Milan from fellow American firm Elliott Management in August 2022, but Milan prosecutors claim Elliott still owns and controls the Italian club.
“RedBird Fund IV and its investors own 99.93 percent of AC Milan; the other 0.07 percent are individual legacy Italian investors that are long standing fans of the club. The notion that RedBird doesn’t own and control AC Milan, is just false and contradicts all the evidence and facts,” RedBird said in a statement.
“When we took control of the club upon closing, Elliott provided loan financing to RedBird with a term of three years and no voting rights,” RedBird added.
In a separate statement, Elliott said “this allegation (from the Milan prosecutors) is false.”
“AC Milan was sold to RedBird on 31st August 2022. As of that date, the Elliott funds have had no equity interest in, or control over, AC Milan,” Elliott added.
Italian financial police also reportedly searched the homes of current CEO Giorgio Furlani and former chief executive Ivan Gazidis, who held the role from 2018 to 2022.
Furlani and Gazidis are being investigated for allegedly hiding information related to the sale from the Italian soccer federation.
Milan said they are a “third party and extraneous to the ongoing legal action,” adding that they were “giving their full cooperation to the investigating authority.”
Milan could nevertheless be fined or docked points by the Italian soccer federation.
RedBird also addressed speculation that the club are courting new investors in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere.
“There are no discussions with any investor who would have any control in the club,” RedBird said. “RedBird is the control owner of AC Milan and will stay that way.”


Arsenal stay top as City apply the pressure and Liverpool resurgence continues

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Arsenal stay top as City apply the pressure and Liverpool resurgence continues

MANCHESTER: Arsenal resisted a late fightback from Brighton on Saturday to keep hold of first place in the Premier League and stay ahead of Manchester City.
City briefly held top spot after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest, but when Arsenal beat Brighton by the same score later in the day, they returned to the summit with a two-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s team.
Liverpool’s resurgence continued with a 2-1 win of their own against last-placed Wolverhampton, who set a new Premier League record for the longest winless run from the start of a season.

Arsenal pushed by Brighton
Another set piece goal and another own goal kept Arsenal at the top of the standings — but they required an outstanding save from David Raya to deny Brighton.
Martin Odegaard gave Mikel Arteta’s team a 14th-minute lead with a low shot from the edge of the area. And when Brighton’s Georginio Rutter headed a wicked Declan Rice corner into his own net seven minutes into the second half, Arsenal were in control.
But nerves began to spread around the Emirates when Diego Gomez pulled a goal back against the run of play in the 64th minute. Yankuba Minteh then hit a shot that was destined for the top corner until Raya stretched an arm to push it away.
“Their goal changed the momentum a little bit and they pressed us toward the end, but we got the three points and that’s all that matters,” Odegaard said. “Lots of positives and still some things we can improve, but overall a good game and another win.”
Arsenal have become set piece specialists and in recent weeks have benefited from a slew of own goals, with Rutter’s the latest to prove decisive.
It was the fourth time in as many games an opponent has scored an own goal against the league leaders.

Cherki delivers for City
Rayan Cherki kept Manchester City’s Premier League title challenge powering on with a late winner at Nottingham Forest.
The France forward’s 83rd minute strike secured victory at the City Ground to make it six league wins in a row for Pep Guardiola’s team. City are on an eight-game winning run in all.
“Today is a big win,” Cherki told TNT Sports. “I’m proud of the team because this game is very complicated to win.”
It was Cherki’s second goal in three games and fifth overall. He also provided an assist with an intricate pass to Tijjani Reijnders to put City ahead three minutes into the second half.
Omari Hutchinson equalized for relegation-fighting Forest, which were holding out for a crucial point until Cherki fired through a crowded box for the winner.
Guardiola, who has won 12 league titles with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, looks like a man who believes his team is ready to regain the crown they surrendered to Liverpool last season. He joined in the celebrations with the traveling fans after the final whistle — acting conductor as they celebrated wildly after another win.
“When we won a lot of titles in Barcelona, Bayern Munich, here, you have a lot of games of this type,” he said. “The body language, how we celebrated, the connection with the fans is there.”

Liverpool win again
A fourth straight win for Liverpool and another sign that Florian Wirtz is finding his feet in England’s top flight.
Wirtz scored his first Premier League goal since joining the defending champions from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer and it proved to be decisive against Wolves.
Wirtz doubled Liverpool’s lead before halftime after Ryan Gravenberch had opened the scoring at Anfield, but Wolves halved the deficit through Santiago Bueno after the break.
“I was confident that I will score one day, but of course I wanted to start earlier, scoring and assisting,” Wirtz said. “It was like this and I have to accept it. I just know that it would come and I tried to keep going like that.”
After seeing their title defense unravel between September and November, Liverpool are now on a seven-game unbeaten run.
Wolves are on a very different run. After 18 rounds of the season the Midlands club have set a new low in the Premier League era — overtaking the record they shared with Sheffield United for the longest winless start to a campaign.

Schade leads Brentford rout
Kevin Schade scored a hat trick in Brentford’s 4-1 rout of Bournemouth.
Antoine Semenyo was on target for Bournemouth ahead of the January transfer window when he is reportedly a target for some of the Premier League’s top clubs, including Man City.
West Ham’s relegation fight was dealt a blow as Raul Jimenez scored in the 85th to seal a 1-0 win for Fulham, while second-to-bottom Burnley drew 0-0 with Everton.