AC MILAN
CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE 03
CELEBRATION PACK

The UEFA Champions League Final took place at Old Trafford on the 28th May 2003, and was an all Italian affair as Juventus took on AC Milan. A typically tense and tactical affair which resulted in a deadlock of 0-0 after 120 minutes of play, meant the game would be decided by a penalty shoot out.

 

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Excellent goal keeping displays from both Buffon and Dida, saw Shevchenko step up and put away the deciding penalty, giving the Rossoneri the win and capture their 6th European cup.

 

 

To commemorate this historic achievement Corinthian released the AC Milan Champions Of Europe 2003 Celebration Pack, which contains the starting 11 of the final plus one of the used substitutes, all wearing the away kit worn for the final.

 

 

Brazilian goal keeper Dida get's his first ever Corinthian ProStars release, an excellent sculpt of the keeper who saved 3 penalties during the shoot out. The pack also contains 2 other first time sculpts, both would never be released by Corinthian again, they are defender Kakhaber Kaladze and Brazilian winger Serginho, who came on to replace Pirlo on the 71st minute. As Kaladze and Serginho were never released again they have become highly sought after and it is not often you see them appear for sale loose outside of the pack.

 

 

Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta were existing sculpts, as was Alessandro Costacurta, the sculpt was the same as we saw in the Headliners range, however this would be his only appearance in the ProStars range.

 

 

Clarence Seedorf made Champions League history as he became the first ( and at time of writing still the only) player to win with 3 different teams, with Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998 and AC Milan in 2003, a truly remarkable achievement. His midfield partners of Gennaro Gattuso, Manuel Rui Costa and Andrea Pirlo are also existing sculpts.

 

 

Attacking duo of Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko had both been released previously, with one thing worthy of note being that the image on the collector card shows Shevchenko with long sleeves, the released figure would be with short sleeves.

 

 

Corinthian released the AC Milan Champions Of Europe 2003 Celebration Pack on the 17th November 2003, producing just 2003 packs, each one came with 12 figures, 12 collector cards, an individually numbered certificate of authenticity and a platinum pack of one of the figures, with just 167 of each platinum pack being made, they are highly sought after and collectible.