He came.. He saw.. He Conquered..

By: Moka | July 10th, 2008

Summer 2003, and Milan snap up Kaká for a mere $8.5 million, initially as a back-up for Rui Costa. After an excellent run of very impressive performances, notably against Ancona in his debut, Inter and Empoli, Kaká forced a change in team selection; Ancelotti began to opt for Kaká instead of the more experienced Rui Costa behind Shevchenko and Inzaghi, on some occasions. On others, he reverted to the familiar christmas tree, with Rui Costa – Kaká behind either Shevchenko or Inzaghi. Kaká ended his first season with 14 goals in 45 appearances, contributing greatly to Milan’s Scudetto win; the first trophy of many to come.

Milan began the 04-05 season with a European Super Cup win over Lazio, in which Kaká played a part in. Domestically, Milan ended up second-best, with Kaká netting in 7 goals in 36 games. On the European stage, although Milan also ended up second-best to Liverpool in perhaps the most dramatic final ever, the Brazilian star was voted Best Midfielder of the Tournament, his first individual award in Europe.

05-06 was a relatively quiet season for Milan, but not so much for Kaká. He scored two hat-tricks against Chievo and Anderlecht and ended the season with an impressive 19 goals in 47 appearances. The end of that season marked the departure of the former Milan #10, Rui Costa. That number was offered to Kaká, but he declined.

Kaka 1-1 Gerrard
After achieving his goal to play for a major European club, the only goal left to achieve (from his list after he got injured in October 2000) was to win the Champions League, which came in the 06-07 season. He lead Milan to success as the competition’s top scorer with 10 goals, 3 of which were against current champions, Manchester United in the semi-finals. In the final game, against Liverpool, he won the free-kick which lead to Inzaghi’s first goal, and created Inzaghi’s second goal, once again contributing greatly to the team’s success. Among other awards, he was officially the winner of the Uefa Top Forward Award and Club Footballer of the Year.

On October 5, 2007, he was named FIFPro World Player of the Year and on December 2, 2007, he was named European Footballer of the Year, without much competition.

On a personal note, all four posts until now have been simply a summary of Kaká’s beginnings on a club level. As the season approaches, I will try and write some posts about his personal life, his performances for Brazil, as well as some posts with my opinions and thoughts about Kaká.