Nils Liedholm was a former Swedish midfielder who’s known for his glorious national team heroics and 12 year stint with AC Milan. He was affectionately known as Il Barone (The Baron) in Italy, where he was renowned for being a part of Milan’s legendary Swedish “Gre-No-Li” trio of strikers along with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl. Coming to his playing style, Liedlholm was an intelligent and technically brilliant playmaker who was excellent when it came to his range of passing and playing patterns.
For his country, Liedlholm helped Sweden win gold in the 1948 Olympic tournament. He was also the national team captain at the 1958 Cup, which took place in their homeland. He almost achieved eternal legendary status with Sweden in the tournament, as Liedlholm led Sweden all the way to the finals of the World Cup. The Swedish captain opened the scoring for the match, but their opponents Brazil made a heroic comeback to win the game 5-2 and become world champions.
It was a heartbreaking moment for Liedlholm, as the Swedish captain’s efforts went in vain, and the dreams of an entire nation got destroyed.
Early Swedish years
Born to parents Erik Fredrik Elias Liedholm and Anna Kajsa Lovisa Bergman on 8th October 1922, Liedlholm's football journey began with Swedish side Valdemarsviks in 1938. This was followed by a move to Swedish club Sleipner in 1942. 4 years later though, he joined top Swedish club Norrköping, with whom he ended up winning two league titles.
It was during his time with Norrköping that Liedlholm's stock rose, as he earned 18 caps for the Sweden national team, and also won gold at the 1948 Summer Olympics. This golden period of success eventually saw him earn a move to Italian giants Milan.
The legendary Milan stint
Liedlholm made his Serie A debut on 11th September 1949 in a 3–1 win against Sampdoria. He went on to make 37 appearances that season, scoring 18 goals in the process. By the year of 1951, the Swedish star won his First Scudetto with the Rossoneri. The years that followed were an era of domination by Milan, as Liedlholm won three more Serie A titles in 1955,1957, and 1959 respectively. In addition to this, Liedlholm lifted the Latin cup with Milan in 1951 and 1956.
He was Milan's captain when the Rossoneri faced Real Madrid in the 1958 European Cup Final, which ended in a 3-2 loss for Milan after extra time. The match was extremely close, with unconfirmed reports stating Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano felt despite victory, it was a match Milan could have won. After the game, Di Stefano asked Liedlholm to exchange shirts, to which the Swede reportedly replied “ “Keep it. That won’t matter. The only thing that will be remembered from this match down the years is that Real Madrid won”.
A master passer of the game and fitness enthusiast
Liedlholm was a player who was renowned for his passing abilities and tactical awareness at the time. He was the master supplier for his fellow compatriot and Milan teammate Gunnar Nordahl. Legend has it that it took two years playing for Milan until Liedholm misplaced his first pass at the San Siro, the rarity prompting a five-minute ovation from the home crowd.
This just goes on to show the mastery of his passing skills and how special Liedlholm was as a player.
The Swedish star was also one of the first players to realise the importance of fitness in football. Thus, he engaged himself in sprinting javelin, shot put and high jump twice a week. This dedication and hard work definitely helped him, as Liedlholm went on to play football until he was almost 40.
After 12 years at Milan, Liedlholm left the club in 1962 and retired from football. The beautiful game bid farewell to one the most magical players that it had ever produced.
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