When AC Milan unveiled Ronaldinho and Andrei Shevchenko last summer, 35-year-old Filippo Inzaghi must have wondered if his days in the famous black and red shirt were numbered.
The hero of the 2007 Champions League final looked like he would be pushed ever further down the San Siro striker pecking order.
But as the season draws to a close, not only is Inzaghi a first team regular but he is dreaming of matching Roberto Baggio's mark of 318 career goals.
Inzaghi recently passed the 300 mark when he hit a brace in Milan's 5-1 romp at Siena, a feat that took him to fourth on the all-time Italian scorers list.
But while the 364 mark of Silvio Piola will probably prove beyond him, Inzaghi, now on 301 following a goal against Lecce will content himself merely with passing Baggio's record.
He also has another record in mind, that of Gerd Muller in European competitions.
Although Inzaghi shares the lead with Real Madrid's Raul on 66 goals in official UEFA competitions, Muller, who has 62 goals officially, also scored seven times in the now defunct Fairs Cup, the forerunner to the UEFA Cup but considered unofficial by Europe's governing body.
And it is Muller's mark of 69 goals which Inzaghi is aiming for.
"When I was young Gerd Muller was a legend for me: 69 goals in European cup competitions seemed huge to me, and it is," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"'Robi' (Baggio) was fantastic but I was stunned when he stopped that he practically never kicked a ball again, partly because he was so in love with the game.
"I wouldn't do that. If I see a football I go nuts. Even after a tough training session when I go home the ball is still magical."
Both Baggio's and Muller's records are within Inzaghi's reach, as long as he continues his resurrection in the Milan first team.
It wasn't just the arrivals of Ronaldinho and Shevchenko that looked ominous for him, Milan also brought in Marco Borriello from Genoa and with teenage Brazilian star Pato having half a season under his belt and both Kaka and Clarence Seedorf capable of playing off one or two forwards, Milan seemed to have an embarrassment of attacking riches.
So much so that Italy international Alberto Gilardino was sold to Fiorentina while teenage Italian star Alberto Paloschi was allowed to go to Parma.
At 35, Inzaghi looked to be out of the running and with injuries hampering him in the early part of the season as well, he was at risk of being lost in the footballing wilderness.
But the former Juventus forward has bounced back in style and a look at the Milan statistics explain just why Inzaghi has forced his way into the team.
Before the match against Lecce on April 6, Ronaldinho had scored a goal every 201 minutes on the pitch, Kaka every 161 minutes, Pato every 133 minutes and Inzaghi once every 111 minutes.
Borriello and Shevchenko's records are both poor in comparison as neither have played much, the first due to injury and the second because of poor form, making Inzaghi the club's most prolific striker this campaign.
What this season has shown is that age is no barrier, especially with Milan teammate Paolo Maldini playing on at the age of 40.
And with other evergreen strikers such as Alessandro Del Piero at Juventus and Francesco Totti at AS Roma still producing the goods, there is no reason to doubt that Inzaghi can continue.
(AFP via China Daily April 15, 2009)
