thumbnail|262px|upright|The AC Milan squad for the 1957–58 season; from left to right, standing: Reina, Galli, Fontana, Soldan, [[Lorenzo Buffon, Nils Liedholm, Juan Alberto Schiaffino, Radice, Bean; crouched: Beraldo, Grillo, Mariani, Cesare Maldini, Bergamaschi, Zannier, Francesco Zagatti, Cucchiaroni]]
Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. Il Barone (the Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers along with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl at AC Milan and the Sweden national team, with which he achieved notable success throughout his career.
Liedholm was an intelligent and technically gifted offensive playmaker who was renowned for his range of passing and his elegant style of play; he is regarded as one of Milan's and Sweden's greatest ever players, and considered one of the best players of the post-war era. At the end of the 20th century, Liedholm was voted the best Swedish player of the millennium by the readers of Sweden's largest newspaper, Aftonbladet.
As a coach, he was in charge of several teams in Italy, managing for nearly four decades, and was known for using a zonal marking system; he is regarded as one of the most successful managers in Italian football history.
Club career
Liedholm was born on 8 October 1922 in Valdemarsvik, to parents Erik Fredrik Elias Liedholm (1887–1950), a sawmill manager, and Anna Kajsa Lovisa Bergman (1900–1973). He joined his first club, Valdemarsvik, in 1938. In 1942, he joined Sleipner and in 1946 moved to Norrköping, a bigger Swedish club with whom he won two Swedish league titles. During his time with Norrköping, he also earned 18 caps for the Sweden national team, winning the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics. This eventually gave him the chance to join AC Milan in 1949.
He made his Serie A debut on 11 September 1949 in a 3–1 win against Sampdoria. In his first season with Milan, the midfielder played 37 games and scored 18 goals. In 1951, Liedholm won the first of his four scudetto titles. Another three titles followed in 1955, 1957 and 1959. A player with a club that was having the best spell of its life up to that point, Liedholm also won the Latin Cup in 1951 and 1956 and was captain of AC Milan in the 1958 European Cup Final against Real Madrid, losing 3–2 (after extra time). It is said that Real Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano who felt, despite victory, he knew it was a match Milan could have won. Asking Liedholm to exchange shirts, Liedholm said to him: "Keep it. That won't matter. The only thing that will be remembered from this match down the years is that Real Madrid won".
Famous for his passing abilities and tactical awareness, Liedholm was the creator of many of Gunnar Nordahl's goals. According to legend, 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.
Liedholm was also one of the first players to realise the importance of fitness to a good performance. Consequently, he put in many more hours of training than other players, saying himself that he did the 100 metres, 3000 metres, javelin, shot put and high jump twice a week.
Coaching career
After he retired from playing, Liedholm enjoyed some time in the backrooms at Milan, before getting promotion for both Verona and then Varese. This brought him to the attention of Fiorentina and then Milan, where he finally took control of the first team. He guided them to their tenth league title in 1979 before moving on to become the manager of Roma. Leading talents such as Paulo Roberto Falcão and Bruno Conti, he took them to their second league title ever in 1983 using the zonal marking system, which was unusual in Italy at the time. A year later, his Roma side lost on penalties to Liverpool in the European Cup Final. He also won the Coppa Italia three times with Roma, in 1980, 1981 and 1984.
As well as saying that the modern game is much more frantic and fast-paced than when he was involved, Liedholm, always a professional, also observed that "they [players] do not do much to avoid fouling players... It is too easy to stop a player by fouling him. Proper training teaches you how to win the ball without committing a foul, which is much more difficult." Former Parma manager Nevio Scala, who played under Liedholm, was inspired by Liedholm's calm approach as a coach.
Other sports
He also was a bandy player in Valdemarsvik and the district team of Östergötland when he was young. In 2003, he was appointed honorary chairman of the Italian Bandy Federation.
Later life and death
Liedholm was married to Maria Lucia "Nina" Gabotto di San Giovanni, a countess who could trace her ancestry back to the 900s. After leaving the game of football (but still living in Italy), he ran a vineyard together with his son Carlo (born 1958). Liedholm died on 5 November 2007 in his home in Cuccaro Monferrato, Province of Alessandria, aged 85.
!National team
!Year
!Apps
!Goals
|-
| rowspan="12" |Sweden
|1947
|7
|5
|-
|1948
|9
|4
|-
|1949
|2
|1
|-
|1950
|0
|0
|-
|1951
|0
|0
|-
|1952
|0
|0
|-
|1953
|0
|0
|-
|1954
|0
|0
|-
|1955
|0
|0
|-
|1956
|0
|0
|-
|1957
|0
|0
|-
|1958
|5
|2
|-
! colspan="2" |Total
!23
!12
|}
: Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Liedholm goal.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+List of international goals scored by Nils Liedholm
! scope="col" |No.
! scope="col" |Date
! scope="col" |Venue
! scope="col" |Opponent
! scope="col" |Score
! scope="col" |Result
! scope="col" |Competition
! class="unsortable" scope="col" |
|-
| align="center" |1
|15 June 1947
|Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark
|
| align="center" |3–0
| align="center" |4–1
|1937–47 Nordic Football Championship
|
|-
| align="center"|2
| rowspan="2" |24 August 1947
| rowspan="2" |Ryavallen, Örebro, Sweden
| rowspan="2" |
| align="center"|1–0
| rowspan="2"align="center" |7–0
| rowspan="2" |1937–47 Nordic Football Championship
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| align="center"|3
| align="center"|6–0
|-
| align="center"|4
|14 September 1947
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|5–2
| align="center"|5–4
|Friendly
|
|-
| align="center"|5
|5 October 1947
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|2–0
| align="center"|4–1
|1937–47 Nordic Football Championship
|
|-
| align="center"|6
|11 July 1948
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|1–1
| align="center"|3–2
|Friendly
|
|-
| align="center"|7
| rowspan="2" |5 August 1948
| rowspan="2" |Selhurst Park, London, England
| rowspan="2" |
| align="center"|1–0
| rowspan="2" align="center"|12–0
| rowspan="2" |1948 Summer Olympics
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| align="center"|8
| align="center"|6–0
|-
| align="center"|9
|10 October 1948
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|1–0
| align="center"|1–0
|1948–51 Nordic Football Championship
|
|-
| align="center"|10
|2 June 1949
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|3–1
| align="center"|3–1
|1950 FIFA World Cup qualifier
|
|-
| align="center"|11
|8 June 1958
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|2–0
| align="center"|3–0
|1958 FIFA World Cup
|
|-
| align="center"|12
|29 June 1958
|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden
|
| align="center"|1–0
| align="center"|2–5
|1958 FIFA World Cup
|
|}
Honours
Player
Norrköping
- Allsvenskan: 1946–47, 1947–48
AC Milan 1956, 1959
- Venerdì's 100 Magnifici
- UEFA Jubilee Poll (2004): No. 69
Manager
Varese
- Serie B: 1969–70
AC Milan
References
External links
- Greatest Swedish Players
- Golden Great: Nils Liedholm
- Champion, gentleman, friend
- Liedholm Winery Official Website
- Liedholm's Career at RSSSF.com
- Obituary in The Times, 7 November 2007