AC Milan v Red Star Belgrade: Arrigo Insight banner

 AC Milan v Red Star Belgrade: Arrigo Insight banner

AC Milan in 1989

AC Milan line up for the 1989 European Cup final - they would win the title in 1990, too

For a team that would enter football history as The Immortals, it was a chilling reminder of the frailty of human life.

On 10 November 1988, Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan faced Red Star Belgrade at their Marakana Stadium in the European Cup second round, second leg. The match - replayed from the previous day after an abandonment due to fog - took a horrifying turn just before half-time.

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The score was 1-1 - and 2-2 on aggregate - when Red Star defender Goran Vasilijevic clashed with Milan's Roberto Donadoni.

Sacchi, in his newly published memoir The Immortals, describes the incident.

"Vasilijevic went in violently on Donadoni, hitting him with a head butt and an elbow at the same time," writes the Italian coach.

"Roberto hit the deck, knocked out. These were moments of true terror: he looked dead. Players were waving their arms about and putting their hands on their heads."

As Donadoni lay prone, Angelo Pagani, the Milan masseur, was first to reach him. He managed to open the player's mouth - jammed shut due to a fractured jaw - and free his tongue, which had been forced to the back of his mouth and threatened to choke him.

Milan doctor Ginko Monti, next on the scene, administered mouth-to-mouth. "Roberto showed no sign of life, and then he began to stamp his feet on the ground, which often happens to people who have suffered cranial trauma," writes Sacchi.

Donadoni's team-mates looked on in horror. Legendary Milan and Italy defender Paolo Maldini recalled the fateful moment: "He was blue, with his eyes wide open, and he was stamping his feet like an animal in the slaughterhouse."

Marco van Basten, the team's iconic Dutch striker, ran to the Milan bench shouting "A doctor! A doctor!" before seeking comfort in the arms of general manager Paolo Taveggia and bursting into tears. Van Basten did not want to play on but the Milan coaching team convinced him to, as Donadoni was carried off on a stretcher and rushed to hospital.

A shell-shocked Milan returned to the dressing room at half-time. Then they heard an announcement over the public address system which was roundly booed by the home crowd. When the same announcement was made in Italian, they understood.

Sacchi explains: "The announcer had wanted to reassure fans who had seen Donadoni lying on the turf for so long without moving, by telling them the good news coming from the hospital. Roberto had regained consciousness and, apart from that fractured jaw, no serious damage appeared to have been done. The Red Star fans were booing his good health."

Milan's players, including Ruud Gullit, were furious. Gullit had replaced his stricken team-mate and was struggling so badly with a left thigh injury that he was only due to play 45 minutes. In the end, he played all the second half plus extra time and penalties. Sacchi describes the Dutchman as "our courage, our general in battle". A battle it was.