Bojan is a 30+, and when he was a teenager, Milan and Juve were what Barca and Real are today.
The best teams in the world. Barca and Real were behind them, like Chelsea/Psg today, roughly.
That was in 90s.
Milan even played CL finals in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and winning in 2003 and 2007.
Since in 2007 we had Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, that surely wasn't that long ago.
Inter won a CL in 2010, only 6 years ago...
With that logic, Barca wasn't an elite from 1994-2006, since we played 0 CL finals.
And we had R9, Rivaldo, Ronnie in those years.
Milan won 7 CLs, and unlike Real, they won majority of titles in semi-recent history (ok, if someone has 18 years, then 1990 seems like an ancient history for them).
But in a semi-recent history, like 30-ish years:
Milan 5 Cls
Real 5 Cls
Barca 5 Cls
While "giants":
Bayern 2 Cls
Juventus 1 Cls
Chelsea 1 Cl
Borussia 1 Cl
Man City 0 Cls
Arsenal 0 Cls
Psg 0 Cls
Ok, if you are a younger fan, then Milan is a crap lately, but it goes in cycles.
Psg was an extremely meh team until 5 years ago.
Chelsea was "created" by Abramovic around 2004'. Before that, they were like Tottenham/Everton today.
Man City was a no name team till until a few years ago. Their international and EPL strength was like Bilbao's in La Liga.
Borussia was good in 90s and then disappeared until a few years ago.
Imo, biggest teams currently are Barca, Real, Bayern.
Most famous teams of all time are, in order: Real, Milan, Barca, Bayern, Juve etc
But again, Milan in 90s and in early 00s was what Barca and Real are today.
Milan lost all the money because Italian league bankrupted, plus Italy had too huge taxes.
Imagine if Spanish league gets into financial troubles (like Italian league from 2005) and that we are forced to sell all star players.
And fast forward time for 10 years, Barca and Spanish league are mediocre, and Barca didn't play in CL finals for 10 years.
And someone says: "Inter and Milan have history now. Nothing more. They are not footballing elite."
I mean, with the way how much is EPL earning currently, everything is possible in the future.
And who knows, Barca and Spanish league can easily in 5-10-20 years face the same faith as Italian league currently.
(Especially when we have such a huge debts and money is shifting towards EPL lately)
Would you, as Barca's fan agree that Barca is a history now (In 2026 or in 2036), only because we had 10 weaker years due to financial problems of La liga and too high taxes in Spain?
Further, Man Utd had 1 Cl final in the last 15 years, or 2 finals in the last 30 years.
Arsenal had 1 Cl finals in 30 years.
Chelsea had 2 Cl finals in 30 years.
City 0 finals.
Liverpool 2 finals in 30 years.
I guess that majority of these teams are classed as elite teams for majority of younger fans.
In my eyes, City, Chelsea, Psg are fabricated clubs, with more or less very poor history.
And only insane investments from multimillionares turned them into top teams.
I won't enter into a debate about bandwagon fans.
But...
The truth is, majority of us started to follow teams which are on top when we were aged 8, 10 or 13.
Guys who are born in early 80s, and who had 10-13 years in 1992 or 1994, started to be fans of Milan since Milan was the best team in the world back then.
No one was a fan of Bayern, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea or Real (lol) back then.
Further, if you were kid in early 90s (like Bojan, me, Khaled and other guys), you were probably a fan of: Milan, Juve or Barca.
3 best teams back then.
If you were born around 1990, and you were 10-12 years old around 2000-2002, you were probably a fan of:
Real, Man Utd, Arsenal (insane hype back then), Milan, Juve or Barca.
No one was a fan of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Psg, Atletico back then.
But, if you were born around 2000', and if you were around 8-10-12 around 2010, then you probably turned into a fan of:
Barca, Real, Man Utd or Bayern.
Suddenly, new kids aren't fans of Milan, Juve and Inter anymore (if you get me).
Also, imagine kids born around 2010:
When they'll be 10-12 in 2020-2022, the best teams in Europe will probably be: Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Psg and let's hope Barca, Real and Bayern.
Atletico and 2 CLs finals from 2015-2016 will be an ancient history for new kids 10 years from now.
I wouldn't call people bandwagon fans, but imo, it is true that our "love" for some club is determined by which team dominated when we were kids aged 8-10-13, and then we usually start to love that club forever.
This forum would be semi-dead in 2003, because 18 years old back then were born in 1985 (since majority of fans here are aged 18-20).
In 2003, 18 years old would be fans of Milan and Juve since those two were the best when those 18 years old were kids aged 8-10-12 in 1993, 1995 and 1998...
(If you get my point)
All in all, for a younger fan, Milan is an ancient history...
But also, who knows what will happen with Barca in 10 years.
And whether Liverpool, City, Man Utd and Psg will be new Barcas/Reals 10-15 years from now.
Someone will say: we have history, La Masia and quality.
Imo, that's crap.
Milan and Juve were the best in 90s, because Italian league was the richest.
Barca and Real were the best from 2000-2016 because we were the richest.
Titles and fame usually shift towards the richest clubs of some era.
So, imo, don't be surprised if we'll end as Ac Milan one day and if some other, currently meh teams will become new Barcas/Reals in 2030 and similar.
