Club Playing Career
Liedholm joined his first club, Valdemarsviks IF, in 1938. In 1942 he joined IK Sleipner and in 1946 moved to IFK 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 Swedish national team, winning the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics. This eventually gave him the chance to join 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 Milan in the 1958 European Cup Final against Real Madrid, losing 2–3 (after extra time). It is said that Real Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano who, felt despite victory 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, Liedholm was the creator of many of Gunnar Nordahl's goals. Nordahl still has the scoring record in Serie A with 225 goals in 257 games. 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. His club career would continue until he was almost 40.
Read more about this topic: Nils Liedholm
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