Let's go back to the 98/99 season. In the last day of the Serie A we played against Bologna at San Siro. We won 3-1 and we were eight in the final stand. These are the standings:
Code:
+MILAN 70 34 20 10 4 59 34 17 13 3 1 35 17 17 7 7 3 24 17
Lazio 69 34 20 9 5 65 31 17 12 4 1 41 14 17 8 5 4 24 17
Fiorentina 56 34 16 8 10 55 41 17 13 4 0 36 10 17 3 4 10 19 31
Parma 55 34 15 10 9 55 36 17 9 6 2 27 13 17 6 4 7 28 23
Roma 54 34 15 9 10 69 49 17 13 3 1 43 16 17 2 6 9 26 33
Juventus 54 34 15 9 10 42 36 17 10 4 3 25 16 17 5 5 7 17 20
Udinese 54 34 16 6 12 52 52 17 9 4 4 25 20 17 7 2 8 27 32
Inter 46 34 13 7 14 59 54 17 10 3 4 43 24 17 3 4 10 16 30
Bologna 44 34 11 11 12 44 47 17 8 5 4 31 20 17 3 6 8 13 27
Bari 42 34 9 15 10 39 44 17 6 8 3 17 15 17 3 7 7 22 29
Venezia 42 34 11 9 14 38 45 17 9 5 3 23 14 17 2 4 11 15 31
Cagliari 41 34 11 8 15 49 50 17 9 5 3 33 19 17 2 3 12 16 31
Piacenza 41 34 11 8 15 48 49 17 9 5 3 34 20 17 2 3 12 14 29
Perugia 39 34 11 6 17 43 61 17 10 3 4 30 21 17 1 3 13 13 40
-Salernitana 38 34 10 8 16 37 51 17 9 4 4 26 16 17 1 4 12 11 35
-Sampdoria 37 34 9 10 15 38 55 17 8 6 3 25 16 17 1 4 12 13 39
-Vicenza 33 34 8 9 17 27 47 17 7 4 6 18 20 17 1 5 11 9 27
-Empoli* 20 34 4 10 20 26 63 17 4 5 8 17 25 17 0 5 12 9 38
So we were 2 points ahead of Bologna. Being eight shouldn't have let us play in UEFA Cup. However, we were given a chance to play in spareggio UEFA against Bologna. The same with Juventus, who were supposed to play against Udinese. Both Inter and Juve lost in aggregate. Bologna & Udine in UEFA Cup, Juve in Intertoto, Inter with nothing. But how the hell were we able to participate in play-offs, despite having 46 points and Bologna 44??? And Juventus, why the 6 team in the table went into Intertoto, and Bologna, the 9 team, went to UEFA Cup??
Does anybody have an idea