At first attempt, Alberto Zaccheroni led AC Milan to their 16th Scudetto in the 1998/1999 Italian Serie A season where they pipped Sven Goran Eriksson led SS Lazio to the title with just one point. He was appointed from Udinese Calcio where he brought in lethal striker Oliver Bierhoff and the defensive right winger Thomas Helveg to help win the title.
He introduced ACMilan to his unorthodox 3-4-3 formation, in which Bierhoff was a perfect center forward, scoring 20 goals in the league.
AC Milan had a marvelous second half of the season, in which it kept pace with Serie A championship leaders SS Lazio, then passing the Romans when they had a couple of slips. In the end, a win in the final day was more than enough to clinch AC Milan's first league title in three years.
In an important France 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland on August 20, 1997, Oliver Bierhoff scored the fastest hat-trick ever in the German National Team history in 7 minutes as a substitute which fellow sub Thomas Hassler provided the three assists. He went on to score 37 goals in 70 caps from 1996 to 2002.
