Berlusconi eyes stadium honouring his name

AC Milan president and Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has set his sights on having a stadium named after himself.

Berlusconi has never been shy to indulge in self-promotion and take credit for his team's on-field success and he was at it again on Wednesday.

Milan are on the brink of wrapping up their 18th league title and need just one more point from their final three games to do so.

"We only talk about the title when it's printed on the club jersey," he told the Porta a Porta TV programme, due to be shown on Wednesday night.

"In this case for Milan it will be the 27th major trophy (of his era) and the 26 trophies already won under my management have already made Milan the most successful team in the world and made me the most successful president in the history of football.

"After me the president who won the most was the great (Santiago) Bernabeu and the Spanish paid tribute by naming a stadium after him."

Berlusconi's claim to be the most successful president is one that allows for a certain creativity with the facts.

Milan have won five Champions League crowns, seven titles (probably soon to be eight) and one Italian Cup since he bought the club in 1986.

That does not match Bernabeu's record of six European Cups, 16 Spanish titles and six Spanish Cups.

But Berlusconi likes to add celebratory trophies such as Supercups to his official statistics, most of which weren't around in Bernabeu's day.

He therefore boosts his statistics with five Italian Supercups, five European Supercups, two Intercontinental Cups and the Club World Cup.

His chances of having Milan's San Siro stadium named after him are also very slim as it is currently named after Giuseppe Meazza, one of Italy's all-time great players, and also the fact that they share the ground with bitter rivals Inter Milan.