AC Milan have paid tribute to their former owner Silvio Berlusconi, who has died at the age of 86.

The Milan-born former Italian prime minister saved the club from near-bankruptcy when he bought it in 1986 and the Rossoneri went on to lift eight Serie A titles and five European Cups under his presidency.

The controversial businessman later went on to become president of Monza, who earned promotion back to the top flight through the play-offs in 2022, and was still in the role at the time of his death.

Berlusconi was treated for leukemia earlier this year but was reportedly hospitalised last week and died on Monday morning.

Milan said in a statement on their Twitter account: “Deeply saddened, AC Milan grieves the passing of the unforgettable Silvio Berlusconi and wishes to reach out to the family, associates, and most cherished friends to share our sympathies.

“Tomorrow, we will dream of new ambitions, create new challenges and seek new victories. Which will represent the good, the strong, and the true that lies inside us, in all of us who shared this adventure of binding our lives to a dream called Milan. Thank you, Mr President. Always with us.”

Berlusconi ran the Serie A giants from 1986 to 2017 before selling to a Chinese investment management company.

Carlo Ancelotti, who played for and later managed Milan during Berlusconi’s reign, posted a message of sympathy.

“Today’s sadness doesn’t erase the happy moments spent together,” wrote Ancelotti, who won two league titles and two European Cups as a player at the San Siro before going on to lead them to the league title and two Champions League successes as manager.

“There remains infinite gratitude to the president, but above all to an ironic, loyal, intelligent, sincere man, fundamental in my adventure as a football player first, and then as a coach. Thank you President.”

Monza, meanwhile, also paid their respects to Belusconi, who took control of the club in 2018 through holding company Fininvest.

“(Chief executive) Adriano Galliani and all AC Monza mourn the loss of Silvio Berlusconi: ‘A void that can never be filled, forever with us. Thank you for everything President’,” read a message on the club’s Twitter account.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino described Berlusconi as a “visionary” in an Instagram post published on Monday afternoon.

“In terms of football he had foreseen everything long before the others, and in fact he became the most successful president in the history of (AC Milan),” Infantino wrote.

“Recently, as owner of Monza, he fulfilled another dream, because in dreams size doesn’t matter. They can even be contained within a small town.

“I want to remember him just like that, like the person who – in our beloved sport – dreamed and then transformed those thoughts into reality.”