AC Milan - AEK Athens 13/09/2006 Champions League

Better late than never with opening this thread!

It will be a tough game but am looking for a big win here as Athens are not the stongest team in europe and coming to the san siro they will not expect to get much from the game, ill be watching it on sky sports extra so what are your thoughts on the game, and here's my team Hopefully all our players will be fit part from Kalazde who I think is still carrying a knock

Dida
Cafu Nesta Maldini Serginho
Gattuso Pirlo Seedorf
Kaka
Oliviera Inzaghi

Just 1 change from the weekend
3-0 for Milan
Inzaghi, Pirlo, Oliviera

I agree, I too am looking for a big win out of this game. I am not sure if Oliviera will get the start of if they will continue with Pippo and Gila at the front. Also Brocchi might stay in this game and Gattuso next weekend.

Regardless of the first team selected, I am hoping for Milan to dominate make a statement.

I just want a win, how big it is doesn't matter

FORZA MILAN!

The quality of the win for me, like for Dev, is less important than us winning...obviously though, winning in style, with a big score line is always a good thing.

That being said..ESPN Intl isnt carrying the match..so NAMMY et al, where are the free links to the streams? PUHLEEEEEASE!!!

Dida

Cafu
Nesta
Maldini
Serginho

Gattuso
Pirlo
Seedorf
Kaka

Gilardino
Inzaghi

4x1
Gila (3)
Pirlo

I think uit would be wrong to purt CAfu and Serginho together as then we open too many space in the back. We have Parma AWAY next week, so it might be good to rest Cafu. so my lineup is... dida-bonera-nesta-maldini-serginho-pirlo-gattuso-seedorf-kaka-pippo-gilardino. Oliveira hasnt got the power for the 90min yet. Im sure he will play some part of the game. Gattuso will be back, and I really want to see Bonera in CL.

I agree with mrki. Playing Serginho and Cafu at the same time is risky, simply for the fact that both love attacking and fail to realize that when one of them is attackin, the other has to stay back to form a steady 3 man back line.

-------------Dida---------------
Bonera - Nesta - Maldini - Serginho
--------------Pirlo----------------
----Gattuso-----------Seedorf----
----------------Kaka--------------
-------Gilardino - Inzaghi/Oliveira--

I think a comfortable win plus a clean sheet would do it. It is important to get off with a win, besides we are playing home.

Milan - AEK : 3-0 (Seedorf, Gilardino,Pirlo)

I am also in agreement, that Cafu and Serginho shouldn't play at the same time... leads to too many gaps and opportunities to strike on a counter attack. I like the line up you picked nefremo (let Cafu rest up for Parma), I believe Pippo will get the start with Gila, and Oliviera will come off the bench around 60 minutes. I would love a bigger score but I will say it will be 2-0 (Pippo, and Kaka).

REFEREE RILEY FOR MILAN-AEK ATHENS

MILAN – UEFA have assigned English referee Michael Riley for the Group H Champions League fixture between Milan and AEK Athens on Wednesday at the San Siro (kick-off 8.45pm CET). Riley will be assisted by Glenn Brian Turner and David Stephen Brian, along with fourth official Mark Clattenburg. Benny Jacobsen will serve as the UEFA delegate and Bernd Heynemann will observe the referees.

acmilan.com

ALL ABOUT REFEREE RILEY

MILAN - Michael Riley has overseen Milan three times in the Champions League. Here are the precedents: Milan-Deportivo La Coruna 1-2 (Milan were already first and they qualified) on November 13, 2002; Celta-Milan 0-0 in October 2003; Milan-Fenerbahce 3-1 on September 13, 2005.

He has only overseen AEK once: Deportivo La Coruna-AEK 3-0 on November 25, 2003.

acmilan.com


I am not a Michael Riley fan at all but I hope he has a good game

I hope that Riley will do his best job the refereeing Milan - AEK Athens..
Problem is....like when I watch Milan - Lazio last Sunday that the Ref "looked" hesitant to give correct decision to Milan. They are somewhat affraid if the authorities and public would judge them as giving Milan a hand not only in winning the game but also for faults, offside etc.
A good exampleis when Pippo scored his 2nd which is annuled...Pippo is super clear that he's onside while the player who in offside position was Gilardino who didi nothing wioth the ball nor making any movement towards the ball.
2nd example is when Rocchi gave his pass to Makinwa.....even captaib Hook who has one eye saw it that Rocchi was 2-3 mtrs offside.

This FIFA/UEFA "pre-warning" that they will clocely look at Milan in every game we play is a real hurdle for the referee to give their correct decision on the pitch.
Hope that Riley is not one who blindly follow FIFA/UEFA warning!!

Anyhow, without Riley's help Milan could win the game against AEK Athens...that's my confidence as a Milan fan..Don't you ??

FIFA/UEFA disgust me. that said, we should have no problem winning this group comfortably.

I want six wins so we can receive a big fat check from UEFA.. why not?

I don't expect the Greeks to be a big threat to our first 3 points in group stages, but they did make some good results in last 10 or so years in europe.

This will be their 4th Champions league season.

1.The first time they played in season 1994/95, when they were in the same group with us. In Athens we played 0:0 and at SS we have beaten them 2:1. This was the season when we lost the final from Ajax. AEK was last placed in the group with 2 draws and 4 defeats.

2. Their second season was 2002/03, when they drew 6 times in 6 matches . They played 0:0 and 1:1 with Genk , 0:0 and 1:1 with Roma, and 3:3 and 2:2 with Real Madrid. Not bad results at all. This was the season when we won our last CL trophy.

3. Third season was 2003/04, and this time they were again last placed in their group with only 2 draws against La Coruna and Monaco, and 4 defeats.

So, they played 18 matches in champions league and they are still waiting for their first win. They made 10 draws and 8 defeats.

I'm not very much familiar with their curent roster, so i googled a little and i saw they have some good players but nothing special. They lost their best player, Greek National team player Katsouranis to Benfika. Now they have 4 Greece national team players (Lymperopoulos, Dellas, Lakis, Georgeas),and their star is Lymperopoulos who is the best AEK player. Defender Trayanos Dellas is also well known to most of you. He played in Roma and was among the best players of EURO 2004.
Another good player who doesn't play for national team of Greece is Zikos who came from Monaco, and AEK has few more players with big experience who play for their native national teams, such as Udeze from Nigeria, and Delibasic from Serbia and Montenegro, who came from Mallorca. 4 Brazilians play in AEK , and even 2 Italians, Bruno Cirillo (ex-Siena, Reggina, Lecce, Inter) and Goalkeeper Sorrentino (ex Torino, Lazio, Juventus).

One info from another forum "AEK traveled without important defender Udeze and regular defender Georgeas while Alexopoulos and 3-4 others stayed in Athens as they weren't fit. AEK will use 4-5-1 system and will play with counters mostly.
In greek league they drew 3 times in opening 3 matches .With paok at home 0-0, with ofi and atromitos away 1-1 both. Big problems with goal scoring. They create chances but hard to make goals"

I hope this was helpful

I woudnt play Serginho on the left band
I dont think he has played well against LAZIO
Maybe Favalli or Janku
2-0
Inzaghi ,Gila

Thanks for the research Vonim!! Excellent stuff!

But my question remains: Where are the stream links??!!!!

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

But my question remains: Where are the stream links??!!!!

Hey hey, take it easy

If u still dont know, there is a page www.asiaplate.com where the daily schedule of streamed program is posted. So go there, hop on live.today page ( http://www.asiaplate.com/live.today.htm ) choose a match u wanna see and click on a PLAY icon next to the program u have. Dont have program? Download it

The streamings will be 2-5 mins late, prolly in chinese and sometimes not working at all hehe. But its better than nothing...