Celtic FC - AC Milan

It's all very well Kalac being a giant keeper to counter the physical aspect of Celtic's game, but if you're not very good to begin with and are prone to making errors then it kind of defeats the object of playing him in the first place.

Maybe Kalac should be play at CB to mark Hesselink Milan Mad's 4 for the defence is the best available and given the nature of the forwards Maldini has to play centrally.

fyi--
if you own dishnetwork you can switch to the "dish Latino" package for 5 bucks. it takes them about 5 minutes for the switch, and about 5 minutes to switch back after the game.

Originally Posted by Mystik

Seedorf has an injury so Gourcuff just may start. Unless Carlo plays Ambro instead.

Unless? I dont know what will happen if he doesnt start with Ambro....with one striker? He is going to play Max, Rino, and Brocci....or I dont kno Carlo!

Just to further endorse my point (from channel4.com)

Milan (probable): Kalac; Oddo, Bonera, Maldini, Jankulovski; Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Kaka, Seedorf; Oliveira.

A nil-nil draw is on the cards methinks....which is not a bad thing...but not a good thing either.

We need a big, make that HUGE game from Kaka and for Seedorf to show his immediate post-Inter form, in order for us to get a win at Celtic Park.

(And this late breaking item from theGuardian)http://football.guardian.co.uk/break...426596,00.html

Gila looks to be definately out, while (not mentioned in the article) Pippo may be fit enough to come off the bench...

I guess Ambro is there for the aerial threat. Not too bad of a choice, hope he doesn't get injured during the match. Gourcuff should get more than 20 mins though. And I hope Seedorf doesn't have a disaster of a game. Forza Milan! Let's see if we can pull off a win here.

..................storari.....................

oddo......bonera.....maldini.......janku

.....gattuso.....pirlo....gourcuff....

............kaka .......seedorf...

................oliviera........

i would love to see this lineup as im guessing many milan fans would. i REALLY want to see gourcuff be given a chance!!!

Just a note to all the Canadian viewers, TSN will be playing the repeat of Celtic-Milan on Wednesday the 21st at 3:30 AM EST. Thanks zlatanov for the info earlier.

Looks like this will be Capitano's 100th Champions League appearence (counting only the matches after the renaming of the competition) which makes him the fifth behind some guys named Raul, Roberto Carlos and Beckham. I just hope he can keep that Vennegoor of Hesselink from us...

Originally Posted by mzk57

Dida is the 2nd name of defeat and bad luck

And you're undoubtedly the first.

why is everbody on here sooo negative on the Celtic forums there talking about a 4-0/5-0 whitewash come on guys lets get behind the lads and qualify for the next round

FORZA MILAN!!!!!!

Originally Posted by zlatanov

I think the main reason cited is that he has virtually no experience in UEFA club competitions.

Kalac is 34 and has played for Roda, Perugia (2 seasons in Serie A) so he hasn't got much experience from the highest level himself. I think he's also played for the extremely big english club Leicester if I'm not wrong...

I hope he does well and I will cheer on him if he plays, but he's clearly not my favorite and certainly our weakest link if he plays.

Kalac maybe weak but tbh he didnt play bad against Lyon last Cl season also if our Defence plays well and make it so he has no real problems just collecting up loose balls and crosses i think he could do ok. does anybody know if Dida will be back for the next Leg at the San Siro? i hope with Luck on our side we can do this but we must work as a team we need to to try and frustrate them at home in front of there fans if we can do that we have a good chance at Home arnt we stronger at home in the Cl?? just look at Bayern last year draw at Allianz Arena trhen didnt we knock them for 4 at home lets hope we can have a repeat!

in Milan i trust FORZA MILAN!

A predictable and i think necessary formation for the trip to Celtic. The atmosphere will be a shock to some of our players and 5 in midfield will hopefully stem the Celtic attacks long enough to get ourselves in gear.

They have some concerns over Beattie, Hesselink and Zurawski (no doubt that's not how you spell his name, but you know who i mean), so we're not the only ones with forward troubles.

Originally Posted by dictatornz

..................storari.....................

oddo......bonera.....maldini.......janku

.....gattuso.....pirlo....gourcuff....

............kaka .......seedorf...

................oliviera........

i would love to see this lineup as im guessing many milan fans would. i REALLY want to see gourcuff be given a chance!!!

A better look would be some what like his
......................Kalac.........................

oddo......bonera.....maldini.......janku

.....gattuso.....pirlo........seedorf........

............kaka ..........gourcuff...........

...............oliviera ...........................

Originally Posted by BMWTaylor

And you're undoubtedly the first.

So u agree that he is the 2nd name of defeat and bad luck for AC Milan
This shows I was rite

Originally Posted by Arildonardo

Kalac is 34 and has played for Roda, Perugia (2 seasons in Serie A) so he hasn't got much experience from the highest level himself. I think he's also played for the extremely big english club Leicester if I'm not wrong...

I hope he does well and I will cheer on him if he plays, but he's clearly not my favorite and certainly our weakest link if he plays.

Yep, he played for Leicester City, and errm.....let's just say it wasn't the highlight of his career.

Many many years ago before I even knew about Milan, I did actually support Leicester for a while lol

As for tonight, what to say? It's a massively important match and though I can't exactly say we're in top condition, we have enough to get a result. Celtic are a good side at home, but to say I fear them would be far from the truth, as I'm quietly confident we can get the result we desire.

Key areas for Celtic are definately wide areas and Nakamura. Nakamura I believe we can shut down, especially as we are aware of his ability from his time at Reggina. I am a little worried about the wide areas though, as recently we've been defending the wings very poorly.

Celtic also have a strong physical game, so Gattuso should be suited for this match. Kalac's height in goal should be beneficial, as we need someone to dominate an area where the opposition are strong, in the air.

Back to Nakamura, with this guy we cannot afford to give away dangerous set pieces. He is definately one of the best freekick takers in football today, and I worry about that as much as I did when we faced Lyon, with Juninho, a while back.

As for us, we can expect Celtic to play at a high tempo and a physical game. Ball possession is key to control play the best we can, and will allow us to play our game. The physical nature of Celtic shouldn't be too much of a worry, as in Europe the referees are a lot more active with awarding freekicks. This means we can probably expect a fairly scrappy stop start game. However, what I do look forward to is we will likely be granted more space than we a accustomed to, which for players like Pirlo and Kaka, should be extremely beneficial.

I'm hoping that Kaka and Pirlo can continue their improvements in form of late, as they will be a necessity should we be aiming for a decent result.

Finally, I seriously hope that the team has sorted out the defensive problems we face after scoring goals. Our concentration and control of the game after scoring lately has been horrendous. Against Livorno, I was annoyed, against Siena I was angry, should I see it tonight, I'll definately be going ballistic.

FORZA MILAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!