Olympique de Marseille vs AC Milan: UEFA Champions League 15/09/09

Olympique de Marseille and AC Milan, the teams who contested the first UEFA Champions League final in 1993, will renew acquaintance in a competitive fixture for the first time since then in Group C on Matchday 1.

Previous meetings
• Marseille became the first French team to lift the European Champion Clubs' Cup when Basile Boli's 43rd-minute goal earned victory over Milan in Munich's Olympiastadion on 26 May 1993.

• Their only other meeting came two seasons earlier in the quarter-finals and Marseille again had the better of things. After a 1-1 draw in Italy, Chris Waddle fired the only goal in the return.

• The Ligue 1 runners-up have won three and drawn one of their last four fixtures against Italian sides but before that they had lost four and drawn two of six games, a sequence that included the 1999 UEFA Cup final when they lost 3-0 to Parma FC.

• Milan, returning to the competition after missing out last year and with Leonardo replacing Carlo Ancelotti as coach, have drawn three and lost two of their last five visits to France, scoring just two goals.

Match background
• Marseille lost their Matchday 1 fixture 12 months ago, going down 2-1 at home to Liverpool, and eventually bowed out after the group stage. In their other home games they beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 and drew 0-0 with Club Atlético de Madrid.

• In each of their last three group-stage campaigns Marseille have only been victorious in one of their three home games, losing four of those nine matches.

• In only one of their last four UEFA Champions League campaigns have Marseille advanced beyond the initial group stage, in 1999/00.

• Milan have won their last seven Matchday 1 fixtures and drew the one before that. Their last Matchday 1 defeat came on 11 September 1996 when they lost 3-2 at home to FC Porto.

• Milan have won only three of their last ten UEFA Champions League away fixtures, not including the 2007 final when they beat Liverpool 2-1 in Athens. They have lost three and drawn four.

• In 2007/08 Milan were knocked out of the competition by Arsenal FC in the first knockout round, their worst performance in six campaigns in which they had twice lifted the trophy and also finished runners-up.

Team ties
• Didier Deschamps captained France to victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup final against a Brazil side with Leonardo in midfield.

• Jean-Pierre Papin was a member of the Milan side beaten by OM in 1993, less than a year after ending a six-year spell with the French club.

• Mathieu Flamini was born in Marseille and played 14 league games for his hometown club before joining Arsenal.

• Flavio Roma (AS Monaco FC, 2001-2009) and Ronaldinho (Paris Saint-Germain FC, 2001-2003) have also played in France.

• Gabriel Heinze was in the Manchester United FC team that lost both legs of their 2004/05 first knockout round tie against Milan 1-0. He also played in both legs of the 2006/07 semi-final with United winning the home leg 3-2 but then going down 3-0 in Milan.

• Fernando Morientes was on loan at Liverpool when they beat Milan in the 2005 final but was ineligible.

• Heinze and Klaas Jan Huntelaar were team-mates at Madrid last season.

uefa.com


Called up players:

MILAN: 21 CONVOCATI PER MARSIGLIA
13/09/2009 14.15.00
MILANO - E' stata diramata la lista dei 21 convocati per la prima gara di Champions League contro il Marsiglia:
Dida, Storari, Roma, Antonini, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Nesta, Onyewu, Oddo, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta, Abate, Ambrosini, Flamini, Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Huntelaar, Inzaghi, Pato e Ronaldinho.

acmilan.com

Given that Leo is becoming increasingly frustrated with Ronaldinho I would expect a lineup like this:

Storari; Zambrotta, Nesta, Silva, Jankulovski; Gattuso, Pirlo, Flamini; Seedorf; Pato, Pippo/Huntelaar(more likely to be Pippo)

A prayer.

Dear (insert deity of your choice here),

We Milan fans implore You to protect us from a thrashing that we look likely to receive in France this week.

Let the ref see only the infractions Marseille players make, and guide the feet of our forwards that they may score a bounty of goals.

We know that You can make miracles, which is why we beseech your help tonite oh mighty (insert deity of your choice here)....as our team surely needs one to get anywhere near silverware this season.

Help us not to defeat in France, but protect us from embarrassment, give us at least a draw, and spare us from humiliation.

In (insert deity of your choice here)'s name we pray,

Amen (or whichever prayer-ending is most appropriate for your religion)



Divine intervention is prob the only thing that can prevent a disaster this term.

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

A prayer.

Dear (insert deity of your choice here),

We Milan fans implore You to protect us from a thrashing that we look likely to receive in France this week.

Let the ref see only the infractions Marseille players make, and guide the feet of our forwards that they may score a bounty of goals.

We know that You can make miracles, which is why we beseech your help tonite oh mighty (insert deity of your choice here)....as our team surely needs one to get anywhere near silverware this season.

Help us not to defeat in France, but protect us from embarrassment, give us at least a draw, and spare us from humiliation.

In (insert deity of your choice here)'s name we pray,

Amen (or whichever prayer-ending is most appropriate for your religion)



Divine intervention is prob the only thing that can prevent a disaster this term.

Amin, insallah, we will win.

Once upon a time, we would be favourites against Marseille, favourites to win the group. Now, even Galliani says that Madrid will take one of the two qualifying spots and the rest have to qualify for the second spot. What happened to the "most successful club in the world" bs?

We have one of the worst memories against Marseilles when we just refused to lose against them in 1993. I think our defeat against them on Tuesday will even top that sham.

Only a divine intervention will do. Something like a Zeus' strike on Dinho's ass.

BTW, we must also pray for RM's victory against Zurich by a higher margin than Marseilles's victory against us.

OM is our worst enemy at CL in the past. I just hope for a draw.

what he hell is wrong with you people being that negative yes we're bad but dont you beleive we will step it up atleast in the CL? come on guys pirlo will probally start up top and i herd leonardo has to win if he doesnt hes sacked

4312 or 442


--------4312----------
-------Storari---------

Zambrotta Silva Nesta Oddo

--Abate Gattuso Flamini--

---------Pirlo---------

----Klass-----Pato-----


----------442----------------
---------Storari-----------

Zambrotta---Silva---Nesta---Oddo

R80----Gattuso---Pirlo---Flamini

------Pato--------------------

-------------------Klass

reason im starting oddo is for defense just worry about defending the damn midfield will handle it i want to see gennaro because we need someone to plug THE MIDFIELD! and let pirlo go forward in 442 in and in 4312 dominate possesion and play a fast counter attack what the hell is wrong with you people, we go into everymatch thinking we have a match this is milan, come on!

I know Dinho isn't very popular right now. (it's funny isn't it.......people were saying he's back after his 2 assists vs Siena, yet 2 weeks later he is a finished player. sometimes it's really funny if you just sit back and just pay attention the forum.......people contradict statements so often).

Anyway....back to my point....Dinho isn't popular right now, but this might just be a good game for him to step up AND this type of game will suit him just fine. Marseille know that we are their direct competition for advancing further in the competition (everyone knows that....even Galliani publicly said it). So they will have to attack us and leave empty spaces on the field. Our best bet is to stay compact in the middle. Not give out anything and stay close together. Then when we win the ball......break out fast. There will be plenty of space IMO to play football. Dinho can come very very handy in that situation. This is another reason why I want Abate to start too. We can surely use his speed down the right flank. Zambrotta can then focus on his defensive duties more.


So if I had to put out a team in France against a direct competitor for the 2nd stage of the competition I would go with

Storari - Zambrotta - Nesta - Silva - Jankulovski/Antonini/Oddo(RB) - Pirlo - Flamini - Gattuso - Abate - Ronaldinho - Pato

The midfield + front line can look different ways.

---Flamini - Pirlo - Gattuso---
Abate---------------Ronaldinho
----------Pato--------------

With this option we know that Abate will drop behind the ball every time we don't have it which gives us compactness in defense.
This can also very easily converty to a 4-2-3-1 with Pirlo advanced when we are in possession...... or can become a 4-4-2. The good thing about it is we will be compact when Marseille attack (mainly because Abate will work back and tuck in....his work-rate will assure that and it'll give us 8 players behind the ball).....yet when we do win the ball we have Abate's speed to break out fast while we will have Dinho on the other wing to stretch them and keep it wide. With Pirlo pushing up through the middle we have everything covered.

I know that I am putting too much faith in a young player that hasn't even started for us this season yet......however his characteristics are somewhat perfect for this type of a game. He does give us a different dimension and more options.


However, at the end of the day....we can sit here and talk tactics all we want. We can present a million ideas.............it's all pointless if our players come out flat and don't put any work on the field. It is exactly what happened this past weekend. Everyone sleepwalked for 1 hour....and when that happens you can be a mastermind in tactics, it is all pointless.

So the most important thing is for our players to be hungry. To leave everything on the field. If that happens, then we have a great chance of winning no matter what formation we play.


Forza Milan!!!! Let's go to France and get our Pride back!!!!!!!!!

I just have a feeling, Milan will lose big in this game. AS I know for a fact Dinho will be starting.

If there's one thing I'd do for this match it's to try and remove the biggest problems in our team we've seen in the past couple of weeks. Ultimately, for me the biggest issues are fullbacks, the midfield losing shape and organisation and lack of movement up front.

The players that have caused these problems most frequently are Janku, Zambro and Oddo in the fullback areas, the whole midfield has failed with probably the exception of Flamini and Dinho who simply doesn't move (nefremo, I know how Dinho was good against Siena, but even in that match he didn't move).

Therefore, I'd try a simpler formation (the one I'm sure many have seen in my posts lately) that doesn't expect too much from fullbacks and the midfield can maintain it's shape...

----------------------Storari-----------------------
Antonini--------Nesta--------Thiago---------Zambro
---------------Ambro----------Flamini--------------
------Abate------------Pirlo------------------------
-----------------------------------------Pato------
-----------------------Hunter/Pippo----------------

In this system, we'd have more natural width in midfield through Abate and a combination of Pato and Flamini (who is able to push up when required). This would lessen offensive responsibilities on Antonini and Zambro, who can focus more on defensive duties and try and minimalise the damage we've suffered so far.

In midfield, Ambro can focus purely on breaking up attacks, which should help him as he's struggled for form this season. Flamini can move forward at times because I feel he's ok to do so as he's shown he can do it.

Pirlo can get pushed up into a role closer to trequartista and he's shown he's in good form atm, so I think asking him to dictate play and create is fair. Abate would add width down the side and Pato and Hunter/Pippo would continue as they have this season.

With Abate, Flamini and Pato (to a lesser extent) moving vertically we can hopefully look to move the ball more quickly up the pitch. Pirlo and Pato also drift horizontally, making it difficult to track players in the side.

It's essentially back to basics, but I think the team right now needs to restart with a fresh approach.

edit: forgot to add that in defence, Abate and Pirlo can drop back into midfield to make 2 lines of four looking like...

Antonini-----Nesta--Thiago-----Zambro
Abate------Ambro---Pirlo-------Flamini

Sorry for double posting, but just thought I'd say almost everywhere today is reporting Dinho will be benched tomorrow. Chances are Huntelaar will also be benched for Pippo and the fullbacks are at risk to losing their places (at least one will for Zambrotta).

I really hope goal.com is right this time...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1716/cha...arseille-milan

How about 4-2-3-1, like this:

---------------------------------------
--------------- Huntelaar -------------
---------------------------------------
--- Ronaldinho -- Pirlo ---- Pato -------
---------------------------------------
---------- Ambrosini - Flamini --------
---------------------------------------
-- Zambrotta - Nesta - Silva - Abate --
---------------------------------------
---------------- Storari --------------
---------------------------------------

Trying Abate in right-back position, it surely can't be any worse than Oddo. And we can even replace Jankulovski with Zambrotta.

Originally Posted by Rossoneri Fuego

what he hell is wrong with you people being that negative yes we're bad but dont you beleive we will step it up atleast in the CL? come on guys pirlo will probally start up top and i herd leonardo has to win if he doesnt hes sacked

It is not about being negative. It is being realistic. If we could manage a draw away, then we are in a good position to end up top 2 in the group.