AC Milan vs. Real Madrid: Kaka's return to the San Siro

I'm not sure if this is 100% right. But I remember the announcer saying something that any time Milan meets Madrid in the CL, we go on to win the CL.

I'm not sure the exact phrase or the conditions, but that'd be pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Samaldinho

I'm not too bothered by the result. We beat them in Madrid, that's good enough from me.

I think the team will be disappointed with the draw, but at the same time, you could tell that neither team really wanted to make a mistake or risk anything.

This is the sort of performance I expect from Dinho, he ran hard today. Seedorf deserves major kudos for the way he played today. He really was exceptional.

Pato seemed to lose some steam after he got his yellow card. That being said, he really setup Inzaghi well, but, again, I think the whole team kind of just, calmed down and seemed okay with the draw.

too many decisions against Pato but the Ref as well as the linesman seemed blind. The yellow-carded foul was absolute non-sense, since Pato chested the ball down.

I know Rossoneri! I can't understand how many times Pato, Dinho, or Borriello had to be smacked into before we would get some free-kicks!

How Lass evaded a yellow card is beyond me.

I really wish Pato's goal counted, he deserved as much.

i didn't like seedorf's game as much as you guys, he lost a lot of balls in attack, especially in the first half. but you could see he was trying, he wasnt your typical slowdorf, and that's good enough for me.

dida is really surprising me, another good performance. although you could see he has troubles with positioning (that's why drenthe scored in madrid, and kaka (i think) came very close tonight).

pato was awesome, and you could see on madrid's defenders how much he frustrated them. pippo's chance was the biggest dissapointment, those are "his" situations. he scores all of his goals from similar opportunities, why didn't he do it tonight

Actually, if we are sure to beat Zurich, we can lose against Marseille as long as the score is 1-0 (if 2-1, it's the goal difference and their 6-1 is too big, and if it's 3-2, 4-3, 2-0, etc, Marseille would be ahead of us).

But the best would be to beat Marseille to be sure to qualify, and beat Zurich too to be sure to be first of that group ...

I love Pippo but he has been a bit disappointing lately. He has been missing goals that he always used to make.

Zambrotta has gotten a lot of heat lately but he was very good tonight. Pato was dangerous. I love watching him play. Is there any doubt we have the best centerback duo in Europe? Seedorf and Ambro played their hearts out. They need a rest though. Pirlo was fine, not great but fine. Oddo was probably our worse player of the evening, he did very little. Borriello was solid but nothing special. Its a pitty Pippo didnt take advantage of his chances to win the game. still love him. Dida gives far too many second chances my not holding on to the ball. I think he has played well the past few games, but I still prefer Stoari or Abbati. And last, Dinho had a very good game. He has played some of his best games against Madrid. I wish he would run and play like this every game

Ambro and Seedorf share MOM for me tonight.

Ronnie was great. Hope he keeps it up.

Originally Posted by pirlofanusa

Zambrotta has gotten a lot of heat lately but he was very good tonight. Pato was dangerous. I love watching him play. Is there any doubt we have the best centerback duo in Europe? Seedorf and Ambro played their hearts out. They need a rest though. Pirlo was fine, not great but fine. Oddo was probably our worse player of the evening, he did very little. Borriello was solid but nothing special. Its a pitty Pippo didnt take advantage of his chances to win the game. still love him. Dida gives far too many second chances my not holding on to the ball. I think he has played well the past few games, but I still prefer Stoari or Abbati. And last, Dinho had a very good game. He has played some of his best games against Madrid. I wish he would run and play like this every game

Actually, I thought Nesta was uncharacteristically awkward today. Oddo was just as good as Zambrotta, to be honest. I love how our midfield is a lot more fluid these days. Sometimes its a flat 3, then it changes and its a square with Pirlo/Ambro behind Seedorf/Ronnie, and then it becomes a 4231 with Ronnie/Seedorf/Pato behind the target man. Leo is exciting.

Originally Posted by pirlofanusa

If Dida had some glue on his gloves we win.

Stuff it. If we knew how to shoot and if Pato's goal was allowed, we would've won.

Dida in this game made two mistakes: when he shot the ball directly in touch at the start of the game (after a pass from one of our defenders), and on a corner, he didn't manage to take properly the ball, which could have resulted by a goal (but if he didn't touch the ball at all, it was goal for Real).

He isn't at fault on the goal because if you look at the shot of Kaka', one of our players touches the ball, which changes the trajectory of the ball (instead of going in the hands of Dida, it went to his legs/body) ...

ambrosini was the man of the match by far..seedorf was not good today imo,he seemed tired and disapeared in a lot of cases..dinho is whole different player the last matches,pato was good..pirlo tried a lot defensively,its the first time in 2 years that he made so many tackles..

anyway its really emportant to finish 1st this year,because inter and juve seem to finish 2nd(which means we avoid them,and their opponents,as barca) and all the gr8 sides are 1st too.whereas the 2nds are not wc teams this year..

How anyone categorizes the Madrid goal as a mistake is CRAZY ! Have any of you played football? Have any of you hit a rocket at a goalie and he made a deflection save? The shot was going away from him, he knocked it down, WHERES THE DEFENSE? The commentator made an excellent point. How come every time a goalie gets a piece of the ball, the strikers come running forward,but the defenders stand and watch? **** happens in sports, theres not always BLAME to go to someone, it was a bang bang play and it happened. You wanna blame the midfielders for not closing down on Kaka for the shot? How bout Seedorf who watched Kaka dribble in front of him and put in a half assed effort tackle? TEAM EFFORT PEOPLE.

Excellent point Geo

Originally Posted by GeoTav

He isn't at fault on the goal because if you look at the shot of Kaka', one of our players touches the ball, which changes the trajectory of the ball (instead of going in the hands of Dida, it went to his legs/body) ...

I think Milan might've deserved a little bit more, but, hey, that's football. I think both teams were okay with the draw, and neither really wanted to risk too much.

If I were to give my ratings, I would offer:

Dida - 6.5 His save on Raul is the only reason he gets this rating. I don't think he really pulled off another good save, the one against Marcelo earlier was easier than he made it look. It really has to be said that his way of clearing really puts Milan in very tough positions. I think Storari could have made his saves, without giving up that goal. But, who knows? Maybe Storari couldn't. Still, it's amazing how the easy stuff Dida messes up on, but he can make incredible saves.

Oddo - 6.0 I don't think he was as destroyed by Marcelo as much as other people have said. Yes, he did have a tough time with him, but, it's also because he did not get as much help from the midfield as did our left side. Didn't push forward as much, but I think he's helped settle down our fullback issues.

Nesta - 7.0 Top class. It was Nesta. Is there much else to say?

Thiago Silva - 7.0 He really compliments Nesta well. He is physical, strong, fast, and likes to push forward. It's great to watch them, I honestly think they might be the best CB pairing in Europe. He will start scoring goals for us once he gets that first one, I think he can be a 5ish goal scorer for us.

Zambrotta - 7.0 Fantastic. Defended well, and attacked well. Won the penalty for us, sure it wasn't that great of a decision, but it gave us insurance, especially seeing as how Pato's goal mysteriously got disallowed. I think he'd be a better choice on the right, and Antonini (injured?) would do well on the left. Oddo is doing well, but if Zambro is on form, we all know he starts over any of our FBs, or most FBs in the world.

Ambrosini - 7.15 He really led by example, he pushed Kaka out of the game, and worked extremely hard to get the ball back. His attacking instincts are poor and it hurts us. I don't expect him to attack, but I don't see why Pirlo can't be the one rushing forward and Ambro be the one to track back. Anyways, great job captain.

Pirlo - 6.10 Odd scoring system? I know. But Pirlo is not doing what we all know he can. I think he's the last piece of Milan's puzzle. It seems Oddo, Antonini, and Zambro are picking up the slack. Seedorf is running, so is Dinho, and I think the only thing left for Milan to be firing on all cylinders is Pirlo. That being said, he made a lot of tackles, and distributed the ball well from the back. I just wish he told Ambro to hang back and he was the one to push forward more, because when he does, we look better.

Seedorf - 7.5 Wow, wow, and wow. Now, I've said this before. I am not a particular Seedorf fan, but I was impressed with his running, his passing, his holding the ball, how he brought others into the game. Fantastic stuff, I can't think of a player who can do the things he does, he really is rare in world football.

Pato - 7.0 Should have had a goal. Terrorized Real's defense. I can't believe that goal was disallowed, I really can't see why. Setup Inzaghi, really put in a great performance. I think we're starting to see Pato turn into the player he can be. It's not complete yet, but we're starting to see him emerge.

Borriello - 5.0 He tried a little too much today. Too much dribbling, and I don't think he worked as hard as he has before, and that's why he was taken off. He has stuck on for the 90 minutes without being a goal scoring threat, but today he did not match his previous levels of effort. Hope he will be ready for the Lazio game, he knows he can do better.

Ronaldinho - 7.0 Not as good as he can be, in the attack department. However, he took his penalty very well, and distributed the ball very well. Combined with Zambro and Seedorf in fantastic ways, creating space that was never there. He did not match the attacking exploits against Parma, but he was never going to get that kind of space. The important thing was that today, Dinho worked really hard for the ball. He tackled Kaka off the ball at the top of our box, it was fantastic.

Subs:

Inzaghi - 5.5 Came on and caused problems with his movement. Won a corner with his first shift. Somehow missed Pato's square pass to him, but, he might not be full of confidence right now.

Originally Posted by xvr11

How anyone categorizes the Madrid goal as a mistake is CRAZY ! Have any of you played football? Have any of you hit a rocket at a goalie and he made a deflection save? The shot was going away from him, he knocked it down, WHERES THE DEFENSE? The commentator made an excellent point. How come every time a goalie gets a piece of the ball, the strikers come running forward,but the defenders stand and watch? **** happens in sports, theres not always BLAME to go to someone, it was a bang bang play and it happened. You wanna blame the midfielders for not closing down on Kaka for the shot? How bout Seedorf who watched Kaka dribble in front of him and put in a half assed effort tackle? TEAM EFFORT PEOPLE.

Excellent point Geo

I was irritated by the comments of the French commentators, Marcel Dessailly and another guy, who said many times during the game that Dida cost us a goal in Santiago Bernabeu (which is true) and cost us the goal of tonight ...