AC Milan vs. Barca (1/2 CL, 1st leg)

Dont worry too much, even if they know how to beat us its another thing doing it and besides PSV never actually got past us

It is going to be hard but I have the feeling that we are going to make it through and face Arsenal in the final. As long as we are careful with their two deadly wingers(Ronnie and Messi), and keep an eye on Eto'o, there is absolutely no reason for us to destroy Barca.
Their defence is not reliable(with the exception of Puyol) and Valdes is notorious for making deadly mistakes every once in a while, although I still think he is a good keeper overall.

FORZA MILAN, take us back to May 1994 again

Wait.. Is Messi sidelined for this game? Can somebody confirm whether he is playing or not?

Originally Posted by slicknick

Wait.. Is Messi sidelined for this game? Can somebody confirm whether he is playing or not?

Yeah, he is definitely out. Actually from the looks of it, he would be out for about 3-4 weeks, at least, which means he will miss the game in Barcelona, as well. There are fears he might miss the world cup too should theer be any complications.

That'd be a shame, I don't want him to play vs. Milan but I definetely want him to showcase his talents at the World Cup.

Most probably he won't miss the WC but I am not sure if he would be at his best there.
Actually, I would have preferred to see him play vs Milan so that there aren't any excuses after we eliminate Barca. Seeing Messi being taken out of the game, would have made the rest of Europe respect Milan even more than they do now.
Forza Milaaaaaaaan !!!!!!!!!!!

I still have the great believe that to defeat barca is to take the game against them. ONE of the way to kill barca is to fully utilised our wing men. Somehow I believe that ancelotti won't start serginho with cafu but I hope he does.

And I will say it again...take our Ronaldinho and barca is just a normal team (apart from puyol and messi )

I have great believe even the odds are against us

Originally Posted by humanTORCH

I still have the great believe that to defeat barca is to take the game against them. ONE of the way to kill barca is to fully utilised our wing men. Somehow I believe that ancelotti won't start serginho with cafu but I hope he does.

And I will say it again...take our Ronaldinho and barca is just a normal team (apart from puyol and messi )

I have great believe even the odds are against us

i believe in maldini! maldini would lead milan to victory yet again. i don't see why we should be so afraid of ronaldino, i clearly remember gatusso taking really good care of him the last time we played. He can't even get past gatusso when in 1 on 1 situation and gatusso look really fired up against inter when he showcase his ronaldinho-like skill. i am sure gatusso would keep ronaldinho quiet especially at san siro.

i still believe we should go all out for the victory, take the game to them and we would surely do well.

Originally Posted by hwmook

i believe in maldini! maldini would lead milan to victory yet again. i don't see why we should be so afraid of ronaldino, i clearly remember gatusso taking really good care of him the last time we played. He can't even get past gatusso when in 1 on 1 situation and gatusso look really fired up against inter when he showcase his ronaldinho-like skill. i am sure gatusso would keep ronaldinho quiet especially at san siro.

i still believe we should go all out for the victory, take the game to them and we would surely do well.

It's not about being afraid of Dinho...it's about scoring goals so that we have an edge before the return of the 2nd leg. keeping a clean sheet is no way easy for the team like barca. Out of nowhere player like dinho can scored like he did to us on the last match.(pure magic ). do you think that gatusso can erase him for the whole 90 mins?
whichever team gonna win deserve to win the CL and deep down my heart say it's my beloved Milan

Anyway just watched Milan-Barca final 1994. Savicevic was superb and scoring a great goal.

One thing is similiar to the Milan today that is we are playing as underdog.
Hope that we will teach Barca some lessons on football.

Milan now is a rather aged team, we normally suffer against young teams with high spirit like PSV, Lion (building their physical play on team) but not the big one like BM, Barca building their show around a star because Carlo can tell the mid field excactly what to do.

I think we must start which both Cafu and Serginho which not necessarily means we will attack like hell in both wing. Somehow Cafu always helps ball possession which is the most important thing. Everyone should know that Cafu never makes very good crosses like Serginho they are both wingers but different types. Carlo may just tell Cafu not to run.

It looks like:
Dida (my heart jumps)
Cafu-Nesta-Kala-Serginho
Kaka-Pirlo-Gastuso-Seedorf
Pippo-Sheva

Maldini, Rui, Ambrosini, Voggel will come in when we need to change our tactics for some reasons.

It looks like Messi will be available at the point of CL final, but that is the game between Milan and Villareal, nothing to do with Barca.

Im not for the option that Maldini play LB in this match, Serginho plays really good and can cause many problems to Barcas defence. BUT, playing Cafu-Serginho means we will not be so compact in the defence. Still I thjink Serginho can do more damage than Cafu right now. We simply need to win this one by any score, 1-0, 2-1 its all ok. even 0-0. But we ned to be extra carefull not to concede first.
Few long balls to Pippo and Sheva can be a good solution at times, and its about time we score from some corner kick!

Inzaghi to miss barca clash?

Pippo Inzaghi is suffering from a bout of tonsillitis and is a major doubt for Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final with Barcelona.

The Milan striker already had to skip the 1-0 derby victory over Inter due to a high temperature and over the weekend it developed into full-blown tonsillitis.


He is undergoing treatment and taking large doses of antibiotics in a bid to have him in good shape for the first leg encounter at San Siro on Tuesday evening, but it’s becoming increasingly unlikely this will happen in time.


It would be an extremely heavy blow to Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who pushed past Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter-final thanks to an Inzaghi brace.


The former Juventus hitman is perhaps the Rossoneri’s form player in Europe at the moment, scoring four goals in the last three games.


His replacement, Alberto Gilardino, is still looking for his first Champions League goal following a £17m move from Parma in the summer and has netted just twice in the last two months.


With this in mind and Barcelona’s all-attack football, Ancelotti could be tempted to fall back on the Christmas Tree formation that helped him to win this tournament in 2003.


Manuel Rui Costa could come in to help Kaka support lone striker Andriy Shevchenko, who is now the most prolific ever marksman in the Champions League with 52 goals.


Barcelona also have problems coming into Tuesday’s game, as they will be without the injured Lionel Messi and Henrik Larsson. Ronaldinho was rested for Friday’s 1-0 Liga win over Villarreal as he tries to recover from a pulled right thigh muscle.


The two teams met in last season’s Group stage, Milan winning 1-0 at San Siro and losing 2-1 to a last-gasp Ronaldinho strike at the Nou Camp.


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i cant really see ancelloti playing the xmas tree formation, Belusconi demands 2 forwards. I think this might be a chance for Gilardino to shine, he scored in the Albertini tribute match, plus i think he was unlucky against Inter...... Against bayern and lyon we did not play Inzaghi in the first leg, this might be ok for us?

I really wish Pippo can play this one, we need his experience and magic in the box! thre are 2 days left, he can still get fit.

If we have Inzaghi out then it's a blow to our chances, he is really the only reason we have got this far. With gila in the line up it will be like we are playing wit 10 men in europe.