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

Anyone has the highlits?

Nice game, Gourcuff surprised me in a wonderful way!


And in Canada, the TLN commentating was about 3 seconds behind, so you would hear the guy scream "DIIIIIDAAAA" long after a shot on goal had been saved and cleared to the other side of the pitch. A minor price to have to pay to be able to see the game live though.

Can I help you two, Both serbians and Greeks are really hard to play against in thery`re stadiums, I was in beograd against Red Star and it really was hell but Milan are to experienced to fall for that, teams like Arsenal and Lyon may fall but not Milan,not Players like Maldini and Nesta and Seedorf.

Gourcuff is an excelent player
he is doing everything in miedfield

We're fortunate to have an easy group, this will hopefully allow the 'squad' players to play more games and give us a chance to rest key players.

Well, an excellent performance, far more than I actually expected. In all honesty, AEK were out of their league, but we can be proud of the team tonight. I'm beginning to have a lot of optimism for this season. I have mentioned somewhere that I thought this squad was about as strong as the last few seasons, now I'm slowly believing its stronger. Key players are regaining fitness (especially strengthens the defence), the midfield looks very very good (Brocchi could earn himself a starting spot regularly at this level of play) and the attack looks good. We have some very interesting new talent, which is very positive.

Player rundown..

Dida - solid and performed well when called on.
Cafu - Never tired, ran the flank superbly.
Maldini - I've been hearing he's finished a lot this summer, certainly doesn't look it.
Simic - Minor mistakes made, but solid overall.
Favalli - Solid, did the job as expected.
Brocchi - Another good performance, his versality is a great asset too.
Rino - typical Rino, loved him juggling the ball with his head at the end.
Kaka - Great game, all over AEK, ruthless throughout.
Gourcuff - What can I say, not only a goal, but a performance to boot. I've been hoping he'd turn out a bit special, if he continues like today, expect this guy to be our big signing this summer.
Oliveira - decent performance. Still finding his feet, but good movement and looks sharp.
Pippo - SuperPippo is back, great to see!

Wonderful team performance today, solid, professional and classy. Quite frankly, we don't say too much with words, we talk on the pitch. I saw a concentrated Milan that looks determined this season. Experience, solidity, youth, excitement and teamwork have typified this team so far this season. Its early, but its a start I didn't imagine us to make.

Finally, just to add to the joy, Inter and Real we're enjoyable to watch!

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

I've read a few reviews of the game and they seem to suggest that we misplaced alot of passes and alot of moves broke down. I don't know if this is true or not, but it makes me think that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. This was only AEK after all, widely recognised as one of the weakest teams in the competition, so i don't see this being a yardstick for the rest of our season. All it can be is an exercise into getting fitness and fluency.

A professional performance considering the circumstances i think.

Lets just continue like this, Parma is next

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

I've read a few reviews of the game and they seem to suggest that we misplaced alot of passes and alot of moves broke down. I don't know if this is true or not, but it makes me think that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. This was only AEK after all, widely recognised as one of the weakest teams in the competition, so i don't see this being a yardstick for the rest of our season. All it can be is an exercise into getting fitness and fluency.

A professional performance considering the circumstances i think.

Do you ever have out positive to say? The reviews are talking crap.Theres not a better forward on better form than Pippo at the moment

I have plenty of positive things to say and i'll say them when the time calls for it.

Just as i won't castrate the team if they play badly after 2 games in the season, i also won't be jumping from the rooftops because we beat a poor team 3-0. They did well, they were professional and there were encouraging signs, i recognised all of this. So just because i'm not singing and dancing about our win it means i'm being negative?

If the reviews are talking crap then you best contact the people that wrote them, i'm only saying what i read.

I agree with jim... mostly i would like to tighten the defence. Attack is looking very good this year.

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

I have plenty of positive things to say and i'll say them when the time calls for it.

Just as i won't castrate the team if they play badly after 2 games in the season, i also won't be jumping from the rooftops because we beat a poor team 3-0. They did well, they were professional and there were encouraging signs, i recognised all of this. So just because i'm not singing and dancing about our win it means i'm being negative?

If the reviews are talking crap then you best contact the people that wrote them, i'm only saying what i read.

Ok Jim calm down
Its not that poor of a group i remember Man Utd having a weak group last year but not getting through. It will be alot harder game in Athens as there strong over there and a draw my be a good result.

Bring on Lille next in the CL

Originally Posted by peters

I agree with jim... mostly i would like to tighten the defence. Attack is looking very good this year.

Kaladze has not stated a game yet and Dida looks back to his best, Maldini is playing like a 24 year old its just Cafu gets caught out alot dont get me wrong he had a good game tonight

The thing is that we are not predictable anymore which was the case the last years, we didnt change a lot of players but we are changing the way of playing which is good.
I really dont remember the last a game we played without having Pirlos deep crosses( our at least somebody trying to replace him). today we played short passes till the box than we crossed wich turned out to be good. With Oliveira, Gourcuff and better Kaka(playing all over the pitch) we have more options in the attack. The thing that worries me is the defense, Cafu is doing great, And Sergio,Janku and Favalli can cover the left flank, but the central defenders need to start playing more together, couse we are changing them every game. Defenders need to play more together so they could understand themselves better.

short ratings:

Dida 6. Did what he should do. No worries.
Cafu 6.5. Had many runs and keeps possession in the team.
Simic 6.5. Very solid, you didn't see him, but he was there.
Maldini 7. Missed his mark once, otherwise very good and a very good assist.
Favalli 5.5. Our worst performer IMO. Did nothing in offense and they had most of their danger on his side.
Gattuso 6. Did his work, his usual hard work.
Brocchi 6.5. Did good work and played around the ball calmly if not spectacular.
Gourcuff 7.5. Was involved in many of our best moves, his passes is accurate and usually good decisions. Good goal also.
Kaka 6.5. Did some nice things and moved around with the ball well. But he blew a couple of counters with bad decisions. He should have score at least one goal (beside the penalty)
Oliveira 6. Had problems setting his mark on the game, but didn't waste the ball when he got it, except the header.
Inzaghi 7. Did really well overall and scored.