UCL Final - Milan vs. Liverpool... Athens, May 23rd

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Zanetti 'In finale non tiferò Milan'

He's #4 after Mancini, Vieira and Moratti, but at least he was a gentleman with his statements.

He said he has many friends in both teams ( Mascherano, Simic, Seedorf, Grimi etc) but ,as Inter player, in the final he simply can't cheer for Milan and he'll be on Liverpool's side. But he said how Milan deserves the final and how it's stupid some people to make unuseful discussions about who's better between Milan and Inter since both teams are some of Europes best.

shows lack of grace and class IMO.
I wonder what Milan players and management would have said if they were asked this same question ... not that there will soon be a reason, just speaking hypothetically.
I bet their answers would have been very, very different

Originally Posted by Tony29.

but since we're on the same side for the final match, i decided not to write it here.
And i wasn't 100% sure

Is that for real?

I hope the ladder snaps on the way up and you end up back in Seria C - Only joking

Originally Posted by zlatanov

shows lack of grace and class IMO.
I wonder what Milan players and management would have said if they were asked this same question ... not that there will soon be a reason, just speaking hypothetically.
I bet their answers would have been very, very different

It just show how those merdas are being 'jealous' of our success. Even though, he could just show a little bit of respect.

well...merdas will always be merdas, from their president down to their fans

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

I don't particularly think Benitez is better than Carlo, maybe around equal I'd say.

Last time, Carlo tactically got the better of Benitez overall and I haven't seen Carlo ever coach as well as he has this half of the season, so I'm not too worried there.

Last time Milan's players crashed Liverpool in the first half, wasn´t the tatic, the principal factor was the team play between Kaká and Crespo

So Benitez made a good motivation and tatical job on the break and Liverpool did 3 goals

The only ones Liverpool's players that I wanted in Milan are Kuyt and Riise, the others aren´t necessary

If Liverpool didn´t have Benitez, this english team would not even got passed from the group stage

hey i heard that since liverpool is away team this time they are provided only 15000 tickets this time for there fans. is it true?? coz if it is, then the atmosphere for the finals would be in favour of milan

both teams should be given the same amount of tickets for their fans.. but it is the neutral tickets/uefa tickets that are free for every one.. in istanbul liverpool fans bought 95% of these neutral tickets.. so i dont think its gonna be in favour of milan.. thats a main reason why im not goin to athens

Originally Posted by forza.manish

hey i heard that since liverpool is away team this time they are provided only 15000 tickets this time for there fans. is it true?? coz if it is, then the atmosphere for the finals would be in favour of milan

That is completely not true...

UEFA awards both temas with equal number of tickets(in this case I think it was 9000)other tickets are for sponsors,neutral spectators,VIPs and the National Football Federation.

In 2005 POOL had more supporters cuz...they simply bought a lot of tickets in the black market(they can afford it) and there were speculation that Milan management or Milan supporters sold a great portion of the tickets to POOl fans,don`t know how true is this but 60% of the stadium that night was coverd with red(without the black).

What can we do...British are filthy reach,can buy us all

Originally Posted by zlatanov

as Jim mentioned, the lack of rest in probably half of our starters and the lack of proper preparation are probably a bigger reason than age for the team to run out of steam in the late stages of the game, although i think that the most difficult moments of that are behind us and the team looks pretty fit now after some good work in the winter break and the results and play are only confirming it.

We've been known as an "old" team for years now, yet we've often been better in the 2nd halves of games than the first, so age while being a factor to some extent is hardly the main one here.

I also think that it has s lot to do with losing motivation and deliberately, but unwisely, stepping off the gas once a game looks secure ... which was the case with the ManU game at OT, but - apart from 15 min at the beginning of the 2nd half - not as much as it was in the return game at SS when Milan had already learned form their mistakes.
Celtic also gave a lot of hope into taking the game to us after the 70th min but since those games were so close - in terms of the scoreline that is - milan never really gave them much space for the entire 90 min of the first game and the whole 120 min of the second game, at least not until we scored the goal in ET.

Also, Milan's preparation for the final will begin on Wednesday with the games vs Catania and Udinese seen as more of occasions to keep the team fit rather than a serious objective, so this will give us a good 2 weeks to prepare for the final and that means that ceratin players will go thru individual training regemes - like Seedorf did for the week before the game vs Bayern at the Arena - to be at their physical best vs Liverpool ... this will/should also take care of any difficulties players might have in the late stages of the game and allow them to be as competitive as possible when the 90th min approaches.

All in all, I wouldn't bet too much on Milan opening their door and inviting Pool in for a goal fest after the 70th min.

thanks zlatanov and Jim for the interesting posts.

Yes, I guess the disrupted pre-season training would have had an impact. Benitez said the same a few years ago, when we had to come back and start very early (mid summer) in the qualifying rounds of the CL. It really means no rest in the summer, and one's pre-season training camp is disrupted (we often train in switzerland)

Have you already qualified for next season's Champions League?

We have one final game left, on Sunday, against an already relegated team (Charlton) at Anfield. We area relady guaranteed a CL spot - and have been for a few weeks. It is just a matter of will we stay in third or drop into 4th in the Premiership. If we win, we should stay 3rd. If we draw or lose, Arsenal might take 3rd spot.

not sure if this is the right place to air this grievance. But I was disappointed today to come in and find this private message. Seeing as it is so hostile and deliberately sent via PM in order to avoid the moderators seeing it, i think it should be publically shared. I won't disclose the sender's handle (as yet).

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EDITED by zlatanov: this is really not the place to post such obscene PMs ... I will take this issue to the admin team and we'll discuss it and see what we'll do.
One thing's for sure, things like that should not happen to begin with.
and btw, that reference to Heysel already gave me an idea who the sender is.

Just ignore this kind of PM's. As a fan of an opponent team it's normal to get them at the beggining but this is a great forum . You have smart, intelligent, interesting and friendly members ( most of them actually). This is by far the best moderated forum on the internet, you can learn a lot here and you'll be accepted as nowhere else fans of rival teams are accepted.
But you'll have to live with these PM's at the beggining ( although i'd still brake every single bone of my "friend" who wished death to my children ). Usually you recieve them from 10-15 years old kids and if you think about it, it's not worthed to lose your sleep over what some 12 years old says !

I havent recieved such PM for more than 10 months , btw

Originally Posted by Tony29.

I don't wanna show off and i know it's hard to believe, but since his first comments i knew Rome 1977 was Pool fan.
It was very easy to spot it actually and i even started writing a post where i wanted to ask him to admit he's a Pool fan, but since we're on the same side for the final match, i decided not to write it here.
And i wasn't 100% sure

Hi Tony. I am just getting caught up here, and reading back through the last page or two of posts.

You are right regarding ignoring such PM's. But seeing as it was so nasty, and why do such people spend so long (10 minutes of their lives) wasted on writing such evil comments. But as the person wanted t ohide such a message in private, I like to bring it into the open. The poster in question, from memory, has nearly 800 posts in this forum.

On a different, more positive, topic - good that you caught me on early re being a Liverpool fan! I deliberately used the handle 'rome1977' - it was a major clue.

Best wishes.

Originally Posted by rome1977

thanks zlatanov and Jim for the interesting posts.

Yes, I guess the disrupted pre-season training would have had an impact. Benitez said the same a few years ago, when we had to come back and start very early (mid summer) in the qualifying rounds of the CL. It really means no rest in the summer, and one's pre-season training camp is disrupted (we often train in switzerland)

Have you already qualified for next season's Champions League?

We have one final game left, on Sunday, against an already relegated team (Charlton) at Anfield. We area relady guaranteed a CL spot - and have been for a few weeks. It is just a matter of will we stay in third or drop into 4th in the Premiership. If we win, we should stay 3rd. If we draw or lose, Arsenal might take 3rd spot.

Milan is almost sure to qualify in 3rd or 4th spot in Serie A - same as Pool I guess - as we are 7 pts clear from the team in 5th place with 3 more games to go. But like Pool, we would have to play one qualifying round in order to get into the groups of CL ... unless we win the CL final, of course ... then the winner will be granted directly a place in next year's CL and will not have to start their summer preparations too early.

Originally Posted by rome1977

On a different, more positive, topic - good that you caught me on early re being a Liverpool fan! I deliberately used the handle 'rome1977' - it was a major clue.

Actually, i never connected Rome and 1977 with Liverpool. I did find it strange how someone who registers just before the final has "Rome" and "1977" for nickname but i failed to connect it with champions cup final.

What i found extremely strange ( and then it was obvious as you kept writing) was how you completely agreed with every single post where Rafa and Pool were praised ( one of these post was writen by me and you even said it is a great post, something, at this moment, a Milan fan wouldn't have said ), how you enjoyed every anti-ManUtd post ( ) , how you commented on Sheva's 120 minute missed chance, how you praised Liverpool players, and most of all - how you labelled Maldini as an old player and you doubted if he was capable to cope with Pool's attack.

No Milan fan would have acted like you did, but every undercover Pool fan would have done exactly that

Originally Posted by zlatanov

Milan is almost sure to qualify in 3rd or 4th spot in Serie A - same as Pool I guess - as we are 7 pts clear from the team in 5th place with 3 more games to go. But like Pool, we would have to play one qualifying round in order to get into the groups of CL ... unless we win the CL final, of course ... then the winner will be granted directly a place in next year's CL and will not have to start their summer preparations too early.

you have Liverpool to thank for that UEFA rule change in the summer of 2005!

It is interesting how both Milan and Liverpool are in similar positions in their respective leagues.

Yes, ideally a team wants to avoid those qualifying rounds.

Zlat, are you completely sure the CL winner won't have to play CLQ matches ? It sounds logical and it was a rule in the past ( it happened with Milan in 2003/04 when they finished 3rd but won the CL) , still i'm not sure if it's stil the same rule. I know UEFA made some changes regarding the CL winner's participation if they don't get to be in top4, but i never heard if they changed or didn't change this rule about CL winner not playing Q matches, so i wondered what will happen !

And if that's really the case then both You and Pool will have to say SORRY to Dinamo Bucarest fans. They were guaranteed CL groups stage place, but only in case the winner of this year's CL to get the CL groups spot anyway by finishing first or second in their league.
Now with England or Italy having 3 teams to play directly in group stages, without Q matches, poor Dinamo Bucaresti will have to play Q matches