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

Originally Posted by Egoistka

Why Stam is doubtful?

sorry no probs with stam! only pippo

I shall not be getting much sleep.

I did want to say a word about Gila and his importance of late.

The way he has been holding up the ball has been quite nice to see. Hopefully tomorrow he can break free and score.

Forza Milan! Rossonero siamo noi!

Something to say:

1/ No Stam + Maldini combination because of lack of pace, remember Eto and Roni is very fast ones. Nesta and Kala is a proven one. Everyone should remember that both Kala and Nesta scored recently so they are at very high spirit.

2/ Better play Cafu on the right to help the mid field controlling the game and Cafu has pace.

3/ Better play Serginho because this is a home game which we must attack and score. Also Serginho has speed to deal with Eto or whoever playing on our left. Other way to defend our left wing is Serginho + Seedorf + Kaka will put some pressure by attacking at this wing.

4/ I have not seen Milan play 5-5-0 but we have done so with 4-6-0, of cause this happened (last year, I can remember which game it was) for about 15 dying minutes only in which we led and tried to rest strikers.

5/ Gila (should he starts this game) can should use his youth and strength to create menace to the Barca defence, Milan needs to win but not necessarily he has to score.

6/ Perhaps it is now to think of the second leg. Eto and Van Bommel has a yellow card, if Nesta gives him some tricky and clean marking he (Eto especially) may commit another booking and be out of the return game.

7/ Long range shorts should be a very good weapon for Pirlo and Seedorf, I miss Pippo in that case to pick up the pieces.

8/ Some facts:
* Milan played the last 10 SFs and there were that all 10 finals (the last SF loss was back in the 50s against RM) and 6 cups.
* Barca played the last 8 SFs, 4 of them became finals and win 1 cup.
* Sheva scored 5 goals in 4 games against Barca (3 at Dinamo Kiev, 2 at Milan) and always scored on Barca for Milan.

Thi is going to be another Sheva's day though the team will do very well.

I cant wait until the game!! it will be an incredible game no doubt these are the two teams in Europe. As for the Line up i have a doubt for the RB and LB the 2 center backs will be Nesta and Kaladze. Maldini is good as a LB but i dont thin he can attack like serginho even though he can defend better so i hope ancelotti makes the right decision. And for the Right back its the same story for Cafu and Stam. So line up should look like this

Dida
Cafu/Stam Nesta Kaladze Maldini/Serginho
Pirlo
Gatusso Seedorf
Kaka
Gilardino Shevchenko

I say our back line should look likethis: Cafu-Nesta-Stam-Maldini...
Kaladze is not a world class, he had some horrible games this season. Don't forget that they can surprise us, Ronnie can play everywhere, including behind Eto'o.

Originally Posted by alex22

This is my line-up for the game:

Dida
Cafu-Nesta-Stam-Maldini
Pirlo
Seedorf-Gattuso
Kaka
Sheva-Gila

Same old Milan from last year, that made it to the final.
About Kaladze...when Stam, Nesta or Maldini doing a good job in defence it's going unnoticed 'cause they are simply doing what's they supposed, but when Kaladze does the same everyone here shouts from top of a roof how great he is... I still prefere to see Nesta-Maldini\Stam in center, so we should relax a little bit with this so called "Kaladze great shape". I still think that 70% of Stam is equal to 100& of Kaladze.
And about our attack... some people here gave up to fast on Gila, but not me. I don't think that Inzaghi is better than Gila, and maybe tomorow we will see why. I think Gila has some skills that Inzaghi doesn't...
And what about all this sh*t, the Roni-mania that is going on? People treating him like he is god, and what's that BS I heard that Carlo put his posters in the locker room or whatever... WTF??? We can do this fools, we shouldn't be afraid. I have to admit that I'm getting goose-bumps when I think about the match, but we have to believe that it's in our hands. We have prestige, class... look at our players, every one of them if not a legend than at least a professional that made a huge mark in football community. We are the Grande Milan, if we give our all we should prevail.
Now if we lose, than it will be the biggest loss in the last 4-5 years. I mean previously when we lost we always had "good reasons" and we outclassed our opponent but simply because our stupidity let the victory slip (Depor, Liverpool...). But this time there will be no excuses, it's to live or to die. For the last 4 years everytime Milan gave their 100% u could be sure we would win no matter who is the opponent. So if we won't beat Barca... it's all over. This year is a corner-stone in Milan's history, what it's going to be??? Another nice team in the big history that won one Scudetto and one lucky CL, or a great team that dominated europe for half a decate and won atleast 2 CL cups (we still have a chanse next year, but only if we win this year). So people the stakes are high, our encounter with Barca will be historical, we the fans that lived through it will remember it for very long time.
Forza Milan!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a Rossoneri in my heart, don't mind all the nonsense I said before. Our squad is unique, it's built on such values that no money can buy, like companionship and devotion...love to your team. I'm proud to be a Milan fan, no matter what is the result tomorow. Our squad is made of heroes, legends, unique individuals... this team made us suffer and joy like almost nothing else in our life, tomorow we will stand together... AC MILAN.

why do you STILL want to see nesta maldini in center, are you dissatisfied with the deffence performance?, and why "Kaladze great shape" - is SO CALLED??, does he make errors??, give me one.
about barca game, For me loosing because of stupidity, lack of concentration and overconfidence ( the reasons why we lost with deportivo and liverpool) is much worse than loosing in a big game just because at this moment oponent was a bit better, or had bigger luck.
Times when one club dominated for 4-5 years in Europe passed, with novedays competition its almost impossible so if even milan loses this tie, the squad of this formation has anyway done good 1 CL 1 scudetto plus always in semifinals and final of CL, this, today is a great job for any team, even for Milan, if we win, and then eventualy we become CL holders than you can say milan once again shined so brightly that blinded all nerriazzruri and merdazurri eyes
it is not a corner- stone in MILAN history, may be it is a corner-stone for this formation but not for MILAN, because MILAN already is th team of etternal Glory, we do not win now we win later, but sure we win, because Milan is winner, but as for this formation this could be a corner-stone, and I think thats why they gonna put their best and win.
Our team is much more matur and experienced and we should use it, I do believe we gonna go through

Originally Posted by alex22

I say our back line should look likethis: Cafu-Nesta-Stam-Maldini...
Kaladze is not a world class, he had some horrible games this season. Don't forget that they can surprise us, Ronnie can play everywhere, including behind Eto'o.

you seem to look at big names not the actual performance, kaladze had some horrible games?, could be but when was his last?, and what about last 10 games?, and is stam always so clean and perfect?

Alex22.

We do not need a world class player, we need a player at good form. You will not see both Stam and Maldini start at the same time at the left, they simply do not have speed the most you will see is one of them either LB or RB but I suppose Carlo will play Cafu-Nesta-Kala-Serginho for the reason I said before.

No minhduc... If Stam is fit than Carlo will play Cafu-Nesta-Stam-Maldini, and if not than it should be Cafu-Nesta-Maldini-Kaladze/Serginho. And u say we need speed, well how fast is Kaladze?
And Georgian, as I already said Kaladaze is way too overrated, I explained it in that post u quoted. His horable matches? Well I admit recently he is not bad, like he was against PSV or Parma (4-3.. remember) but still I don't think he is good enough. He did huge mistakes against Lyon that luckily didn't cost us, remember that pass of his that was cut off in our own box in france, and in sec leg at the San-Siro there were problems too... for example the goal that Diarra scored, remember the huge hole we had in center of defence with 3 Lyon players in it?
He is a good player, but others are simply better.

Btw It seems another whole stadium coreo is prepared for the Gran Galà
I'm sure the guys will reserve something unbelievable just cause they didn't make their best in the last derby.

I believe something really big is on the cards, it's the last CL match IN SAN SIRO

I just want Milan to put a great show, I don't care about the result.

Giovanni, do you mean that Milan is going to have a new stadium so soon as next year? noway! if the clud were to deside in this direction it will be a big big discussion before it is really decided and it would take 3 years or so to build. So we still see the CL shows in San Siro for other 3-4 years at the very least. May be by that time we have another 2 CL cups so the museum would have to be bigger.

Alex22, may be you can say that Kala does not have the racing speed but his movement (turning around) is faster as he is younger. Stam is too heavy, slow turning and he makes some positioning error. I do agree to play him when we need to stop someone like Adriano, Drogba but not Eto, Roni, Guli and and I do agree that Stam can make killing headers. I doubt Carlo will play stam as he is back from injury. we do not know his form. But his recovery is a blessing to the team.

lol Amoroso will score hat-trick :rofl:

Originally Posted by King tiger

lol Amoroso will score hat-trick :rofl:

anything is possible! actually we never count his experience. he can be very useful if gila fails to make a mark! i wud love to see him score

I would start like this :

Dida, Cafu, Nesta, Maldini/Kaladze, Serginho, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Kaka, Sheva, Gila.

Kaladze had some good games recently at the backn but played bad against Lyon and Lecce. Maldini is more experienced for a game like this, and is still a world class defender, although he didn't play for a long time. Hard to choose between both of them. I considered leaving Pirlo out for Ambrosini, but although Pirlo had not been in great shape recently, he still can give 1 good pass or shot 1 free-kick that could be a goal. If u see that he's not having a good game, don't hesitate to replace him for Ambro, who is a dangerous header as we all know. I hope Gila can prove that he is worth of playing for Milan and can show something in the Champions League.
Forza Milan !