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

Originally Posted by redconn

he had an OK match in the second leg but nothing great
the first leg vs Chelsea he wasn't very good

he's 5th choice at best for centre mid and/or left mid and I just think some are frustrated we've had to drop that low in the pecking order to field a left side.

he's better than he gets credit for but isn't who we'd hope to play especially in the CL

I think he was one of the main reasons you came out on top in the second game. I know you have players of higher quality but hes the only player you had available at the time and I think if he was fit he would of played some part in the final.

good luck in the final next wednesday,

if you get a good lead this time,try and hold onto it.
(ha ha)

prediction: milan 3 scousers 1

It's unlikely that Zenden will be with us next season. Rafa has said as much a week ago.

As redconn says, the lad was very poor in the first Chelsea game, and no major shakes in the second game.

But I had hoped if called upon, that he could have been our Smicer type player in the final. I still think he may be ok for the game.

It's wierd how the picture/lineup from 2003 here isn't much different from the team we'll probably field on Wednesday, though we have'll have Gila for Sheva/Pippo (worse atm), Kaka for Rui (better) and Oddo for Billy (aahhhh?) and maybe Janku.

Forza Milan! We simply have to win, though I have a bad feeling about this - and keep having flashbacks of Istanbul! I'll be in the pub on Wednesday, with a couple LUFC mates from uni wearing my 'Inzaghi' Milan shirt, and with no thers Milan fans in sight. Hhhmmm ...

i am also havin flashbacks of istanbul..givin me a bad feeling coming into this game

Does anyone know what the odds were for the istanbul final and this athens final? Were we favored in 2005?

I have a great feeling about this final, and anyone can make fun of me if they like but i feel the score will be 4-1 Milan erasing the memories of istanbul.
4-1
4-1
4-1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6phEjKCeZNg&NR=1

No Fear!!!!!!!!!!!! Kaka is Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just give it your best shot, that's all you can do.

We need Pippo for the final.Please Ancelotti!!!!!!!!!!
it's the final countdown....less than 5 days..
Forza Milan

damn first time i see highlights of the liverpool-milan game.. i always refuse to see any clips because after i saw it in front of my own eyes i just didnt wanna remember anything again.. but kaka did really really play good in that final.. much better than the Kaka we have seen this year!! (i think)

lets hope the Kaka we know shows up and same goes to Rino/Seedorf/Pirlo/Nesta/Pippo.. EVERYONE.. oh yeah and especially DIDA!!

FORZA MILAN, I CANT WAIT. Im so afraid of liverpool only because that they are probably the luckiest team in history of football. No wait scratch that, the luckiest team in all sports. Just take a look at their last 5 games of their 2005 CL winning campaign and know that they have never lost on penalties and i think 3 out of their 5 CL wins' were in penalties (or was it 4?)

We were tens of classes higher than them in 2005 but God wanted them to win that night. When Sheva misses from 2 shots from 2 yards, when the keeper is Dudek and he is not even looking.. it means that you have no more hope left. I saw Chelsea miss a couple of really dangerous chances at Anfield and Liverpool were very lucky at Nou Camp. Not to mention they are in the final by winning on penalties. That is what gives me the creeps, they've had luck all along and I just pray that God gives luck to us this time round.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

Im so afraid of liverpool because that they are probably the luckiest team in all sports.

the more we practice, and the harder we work, the luckier we seem to get.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

We were tens of classes higher than them in 2005 but God wanted them to win that night.

nothing was going to stop us.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

Not to mention they are in the final by winning on penalties. That is what gives me the creeps.....they have never lost on penalties

you will have to try and win it in normal time, because Liverpool are like Germany when it comes to winning penalty shoot-outs.

But have no fears my friend. You can but give it your best shot.

[/quote]I saw Chelsea miss a couple of really dangerous chances at Anfield and Liverpool were very lucky at Nou Camp. Not to mention they are in the final by winning on penalties. That is what gives me the creeps, they've had luck all along and I just pray that God gives luck to us this time round.[/quote]

comments like this wind me up to no end

the final in 05 fair enough you had control of most of the game and could've easily won it - as for us getting there that year and this isn't luck

I don't know what Chelsea match you're talking about saying they missed dangerous chances. So did we and had a good goal ruled out as well. If anyone should've won it before penalties, it was us. Every match report I've read seems to agree with me as well. As for penalties, when you buy a keeper who saved 7 out of 9 penalties at his last club and practise them daily, I tend to dismiss comments about luck and lottery.

Since Rafa has arrived we've beaten every top team we've played at least once. Chelsea numerous times especially in cups. knocked Manu out on our way to winning the FA Cup. Demolished Arsenal recently and won in other seasons. Winning at the Nou Camp was a surprise but when they came to ours they were the ones lucky not to be down 3-0 at half time.

People's perceptions of Liverpool don't seem to extend beyond our League position. If you're wondering, for the past two years it's been to slow starts after replacing a lot of players. the last 30 or so games we've been on a par with the other clubs and were actually the best over the last 30 last season. unfortunately for us thats not how they decide the title.

sorry to be long winded I've just had enough about our 3 year long 'luck' streak since Rafa arrived with a team that basically every player (incl most subs) plays for their national side.

No! There is absolutly NO LUCK factor included in the things Benitez and Liverpool did in the past few years in CL. Luck has nothing to do with this... Please stop saying that. Liverpool is a super strong team with brilliant coach and everything they did is a result of hard work and tactical brilliance of Benitez. Some people say Milan is the luckiest team in the worldbecouseof the late goals by Pippo and so on...but I always say that those things happen if you provoce them!

We will need to be on our full strenght to beat this Liverpool, and this filans has nothing to do with the last one. Midfield will be the key and I saw that Pirlo-Gattuso-Ambro are working on special program to prepare for the match! Same goas to Seedorf and Maldini I think. We can do it, but only if we play wisely and untill the last second...

Manuel Rui Costa has urged his former Milan teammates to beat Liverpool in the Champions League Final. “Do it for me too!”

The Portuguese midfielder was on the field when the Rossoneri lost on penalties after a 3-3 draw in 2005 in Istanbul and even though he has moved on, he has not forgotten that bond.

“Who, like me, has had the fortune to live in the Milan family does not forget and never stops feeling a part of it,” he told the official club website.

“I understood that when I returned to Benfica, a very sentimental choice that took me back to my roots and was a dream I had since I was a child and first left Lisbon.

“Milan enters your veins and never goes away, so I want to tell everyone at the club that my heart will be with all of you in Athens.”

Just two years after that fateful day when a 3-0 lead was frittered away in the space of six minutes, the Diavolo have the opportunity to take revenge by facing Liverpool again on May 23.

“I am proud of what you have been able to achieve in this incredibly difficult season and I know you’ll close it with the class and the courage that only Milan can express in these ‘special moments!” continued Rui Costa.

“So beat Liverpool, and it will be a small revenge for me as well. Good luck!”

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If this is not motivation then I dont know what is, honestly if I was a Milan player and read this id be burning to get on to that field.

while the highlight have been with gatusso- gerrard tussle for midfield supremacy, most of us here forgot that ambrosini was not playing in the last final. To me, he will be one of the important players to check the influence of gerard runs to our box.
it's more of ambro-gerrarrd than gatusso-gerrard.
Hope ancelotti came with a trump card.