Supercoppa Europea - Milan vs. Sevilla - Aug. 31st. in Montecarlo

UEFA have decreed the European Super Cup Milan-Sevilla will go ahead as a tribute to Antonio Puerta, who tragically died today.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/aug28p.html

I don't think it is the right decision.
And to say it is in tribute to Antonio Puerta is just a weak reason to let the game go through, a tribute match should be played by teams and players who mean something to Antonio and that is not the case with Milan.

from the article above it turnes out that Puerta had previously had problems with losing consciosness during training, and not on one occasion at that ...

If that's indeed true, then I guess all the blame would have to go on his club and their medical staff ... it's one thing to have a hidden heart defect without any manifestations of a problem but this ...

Football is secondory right now and for the first time I will not cheer for Milan. Who will win is also secondary thing. Match is dedicated to Antonio Puerta so Milan and Sevilla players must lift the trophy together for Antonio.

RIP PUERTA

In other news:


28/08/2007 20:21


Ronaldo Almost Five 'Kilos' Lighter

Ronaldo seems to have profited from the intense training he's been carrying out over the last month, and Carlo Ancelotti will most probably call him up for the match against Sevilla.



zoom - galleria Ronaldo trained well yesterday, and those who saw him insist the Brazilian worked very hard and looked tired by the end.

Later, he spent half an hour working with the ball under the supervision of coach Carlo Ancelotti, who wanted to gauge the level of his form and fitness was.

It seems that Ancelotti was satisfied with what he saw, and will now call upon the Brazilian for European Supercup final against Sevilla.

Over the course of the pre-season, Ronaldo has managed to lose almost five 'kilos': the cures prescribed to him to eliminate the problems in his thyroid once and for all don't allow for any eating excesses.

'El Fenomeno' had injured himself on July 31 after a week of training, and at the time it seemed like a typical innocuous summer incident.

However, this small problem has kept the player out for almost a month now, but during this period MilanLab have aimed for a complete regeneration of the striker, hoping to solve the problem at the core.

Danilo Pochini

oh cmon, some of you are overreacting. What if he died in a car accident? What if he died under shower at home? Would you be all sore even withouth that overwhelming news reporting about the only interesting thing that has happened today? Its a proper thing to wear black armbands in the match, to have a silent minute, to play in his name and to lift a trophy on behalf of him. Half of you didnt even know him (and i even dont want to go to how much people i dont care about die every day so i can live comfortable life like i am).

This may sound rough, but its reality - people die all the time, young and old, footballers, farmers or queens. Its a shame, but thats how it is.

Milan play with Sevilla winner of Uefa Cup 2007. That will be hard match for our team but i`m sure we win.We show great game vs. Genoa and I think we can beat Sevilla ! Ofcours Sevilla is strong team,they play offensive,that can be problem for our defense,they have very speed players who can broke every team..

I`m Sorry if somebady don`t understand me

I understand what Peters said, but that would be the mood, Sevilla players will be sad, it'll pass to everyone in the stadium. Without passion and enjoyment, it's awkward, more than the arm band.

If UEFA choose not to make a big fuss, I'd rather see the supercup not be the first match after the tragedy.

First of all, may he RIP, and all my deep condolonces to his family (my best wishes to his wife and his unborn child).

Originally Posted by peters

oh cmon, some of you are overreacting. What if he died in a car accident? What if he died under shower at home? Would you be all sore even withouth that overwhelming news reporting about the only interesting thing that has happened today? Its a proper thing to wear black armbands in the match, to have a silent minute, to play in his name and to lift a trophy on behalf of him. Half of you didnt even know him (and i even dont want to go to how much people i dont care about die every day so i can live comfortable life like i am).

This may sound rough, but its reality - people die all the time, young and old, footballers, farmers or queens. Its a shame, but thats how it is.

What difference does it make the way he died? It would have been the same concern unless something really weird thing happened. A player of my NT died in a car crash, his team didn't play in that whole week. Another one commited suicide and his team didn't play for a week either (+ their closest friends had to take a little more time before playing again).

And it's not overreacting. I'm against the game being played mostly because putting myself on Sevilla's players shoes I wouldn't feel ok to play a game so soon after my friend/teamate death. My head wouldn't be in the right place at the moment. Yes, the world moves on, but it moves on after I had my team to mourn, and if it takes a month, it'll take a month, if it's just a day, then it's just a day.


I would prefer UEFA to ask Sevilla's players + coaching staff if they feel like playing before making any decisions, if they want to play, and they feel like they can, and they really want to play well as a nice gesture towards Puerta, then yes, the game should be held on August 31st, as already stablished. But if they don't feel like it, then (also considering both teams full schedules), I would just cancel it.

Needless to say that this new enviroment the game will be held on is not the kind of moment place a match of football should be held on. It's sad, it's an unfair advantage to play against a team that was just hit by a terrible loss, it's going to be unconfortable for our team...it's just not right.

I understand that Puerta´s death (R.I.P) is a touchy subject, and I understand all those who have posted their desire for the match not to be played...but has anyone stopped to think what Puerta would have wanted?

I would bet my right foot, that he would have wanted the game to be played...he was a footballer, and he loved football probably more than breathing...so...for me, I would think that playing the match, in his honour, would be the best thing that could be done...

What I do know, is that it will be very difficult to beat Sevilla now, if they dedicate the game to his memory.

Regardless, I hope it is a good game, and that we win, and importantly, we make a statement, as the winning team, in his memory.

It will be a sad game but... we are professional club that lives out of trophyes and money. Milan need to win this one...

So lets talk about the game:

I expect the same formation as against Genova with Pippo up front. could be that Emerson and Ronaldo will be on the bench, and that can be usefull if we are winning or one of the Pirlo-Gattuso-Ambro gets injured or has yellow and plays nervous football. I dont trust Brocchi is these big matches and this is why Emerson is a good buy for us. He is so experienced he can adapt every team in serie a in just a few weeks.

Ronaldo still isnt fit as he should be, but maybe we'll do what we were doing in CL. Play Pippo for 65-75 min at highest tempo, so he runs about 10 km and plays his soul out, and then introduce another forward to do the same untill the end, Ronaldo most likely.

I hope Seedorf will be in goos shape as we will need him coming back to midfield to prevent combinatoric play by Sevillas midfield. With no Alves that means they will not be so dedly from the right side as usual, but we still need to duplicate the flanks and stop the delivery to Kanoute.

With a smart and slow tempo, and Kaka's, Seedorf's and Pirlo's changes of pace, we can conmtrol the game and do it our way. Milan 1-0, Pippo

Guys we have 26 players listed for the match!! Even Maldini is on the list aldough we know he will not play. emerson and Ronaldo did training with the team so we can expect them soon to be ok.

PORTIERI: Dida, Fiori, Kalac; DIFENSORI: Bonera, Cafu, Digao, Favalli, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Maldini, Nesta, Oddo, Serginho, Simic; CENTROCAMPISTI: Ambrosini, Brocchi, Gattuso, Emerson, Gourcuff, Kakà, Pirlo, Seedorf; ATTACCANTI: Aubameyang, Gilardino, Inzaghi, Ronaldo

Welcome back to the squad. Lets hope Maldini skips this, and hope to see Ronaldo and Gourcuff get a few minutes. Btw, Kaka is listed as a midfielder for this game, not a striker like the how they said.

Dont hink it would be easy for the fans to accept the idea of ( injoying ) a football match while a player of thier team has just died , we have experianced exactly the same situation in Egypt ( Mohamed Abd El Wahab ) a 22 years old defender died exactly the same way first swollowed his toung then 2 weeks later died in a trainning session and Al Ahly ( the Team that I support and which Abd El Wahab was playing for ) had and important match in the African CL, 4 days later and the CAF also refused to postpone the match, and Al Ahly played the game and won it and I felt really sad when I saw the players running on the pitch in fact I cried and felt its way too cruel to play a game and try to ( enjoy ) it while the is a player that has just been buried, just think about it nothing is going to happen if the match is played next week instead of next friday.

well I felt sorry for the spanich player Puerta . I thought it will be postpone
any well. This game is not so difficult but also not easy so I think we'll win
2-1

Forza Milan

I only hope to see Ronaldo in this match, 5 kilos is a LOT.

I'm not too sure what to say about the match being played. UEFA have made their decision and so I respect it, especially as Sevilla haven't complained. I think we acted well in offering our sympathies and be willing to accept a postponement.