UCL SF 2nd leg : Milan-Manchester Utd.

After watched the game of Man utd vs Milan, i must admit the the english league and english team are the best in the european.


when the milan led 2:1, i saw the same problem where Milan led Livepool 3:0 at 1st half of UL final two years ago, Milan fear to lose even when it is leading, and result is lose of course.

No doubt english team is playing with joyful, they always fight until end and never give up.

Latest on pippo in the papers:

AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi has recovered from a thigh injury and could return to the starting line-up for the Champions League semi-final second leg clash against Manchester United next week. (The Times)

Hopefully its true, I think Gilla needs a rest.

Originally Posted by Cowboy

After watched the game of Man utd vs Milan, i must admit the the english league and english team are the best in the european.


when the milan led 2:1, i saw the same problem where Milan led Livepool 3:0 at 1st half of UL final two years ago, Milan fear to lose even when it is leading, and result is lose of course.

No doubt english team is playing with joyful, they always fight until end and never give up.

don't you think it had more to do with Milan losing in the middle of the game Maldini and Gattuso, two of the most important players in this squad and the rest of the team had to readjust to this change on short notice ...

Originally Posted by zlatanov

don't you think it had more to do with Milan losing in the middle of the game Maldini and Gattuso, two of the most important players in this squad and the rest of the team had to readjust to this change on short notice ...

but you also could say the only reason you had a lead to lose was because Rio and Vidic were injured, swings and round-abouts

Did anyone actually noticed that in the second half Milan lacked THREE first team players in MAldini,Gattuso and Serginho.... And we dont count cup tied Ronaldo. Those are all slim excuses, teams have 25 players!

SAF is resting C.Ronaldo against Everton. He's not in the starting XI.
The others are playing :
VDS ; O'Shea-Brown-Heinze-Evra ;Carrick- Scholes-Giggs-Solskjaer; Smith-Rooney.

Richardson is also a bencher so i guess he may be ok for the match on Wednesday !

Serginho isnt a regular starter, and at least the other 2 played half a game, the 30 minutes without them Milan barely left their own half and conceded 2 so obviously it made a difference

Utd were actually missing 3 of the usual back four for the entire game, if Milan had turned up at Old Trafford without, Nesta, Maldini and Oddo do you think nobody here would mention they were missing a few defenders? Of course they would!, and they would be right to because defensive stability is absolutely vital in a champions league semi!

Utds defence has been brilliant all season long and the entire defence made the EPL team of the season, thats near unprecedented and shows just how well they work as a unit. When the draw was made i made Utd slight favourites (we were only missing Vidic at that stage) but with hindsight i now honestly believe Utd would be taking a 2 or 3 goal lead to the San Siro if Milan had faced the full side, and i say that as a fan of both clubs with a decent knowledge of both.

SAF is resting C.Ronaldo against Everton. He's not in the starting XI.
The others are playing :
VDS ; O'Shea-Brown-Heinze-Evra ;Carrick- Scholes-Giggs-Solskjaer; Smith-Rooney.

Richardson is also a bencher so i guess he may be ok for the match on Wednesday !

Id expect Richardson will come on for Giggs fairly soon after half time if Utd have managed to secure the game by then(which is unlikely) Ronaldo will most likely be dragged into action too.

Man United decided to rest Ronalso and give OGS a try, now they are 1-Nil down.

Hopefully this should knock them if chelsea catch up with them

EDIT: Ronaldo warming up now

Chelsea 1-0 down....

Stezagud, there is no such defender in the world that can play 1 on 1 with Kaka'. I really hope Rio and Vidic play at the San Siro so there are no talks about who was missing and so on.... And yes, Serginho was ALWAYS a starter, he is on the bench now simply becouse he is out injured for a season.

Originally Posted by Stezagud

Id expect Richardson will come on for Giggs fairly soon after half time if Utd have managed to secure the game by then(which is unlikely) Ronaldo will most likely be dragged into action too.

It's a good thing that Fletcher is also rested. There's a strong chance he'll have to play as RB against Milan !

Bloody Chelsea equalised

Kalou scored, yes! Now united have to bring on Ronaldo and push more forward....

4 hours till Milan's match....

Originally Posted by p_ps_sock

but you also could say the only reason you had a lead to lose was because Rio and Vidic were injured, swings and round-abouts

the first goal, doubt it but the second goal would have probably been avoided.
The thing is that ManU knew they would be absent and the whole gameplan/approach to the game ManU had planned was based on that and the players didn't have to adjust to losing important players in the middle of the game.

Also, Milan was always gonna have a more conservative approach at OT and thus the loss of a defender would not be felt as heavily as it would have if the game was at the SS ... and in a similar way, the loss of CR and/or Giggs and/or Rooney would have been worse for ManU for their home game since it's namely the attacking and midfield department that would be expected to play a more important role in a home game when the opposing team would not be over-committing it's players in attack but would mostly try to contain the opponent in midfield and defense.

Originally Posted by Stezagud

Serginho isnt a regular starter, and at least the other 2 played half a game, the 30 minutes without them Milan barely left their own half and conceded 2 so obviously it made a difference

Utd were actually missing 3 of the usual back four for the entire game, if Milan had turned up at Old Trafford without, Nesta, Maldini and Oddo do you think nobody here would mention they were missing a few defenders? Of course they would!, and they would be right to because defensive stability is absolutely vital in a champions league semi!

Utds defence has been brilliant all season long and the entire defence made the EPL team of the season, thats near unprecedented and shows just how well they work as a unit. When the draw was made i made Utd slight favourites (we were only missing Vidic at that stage) but with hindsight i now honestly believe Utd would be taking a 2 or 3 goal lead to the San Siro if Milan had faced the full side, and i say that as a fan of both clubs with a decent knowledge of both.

But as more of a fan of one than the other.

Originally Posted by Stezagud

Utds defence has been brilliant all season long and the entire defence made the EPL team of the season, thats near unprecedented and shows just how well they work as a unit. When the draw was made i made Utd slight favourites (we were only missing Vidic at that stage) but with hindsight i now honestly believe Utd would be taking a 2 or 3 goal lead to the San Siro if Milan had faced the full side, and i say that as a fan of both clubs with a decent knowledge of both.

not necessarily true.
part of the reason why ManU pushed so hard was that Milan were leading 1-2 at the break and at that point for ManU the game entered "damage control" mode.
If you theory about ManU's defense is right the result could have been 0-0, 1-0 for ManU or something of the kind hence ManU may have very well taken a much more cautious approach for the rest of the game given that this isn't one of those EPL games where away goals make no dif but CL and away goals here, at this stage, are quite often the deciding factor in a tie.