A Look Back...

There is no denying that this season has ultimately been a failure. The horrific injury to Ronaldo, the run of matches without winning at San Siro, getting knocked out of Europe in March, and most importantly the failure to capture that coveted fourth spot and thus missing out on the CL next season all paint a gloomy picture define the 2007/08 campaign. However there have been some memorable moments this year that I think we should savor, despite everything.

UEFA Supercup a.k.a. the Pirlo Show

Unfortunately, this match was clouded by the tragic death of Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta. However, the match went on as planned, and both our tifosi and our players paid a fitting tribute to the man :thumbsup: As for the match itself, it provides a perfect example of the genius that is Andrea Pirlo. He was carving up the defense with his brilliant passes all game long, but the long ball to Jankulovski for the second goal was just sublime It was a fantastic display of football and class by our side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnW9b7EGC3A

http://media.acmilanfan.ru/upload/gall/26200/26943.jpg


Pippo's European Record

When it comes to the Champions League, no man does it better than Pippo Inzaghi. On December 4, 2007 he made it official. A typical right place, right time tap in against Celtic took him above Gerd Müller and into football immortality, despite the accusations of 'no talent.' Talentless he may be, but he knows how to score.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9dKSVVxac

http://media.acmilanfan.ru/upload/gall/26200/29175.jpg


Pallone d'Oro

Our golden boy got rewarder for his magic in the road to Athens with the ultimate prize for an individual player, the Golden Ball. Following in the footsteps of Gianni Rivera, Marco van Basten, and George Weah, Ricky is well on his way to becoming a rossonero legend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STOSoyUm7Y4

http://media.acmilanfan.ru/upload/gall/26200/29133.jpg


FIFA Club World Cup, or Operation Revenge continued

From the screams of 'Andiamo a Tokyo' heard right out side of the stadium in Athens, I could not stop thinking about Japan. After Liverpool was taken care of, a unique opportunity for revenge presented itself for the second time in a year, this time against our 2003 Intercontinental Cup opponents Boca Juniors. After getting past Urawa in the Semifinals, which was no easy task, Kaka and company put on a show in the final, and Il Capitano finally got a chance to lift the trophy that he missed out on four years prior. Oh, and Pippo scored his 5th goal in three finals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JKbwFn5llM

http://media.acmilanfan.ru/upload/gall/26200/29632.jpg


The Debut of Pato

After the incredible amount of hype surrounding the 18 year old Brazilian who looks like he should still be in school, we were all excepting something special that night against Napoli. He promised a goal, and he delivered. A fantastic first touch to get away from the defender, and a calm finish under the goalie. With 9 goals in 17 appearances, he looks like the real deal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3okADx0lAE

http://media.acmilanfan.ru/upload/gall/26200/30821.jpg


The Debut of Paloschi

Although not quite as hyped up as Pato, his goal was just as incredible. With two goals in the Coppa Italia already, Alberto came on as a substitute against Siena. At 18 years of age, in the 18th minute of the second half, and after 18 seconds, he drilled a half-volley past a helpless Manninger!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB4Jq6IdNys

http://media.acmilanfan.ru/upload/gall/26200/31076.jpg


Pippo's Scoring Run

After not scoring in Serie A for over a year, Pippo responded to the critics by scoring a last-minute goal against Palermo, and then going on an incredible scoring run to close out the season. 10 goals in the last 7 matches, including a hat trick against Livorno and a crucial goal in the derby. Superpippo has shown us that he still has is, provided that he can stay healthy, that is. Which unfortunately is not often, but this is a positive thread!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeQbJFJ8AcI

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/6d/fu...o-ac_milan.jpg


Derby della Madonnina

With the last derby victory coming in 2006, and the possibility that Inter would win Lo Scudetto and celebrate in front of our faces, this was a must-win. A fantastic performance on the field, with goals from Pippo and Kaka, as well as the first derby choreography since the first derby of 06, made for an all-around aweseome match. "Anche nell'anno del centenario, sempre il solito scenario!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg9hfE89ZEg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/e4/fu...ilan-inter.jpg


Feel free to add you own.


We'll be back next year, UEFA Cup or wherever. Sempre Milan

good post Vadim, well done

I've always knew, you're the man, Vadim

Excellent post. Realistic, but not pessimistic.

Great post, thanx Vadim

That last pic (from derby, also Dev's avatar) is an all time classic.

I posted this in another forum today. It is like Vadim's but a look back at the last 6 years.

So, unfortunately we've had a rude awakening. If we consider Milan have been simply awesome in the last 5-6 years in both the Champions League and Serie A (maybe less so in the latter), we can at least take some solace in today's results.

2002/03- CL, Coppa Italia, Supercup: For me the period of prosperity started against Torino in 2002. We could not have bought a win leading up to that match, and we squeaked by 2-1. That started a march towards the Champions League spot, and the following year we were Champions of Europe after nine years. We also beat Roma to lift the Coppa Italia.

2004- Scudetto: The following year we won the Scudetto very convincingly and also dramatically collapsed against Deportivo with a team that, in my opinion, was better than the previous year's.

2005- CL Final, Runners-up Serie A: Probably the lowest point for me as a Milan fan was the incredible defeat to Liverpool at Istanbul. Furthermore, the fact that Juventus pipped us to the prize domestically made it all the worse. But again, it showed that we had a team capable of winning it all. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

2006- Semi-final CL, Runners-up Scudetto: We went out to a far better Barcelona team and really Juventus walked the title for the most part. Nothing really extraordinary about this year other than Calciopoli, which saw us stripped of the Champions League, only to be given back to us.

2007- CL, Supercup, World Club Cup: Champions of Europe again. After toiling against Celtic and shipping two goals at home to Bayern, we came to life. We defeated the Germans comprehensively 2-0 and absolutely annihilated Manchester United 3-0. The Final was our revenge against Liverpool. Berlusconi finally got his Club World Cup trophy and we won the Supercup as well, by defeating Sevilla.

We've been excellent for half this decade and we can, in theory, at least approach the Grande Milan of the 80s if we win at least one more Scudetto.

Its so true that Milan have given us some recently good years. I'm sure we are not so selfish and think terribly about this season. Three CL finals in 5 years is big.

Good post Vadim...I like the idea of a seasoned archive complete with video. Five years from now when Pato is one of the best we'll all say..yea I remember when he came to Milan, when he made his debut.

well done. good to see people are being positive. It was a good season and Ancelotti should be proud.

Excellent work Vadim!! Well done...and nice of u to post the links.

I could be pedantic and complain that I still don't consider this season to be a "failure"...but I won't.

I will just compliment u on a brilliant post and point out a few things.

Every season we have objectives.

Usually, we have 3: UCL, Serie A, Coppa Italia. (And we all know the Coppa doesn't really count)...and if we fail to get the league title....well 4th spot (or higher)becomes the 3rd target.

This season we had: World Club Cup, UCL, European SuperCup, Serie A, Coppa Italia, and if no Serie A title, then minimum 4th spot. (And that list, IMO, was set in order of importance as well)

What did we achieve?

European Super Cup, World Club Cup, no Serie A, no UCL title...and since no Serie A = 4th spot, by my calculations we have achieved half of our targets.

50% might not be an "A" but its certainly not a "failing" grade.

Thanks Vadim.

And as I said in today's game thread, this is not the end of the world... it's just a chapter in a long story... in every good movie the hero needs to struggle even if just for a moment so the glorious ending can be enjoyed.

and Brocchi gets the girl!

Originally Posted by Hasan Rossonero

2005- CL Final, Runners-up Serie A: Probably the lowest point for me as a Milan fan was the incredible defeat to Liverpool at Istanbul. Furthermore, the fact that Juventus pipped us to the prize domestically made it all the worse. But again, it showed that we had a team capable of winning it all. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

i was just thinking about this and wondering if any defeat stung even more - and I could think of two - Milan's loss to Ajax in the CL final in 1995 (because Capello completley sabotaged our team that evening), and the loss to Marseille in the European Cup final (considering what strings Tapie had to pull in the French League to get this win).

Hasan, decent post but I must say I disagree with you on the 2005/06 season. I don't think Barca were that much better that year, as at home we were quite a lot stronger and pretty much completely outplayed them, only to be hit by a bit of Dinho magic. The second leg we went all out and naturally they created chances, however, had it not been for some poor refereeing, we'd have won 1-0 and sent the match into extra time.

I also remember Juve struggled that season in the league. There were times when they looked incredibly comfortable, only for us to take the lead within a couple of weeks and then lose it again. It reminded me of this season against Fio, where we were close, only for Juve to just pip us towards the end.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

I don't think Barca were that much better that year, as at home we were quite a lot stronger and pretty much completely outplayed them, only to be hit by a bit of Dinho magic. The second leg we went all out and naturally they created chances, however, had it not been for some poor refereeing, we'd have won 1-0 and sent the match into extra time.

I agree.

People said in that time that Barca always play offensive football every game, but not against Milan especially in San Siro. Although they used 4-3-3, they played defensive football in 0-0 score especially when the score was 0-1 for them. Even their 3 forwards had to defend so deep (including Eto'o). It's so poor to see how Barca played in Milan.

That's what I am proud of. Barca couldn't play like they wanted (offensive football) ONLY when they faced Milan in 2006! Milan in 2005/06 were still so great.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Hasan, decent post but I must say I disagree with you on the 2005/06 season. I don't think Barca were that much better that year, as at home we were quite a lot stronger and pretty much completely outplayed them, only to be hit by a bit of Dinho magic. The second leg we went all out and naturally they created chances, however, had it not been for some poor refereeing, we'd have won 1-0 and sent the match into extra time.

I also remember Juve struggled that season in the league. There were times when they looked incredibly comfortable, only for us to take the lead within a couple of weeks and then lose it again. It reminded me of this season against Fio, where we were close, only for Juve to just pip us towards the end.

We got close to Juve, but it was pretty evident that they would win in the end.

With Barca, I agree, maybe they weren't much better. However, part of football is finishing your chances, and we were really profligate. Overall, they deserved it, IMO.