Real Madrid vs AC Milan: Kaka, we meet again

The big one. The toughest game for Leonardo so far and the entire team. We are playing against a very good team but we need to know that they are far from perfect. They will also will be missing Cristiano Ronaldo (I think he's just afraid of Gattuso, anyone agree??).


So what do you all think? do we have a shot? are we going to get thrashed? Which fullbacks are you going to play? This will be Ronaldinho's return to his old rivals stadium and I remember him shining in this stadium a few times, maybe just maybe that can bring out that belief in him.


whether its going to be 7-0, 5-0, or 1-0, I can't miss this one. I can't wait to see our Kaka again too, I bet that he will have a message in his undershirt for the Rossoneri. (it will be funny if he does what adebayor did...if u guys didnt see it, go check it out now,youtube the highlights for the man city arsenal game this season!)

I would use a 4-4-2

---------Stoari-------
-Zambro-Nesta-Silva-Favali-
--Abate-Flamini-Pirlo-Janks-
-----Pato-------Huntelaar----

Favali is our most defensive FB and we are going to need that. Zambro should not push up as much. Huntelaar needs a full game against his old team.

first half vs valadolid, kaka is rested - he should be more than ready to face us

nonetheless, without him they're up 3-1 .. 3rd superb goal by marcelo

It s time for Pato to rise up gome on Alexsandre leed as to gloryyyyyyyyyyy

I really don't see Milan winning this one esp as this is an away match.

I think starting in the Roma game, there will be 8 games or so that will truly define Milan's season. Lets hope Milan at least have a 500 record after it.

If i was Leo,i would play 4-5-1 on the counter

Dida
Zambrotta-Nesta-Silva-Favalli
Abate-Gattuso-Pirlo-Flamini-Ronaldinho
Pato

Playing with attacking fullbacks will be suicide,so thats why i chose Favalli instead Janku,Favalli is a defensive minded player,Zambro is also better in defense then attack.With Abate and Ronaldinho on the wings we will have to attack down the flanks,Flamini and Rhino have to close down the danger through the middle so Pirlo can do his job,Pato is alone and will have to depend on Dinho.

22 players have been called up by Leonardo for Real Madrid-Milan:

Dida, Donnarumma (n°60), Roma, Antonini, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Nesta, Pasini (n°57) Oddo, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta, Abate, Ambrosini, Flamini, Pirlo, Seedorf, Borriello, Huntelaar, Inzaghi, Pato, Ronaldinho, Verdi (n°58)
Unavailable players: Storari, Onyewu, Gattuso, Di Gennaro.

I don't know where is Favalli, but he isn't called up evidently.

My lineup:

Dida - Oddo (Abate), Nesta, T. Silva, Zambrotta - Flamini, Ambrosini, Seedorf (Pirlo) - Ronaldinho - Huntelaar, Pato.

I'm not sure about Oddo vs. Abate, because Abate has no experience playing on a big stage, which Oddo has in abundance.

Anyway I don't think that Leonardo will field the team without Pirlo, or with Pirlo away from regista position.

Another option is 4-3-2-1 with Huntelaar alone upfront but I don't think that Leonardo would leave Pato on the bench, and honestly I would not either. :-)

Have you guys seeing this banner, about Seedorf saying:

"Seedorf arrogante, porta rispetto a chi, per vederti camminare, paga il biglietto"

Two of Europe's biggest names, with a total of 16 European Champion Clubs' Cup triumphs between them, meet at the Santiago Bernabéu with the pressure on AC Milan to bounce back after their surprise home defeat by FC Zürich on Matchday 2. Hosts Real Madrid CF are much more comfortable, sitting atop Group C with maximum points so far.

Previous meetings
• High stakes tend to be involved whenever these teams cross paths. Their first competitive meeting was a semi-final encounter in the European Champion Clubs' Cup debut season of 1955/56. Madrid edged that tie 5-4 on aggregate on their way to the first of five successive crowns.

• Remarkably, the designated home team has come out on top in nine of the eleven fixtures that have been played over the years, the sole exceptions being the 1988/89 European Cup semi-final first leg in the Spanish capital, which finished 1-1, and the 1957/58 showpiece in Brussels, won 3-2 by Madrid.

• Their most recent games came during the second group stage in 2002/03, Milan triumphing 1-0 at home before Madrid prevailed 3-1 in the return. Raúl González scored twice and Guti, a second-half substitute, added a third in the latter match.

Match background
• Madrid have been drawn against Italian opponents three times in this competition over the past two seasons, winning once, drawing once and losing the last four.

• Before their 3-0 victory over Olympique de Marseille last time out, Los Merengues had lost two of their previous three UEFA Champions League home matches. They went down 2-0 to Juventus in last season's group stage and 1-0 to Liverpool FC in the first knockout round first leg en route to a 5-0 aggregate defeat.

• Before their victory at Marseille on Matchday 1 Milan had won only three of their last ten away fixtures, losing three and drawing four.

Team ties
• Several players are facing former teams. Kaká spent six seasons at Milan before his summer move to the Santiago Bernabéu and Clarence Seedorf won this trophy with Madrid in 1998. It will be a quick return to the Spanish capital for Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who had a seven-month spell with Los Merengues from December 2008.

• Xabi Alonso scored at the second attempt from the penalty spot for Liverpool FC against Milan to make it 3-3 in the 2005 final in Istanbul.

• During the penalty shoot-out in that same final, Jerzy Dudek saved from Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko to help Liverpool earn the continental crown for the fifth time.

• Filippo Inzaghi, playing for Juventus, lost the 1998 final to Madrid in Amsterdam but scored both Milan goals in their 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the 2007 showpiece in Athens. On the opposite side that day was Alonso, while Álvaro Arbeloa came on as a substitute and Dudek was on the bench.

• Ronaldinho spent five years with FC Barcelona, winning the UEFA Champions League in 2006. In November 2005, Ronaldinho scored twice as Barcelona defeated Madrid 3-0 away and received a standing ovation from the Madrid fans.

• Gianluca Zambrotta spent two years at Barça between 2006 and 2008, while Christian Abbiati spent 2007/08 on loan with Club Atlético de Madrid.

• Leonardo was on the bench when Milan visited Madrid in the 2002/03 second group-match stage.

• Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Manchester United FC in their 2006/07 semi-final first leg 3-2 win against Milan, before the Italian side won the return 3-0. He and Ruud van Nistelrooy also played for United against Milan in the first knockout round in 2004/05, which the Rossoneri won 2-0 on aggregate.

• Mathieu Flamini played for Arsenal FC in a 1-0 triumph at Madrid in the 2005/06 first knockout round.

uefa.com

I think I'll miss this match due to classes but I'll be hoping for the best as always, and following the result on my friend's phone.

here we go the match we've been waiting for ever since we herd saw the draw in monaco, i want to start out with a 451 ronaldinho seems like a diffrent player now, i guess he realized getting wasted and not partying with 4 hours of sleep to play aganst FC Zurich makes a diffrence, takes a toll on you, even i know that and im 21 haha, and hes 29, but hey im starting to forgive em we looked so fluent aganst AS ROMA in the 2nd half WE HAVE TO PLAY LIKE A REAL ITALIAN TEAM AGANST REAL MADRID! in the words of luciano spaletti, the italian mentality is be disciplined, high concentration,defend first, play tight, strong posession an have a lighting counter attack, if i know 1 thing for sure, real madrid can get caught on the counter goals came for zurich,sevilla and almost every team they faced, now about the formations real madrid will line up :

4312 Los Blancos

-----------------Iker------------

Ramos---Albiol---Pepe---Marcelo

-----Lass---Xabi---VDV--------


------------Kaka'--------------


-----Benzema------------------


-------------------Higuain------



451 Milan

-------------Dida----------------

---------------------Nesta

-----------Silva-------------Zambrotta

---Abate


----------------Pirlo-----------------

Flamini----------------Ambrosini-----


-----------Seedorf-------------------------------

------------------------------Pato---------------

----------R80---------------------------------


this is almost exatcly how we looked aganst as roma i wish we could line up 433
with klass as our target man and the midfield just defends, abate is for speed he might
not be maicon alves bosingwa or even ramos, but he'll defently support the attack, i want us
to win but not loose points nesta silva zambrotta CANT SCREW UP, we should and could out muscle madrids midfield if we're smart enough i hate to quote galliani but remember madrid's and milan's 16 UEFA CL TROPHIES WILL BE ALL ON THE FIELD ON WENSDAY NIGHT!

Touch match, but Milan always show class in this type of match.

Forza Milan!!!

.The attack against Roma in second half looked more like

.................Seedorf

....Pato .........................Dinho

.................Pippo..............

Who did expect us to beat Roma? not me... but the gods are looking down on us... a few upper cuts and head buts (and biting a few ears) and we will come out on top...

Leonardo has called up primavera player Verdi for this match. That is so awesome, and what is this n 58,n 60?

I think Arbeloa is still out injured, aswell as Cristiano Ronaldo and Guti. That means that they'll probably play with Marcelo and Sergio Ramos as the full backs. In that case I definetly think that we should use the same formation as we did in the second half against Roma.

Ronaldinho vs Sergio Ramos is pretty good for us, Ronaldinho has made Ramos looked bad on many occassions before, although I don't expect him to be able to take anyone on. The real catch would be Pato vs Marcelo, Marcelo is excellent going forward, we saw that against Valladolid, but he's really lacking defensively we saw that against Valladolid aswell. Pato could make a meal of Marcelo if he hit form, which we can only hope for.

I think Borriello is ready aswell, so it's between him, Pippo and Huntelaar if we do go with a 4-3-3. The obvious choice would be Pippo, since this is his kind of game, but I really think Huntelaar could do good hear aswell, since he is much better at holding up the ball. The striker might find himself isolated at points and Huntelaar would be much better at keeping the ball.

Hopefully Flamini will play so he can do what he did in 2008 to Kaká. We really can't play Jankulovski since Ramos would crusify him, and I'm even worried about Zambrotta. Perhaps Kaladze could be an alternative? He has been decent for us when he's played unlike Zambrotta who has had a horrible season so far. It's a tough choice.

Anyways, FORZA MILAN!!!

Btw: Predictions League, woopwoop: Christian wrote: Atalanta 1 - 1 Milan, Milan 2 - 1 Roma. Anyone wanna borrow my crystal ball ?

edit: Yea, he called up loads of Primavera players, included the goallie with the coolest name ever Dunnarumma. I imagine he'll put them on when we're up by 3-4 goals