(il primo gol di Kakà)

Il Milan stravince meritatamente 3-0 la semifinale di ritorno col Manchester United e prepara le valigie per Atene. Gli inglesi non sono mai esistiti, Ronaldo ha giocato la peggior partita dell'anno, Giggs fermo sulla sinistra e Rooney troppo solo davanti. Gli inglesi non ci sono stati propio, se all'andata il confronto tra Kakà e Cristiano è stato vinto dal brasiliano ai punti, stasera l'incontro è finito per K.O. al primo round.

Ferguson, peraltro, ci ha capito poco, i suoi giocatori sul campo bagnato nel primo tempo non stavano in piedi. E non ha provato nemmeno, sir Alex, a cambiare di posizione i suoi esterni. 2-0 all'intervallo, mi sarei atteso un calo del Milan nella ripresa ma solo tra il 60' e il 70' i Red Devils sono stati un po' pericolosi. Ma l'ingresso del fresco Gilardino, autore del terzo gol con un contropiede uno contro zero, ha rimesso le cose a posto e nel finale anche il bistrattato Dida si è esaltato nelle uscite alte sugli sterili cross dei britannici.

E così, il Milan va ad Atene dove troverà il Liverpool. La finale è tra due squadre terze nei rispettivi campionati, segno che è sempre più difficile fare il double (il Barca dello scorso anno fu un'eccezione). Alla faccia di chi diceva che la Serie A vale poco. Si ritrovano le due squadre di un paio d'anni fa: allora ad Istanbul, stavolta ad Atene, il Mediterraneo Orientale porta loro fortuna. Un grande successo comunque per il calcio italiano, e milanese in particolare: Inter scudettata, Milan in finale della Champions League. Certa gente che ha solo gettato fango sull'immagine del calcio italiano non ci manca per niente! Al 23 maggio...

È un anno che mi sento dire che il campionato vinto non valle nula perché manca la Juve e il Milan è partito da -8.

È un anno che mi sento dire che dovevamo dimostrare il nostro valore in Champions da gente che ha sempre rimediato figuracce (leggi Anfield e Highbury).

È un anno che ce la menate con Ibra e Vieira, che vinciamo per merito loro, e non oso pensare a cosa ci avreste detto se non avessimo vinto lo scudetto, come minimo ci avreste preso in giro fino al 2027.

È un anno che ci accusano di complotti e intercettazioni manco fossimo la Spectre.

Ma io vi dico, con Calciopoli 2 e Calciopoli 3, Moggi, Meani e compagnia bella, schede svizzere, slovene e del Liechtenstein, ci starete mica tirando un altro colpo e vi farete penalizzare per sminuire le nostre eventuali future vittorie? Io voglio, se possibile, il prossimo anno vincere eventualmente un campionato "regolare"...

(nella foto Neri Marcoré, che col voice changer e l'id nascosto è riuscito a ingannare il figlio di Moggi e Giraudo fingendo di conoscere gli affari di Lucianone...bravo eh?)

 

Serie A is quite boring, especially for the first place, but tomorow the last 16 of the biggest European competition comes to the fore. Celtic Glasgow-AC Milan tomorrow, Inter Milan-Valencia and AS Roma-Lyon on Wednesday are the matches of Italian teams. A difficult heath for everybody, very difficult to get through, especially for the Romans. Lyon has been dominating French League for five years, and it should win this year as well, but in Champions League their best result was a quarter final. Now Lyon is a little bit weaker than the beginning of the season, but still a dangerous opponent. Juninho Pernambucano is sure we'll see the rtue Lyon next Wednesday. In Rome the enthusiasm is great, it's first time the Giallorossi get through UCL the groups stage.

Coach Spalletti denies any dispute with Totti after the captain's substitution at Empoli. "French are strong -the coach from Certaldo says- but I'm convinced AS Roma will play two great games". Probably center back Philippe Mexes will take part of the game against his compatriots. If in Rome, Stadio Olimpico will be full, in Milan for an absurd decision only season tickets holders can watch the game, even the ones buying tickets before Catania riots had to renounce, and will get only a full refund of the ticket. Mancini should have his best formation, with many players that just had a rest day on Saturday. Valencia is a hard nut to crack, especially after their win in front of Spain and Europe champions of Barcelona. They have a good forward duo (Villa and El Moro Morientes), and good midfielder. Inter has a lot to loose, and the same is for Italian football: imagine what could happen if the team that is triumphing in the Serie A League was sent off by a Spanish team...
Anyway, Baraja and Vicente haven't been called up due to someinjuries.

AC Milan is maybe the weakest Italian team at the moment in this last-16 tie, but also has the easiest task. Celtic Glasgow has been a surprise of the groups stage, but still seems to be at a lower level than the Milanese. The problem for Ancelotti is that some key players won't take part to the match: Ronaldo already played in Champions at Real Madri), Dida is injured and Gilardino is not sure he will play. Only Oliveira is ok among the forwards. Then, the Celtic Park is a hot stadium, ad the Scottish have a player like Shunsuke Nakamura that can create some danger. "I'd like to be in good condition -the Japanese says- I think it will be a great match". Well, we hope all of these matches will be great, but for the Italian clubs...

Roberto Baggio...turned tail after his retirement

I forgave Marcello Lippi for sending Baggio away from Inter in 2000 only last Summer, as the coach from Viareggio won the World Cup on Italy's bench. Well, it's always been Roberto's destiny to be kicked away by coaches that suffered too much his important presence. It happened at Juventus, when Del Piero came and took his place, it happened at AC Milan, and it happened also at Inter. Baggio left the Nerazzurri with two goals in a very important match vs Parma that qualified them to Champions League. Then, he went to Brescia and everybody said he was over: 95 games with 45 goals in four years were his reply.

Most of all, Baggio for the Italian fans is the heart and soul of the Notti Magiche (magic nights) of the World Cup 1990: Stadio Olimpico in Rome shouted with joy and people couldn't believe their eyes after his goal to Czechoslovakia, a fifty metres ride as he entered the goal with the ball glued to his magic right foot. He had just dribbled six opponents!

Before Cannavaro in 2006, Roby Baggio was the last Italian to win the Ballon d'or and the Fifa World Player in 1993. Then, his mistake in the penalty kicks sequence in World Cup final -Usa 94- was a spot in his career, but back to Italy he won two consecutive Scudetti with two different jerseys: Juventus and AC Milan. Once he left Milan, he did well in Bologna, Inter and Brescia, played another World Cup in 98 and in 2002 fans and media entered into debate with Trapattoni because he didn't bring Baggio to its possible fourth World Cup. The lost versus South Corea helped keeping this debate live, even a lot of time after tha World Cup had finished.

Roberto Baggio will be 40 on the 18th of February, next Sunday. He stopped playing football in summer 2004, and after that we did not hear a lot of him. Now he lives in a large country house close to Caldogno (Vicenza), his home town. He doesn't follow Italian football, just hardly knows that Inter is dominating. From time to time he goes to the stadium, but only while he is in Argentina (over there he owns a farm), in his frequent shooting holidays. In fact, hunting is an old passion of his, and now he can practise it almost full time. He lives in a golden isolation, runs a sport goods shop where his sister works. He still follows Buddhism.

In other words, he enjoys the pleasures of family life (he has a wife and three sons), and lives in a home where he has even built a museum with 300 wood birds, a stuffed wild pig and a small boat with some ducks around. Well, it is not necessary that every top player stays in football world after retirement, but only the great stars will never be forgotten even if they become just family men or everything but a coach. And Roberto Baggio is one of these...

In a surreal atmosphere, with no viewers, Inter won 2-0 against Chievo and this is Nerazzurri’s fifteenth consecutive wind. Real Madrid (46 years ago) and Bayern (in 2005, but not in the same season) have been equalized, but it’s not an European record yet.
Inter scored after 41”, with Adriano from a very difficult angle, then Chievo tried to make life difficult to Julio Cesar but in second half Crespo (with a suspect handball before kicking) scored for the final 2-0.

Roma won at home vs. Parma (3-0, all goals in second half), but we have to remark that before the match (an open door match, we have to specify) AS Roma fans did not participate in a silence minute in memory of policeman Raciti. There were also slogans against police, a shame one week after Catania events. And it’s been the proof that if the stadium is ok, but you fill it with stupid people, violence problem has not been solved.

AC Milan had to face a difficult test, Livorno is a very good team, even more today with Stefano Fiore and Cesar Rodriguez, two former Lazio players. Ronaldo played in second half, but the decisive goal has been scored by Czech left back Jankulosky. At the end, in Milan San Siro stadium season tickets could watch the match, showing that at the end Italians find compromise between “zero tolerance” and anarchy. Everything went well, and we think they will go well next Sunday for Inter-Cagliari.

All matches started at 3 pm, for security reasons, as we already said. But at the end not every match started on time: Messina-Catania, another risky Sicilian derby, started at 4pm due to heavy rainfalls. An important win in Palermo, and Empoli now is fourth and will have to fight against Milan and Lazio (0-0 in Bergamo behind closed doors vs. Atalanta) for the Champions League qualifying round. Fiorentina had a very good afternoon: Toni and Mutu could not play, but their substitutes Reginaldo and Pazzini scored: Fiorentina is officially one of the candidates for fourth place!

Ronaldo and Adriano Galliani at today's press conference

Here you have the second part of Ronie’s press conference (today at noon, CET). The Brazilian talked about many issues, and Galliani at the end said Capello suggested him to sing Ronaldo! “But he told me also some other things, not too fair, about him”, stated AC Milan CEO.
Let’s continue with the question time.

J: Did you hear Carlos Dunga recently?
R: No, I didn’t. But there’s no need to talk each other, what I will able to do on the playground will be the most important thing.

J: Do you know your partner Gilardino, and whe you think you’ll be ready to play?
R: I know him very well. It depends on the athletic trainer and on the coach, I haven’t played for one month, but test results are good.

J: Which are your objectives and AC Milan ones?
R: Unfortunately cannot play Champions League, I think our main objective is to be one of the top four in Serie A

J: Is “Copa America” one of your goals?
R: No, I mean, first goal is to do right here at Milan, then Dunga will call people that do right.

J: Was it more difficult to leave Milan five years ago, or Madrid now?
R: Well, it’s quite the same. Oh, my son will stay in Madrid, and even though we’ll meet when I have some free time, for this reason it’s harder now.

J: What did you miss of Italy? What do you think about Juventus in Serie B?
R: I missed a lot my friends. Don’t feel anything about Juventus (he laughs), I’m interested in AC Milan only.

J: Do you think there will be technical problems?
R: No, I felt in the club a very good mood as I hadn’t seen for many time, then I’ll try to do what Ancelotti asks me, in order to help AC Milan to hit its mark.

J: What happened between Fabio Capello and you?
R: It seems like a joke, but there were no problems between me and Capello. He just didn’t put faith in me, without explaining me why. And I didn’t ask him why. It’s a sad story.

J: Ten years after your first arrival in Milan, what changes in your person?
R: Well, I have been back for a couple of days, give me some more time, but I’m still the same Ronaldo and I have same enthusiasm.

J: A lot of things have been said about your weight.
R: I did all the tests, fat percentage in my body is in the average, the weight means nothing in a sportsman, fat percentage is more important.

J: Are there analogies with Rivaldo in 2002? Are you afraid to be unsuccessful as he was?
R: Past is past, I am sure I’ll go right, and Rivaldo himself was not so unsuccessful, that year Milan won Champions League.

J: Did Cassano express his will to follow you at AC Milan? Or maybe he’ll join Inter next June?
R: Cassano knows what to do, he is a good guy and a great player.

J: Did you choose AC Milan because of the presence of other Brazilian players?
R: AC Milan is one of the best clubs in the World, ant this is the only reason for my choice. Well, the fact that many other Brazilians are here makes me happy but I can see that nationality is not a critical point and everybody works to reach same goals (maybe he refers to the controversies between Argentineans and Brazilians at Inter)

J: After Milan-Parma, Mr. Berlusconi said he’s working to sign Ronaldinho, are you dreaming of a trio Kakà, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho?
R:I am a newcomer, it would be a lack of respect to my team mates, if I invited other players to join AC Milan. Of course, it would be great to have Ronaldinho

J: Are you ready to play next Sunday, if they ask you?
R: Let’s wait and see, I’m available but at the moment I had no training yet, here at Milan.

(end, part 1 here)

Challenge is the key word of first Ronaldo's press conference. The Brazilian said this word for many and many times during his first press conference today, noon CET, at Hotel Executive in Milan. More than 100 journalists, alongside of Ronaldo AC Milan CEO, Adriano Galliani. The manager starts the conference with a short statement: “Everybody knows who is Ronaldo, and this transfer has just technical reasons, in spite of the media impact of the player. We wanted him already in August, on day 24th we understood that there were no requirements, but we said goodbye, it wasn’t a farewell”

Then, the question time starts, here below some questions and answers.

J: The Arabs had a big mass of money for you, why did you choose Milan?
R: This is my life’s most important challenge, a sport challenge for which I refused a lot of money. I had offers from Saudi Arabia and from the US, I could stay in Madrid but I want to show againt to the whole world that I’m not over, I have a great enthusiasm.

J: Any doubt in choosing AC Milan, after your 5 years at Inter?
R: No doubts, I have had a beautiful history at Inter but now there’s a new challenge to face (again, we say) and I’m very happy, I have accepted immediately. There’s been some troubles in the negotiation, but since first Milan approach I decided to accept their offer.

J: You will see many changes here, what do you expect outside the ground, especially Inter fans?
R: Surely I’d like that people that were with me and now are on the other side of the barricades demonstrate respect for me. My history at Inter, again, was so beautiful, but it’s gone awry, I’ve been sent away, almost obliged by the coach (Cuper). I’m in Milan once again and I am very happy.

J: Did you think of Moratti and what he should have said?
R: No, everybody chooses his own road, I hope to do right for all these people that welcomed me in a very good way. I wish Moratti good luck, but I stay on my road.

J: A couple of weeks ago, Arrigo Sacchi in an interview said very bad words about you: “Ronaldo is a player that hates rules and don’t train as he should.
R: I have respect for rules, always trained and done what they told me to do. I don’t understand his statements but everybody is free to say what he wants. I have won a lot, nobody never gave me anything, I made it with a lot of sacrifices

J: A lot has been said and written, about the fact that you’re not like before and you don’t have enthusiasm
R: I have already said this, just being here is a big thrust, I refused many opportunities, but I want to show I’m still here, don’t matter about money

J: Materazzi invited Inter fans to go light with you
R: I’m not interested in what they think on the other side

J: Did you speak to Berlusconi? And what is your personal idea about Milan?
R: I talked to him, he gave me his warm welcome, I’m happy about this. Well, the game vs. Roma went wrong, but I’m sure things are getting better

Inter 0, Sampdoria 0. The news is that, after a long time, Inter tonight did not win. Last draw was in Munich (Bayern-Inter, Champions League 1-1 on December 5th) . The bad news -for its opponents- is that this was a second leg of Coppa Italia semi-final, and in the first leg Inter won 3-0 in Genoa. So, for the third year the team lead by Roberto Mancini will face AS Roma that yesterday won against Milan 3-1. In the last two years Inter took the cup away, and in case of another win, it would be a record.

Tonight Inter could enter the scene with its second team, only Burdisso that usually is in “Inter 1” played tonight but just because he cannot play for the main match of the season, the third Inter-Roma of five: he is disqualified. Even 17 y.o. midfielder Francesco Bolzoni could play his first game with black and blue jersey, and also other Under 20 players like Bonucci, Maaroufi and Fautario were part of the match. There’s not so much to say about the game, except the good return of Alvaro Recoba in the final part.

At the end, we just heard Luis Figo talk again of his transfer to Saudi Arabian Al Ittihad, with a little bit of polemic statement against Mancini (“I stay here until the end of the season because Moratti asked me, I didn’t talk to the coach). Oh, we just thought that Figo leaves Inter to earn a mass of money! Mancini as well was asked about his contract, and of course he took a couple of minutes to him to say…nothing about it. At the end we think he’ll stay at Inter.

So, Inter-Roma is National cup final, but it’s also next Sunday’s match. San Siro will be full of people, last time was for the Supercup and Inter won 4-3 after being 0-3 in first half. And just Figo scored the decisive goal, that time. It’s even pointless to say that Inter could write the words “The End” for this Serie A, but Roma yesterday showed they can make it. And what about Inter tonight? Well, none of the eleven footballers we’ll see on the ground next Sunday played tonight.

Let’s stay in Milan, but on the other side: on Friday there is Ronaldo’s introduction to journalists, in a general state of coldness. No AC Milan fans went to the training centre to say “welcome” to him, and also in San Siro his old fans of Inter ignored him and went light with him. Let’s see if he’ll give to his new fans emotions and delight them. At the moment he’s still injured and in bad shape. The Rossoneri are really unlucky: today we knew that Dida has a shoulder ligament injury, he’ll be back in the middle of March: Ancelotti is forced to utilize newcomer Marco Storari, former Messina goalie, without experience in big clubs and in main competitions. And he will have to play in Champions League…oh, what a bad season for AC Milan!

When a top team has to sign many and many players in the January window, it means that something is going wrong during the season. Injuries, or bad results. This special transfer period hasn’t a long tradition in Italy, and we never had a club winning the Scudetto because of transfers in this period. We just remember three years ago, when Inter was fighting with Parma and Lazio for the qualifying round of Champions League, and in January signed best players of its opponents, Adriano (Parma) and Stankovic (Lazio). Of course, at the end Inter could go through with its fourth place.

Nobody who understands a little bit of football could think that without Sheva and with Oliveira replacing him, AC Milan could be stronger than before. When Galliani last summer said “at Christmas we’ll be overtaking Inter”, referring to the 8 points penalization, we thought it was an expedient to keep everybody in the club in high spirits. And nobody, neither Galliani himself, could believe his words.

That’s why now, after less than five months, and after Inter was not overtaken but it’s thirty points above, Galliani had to amend some mistakes. The best that he could do is having a revenge on his cousins by signing Ronaldo after a long shilly-shally about the price (it’s hard to understand for an old Ronaldo fan that Oddo was signed for more), and AC Milan has also to pay 112.000 euros to Inter, due to FIFA rule that gives money to clubs that contribute to player’s growing. Funny, isn’t it?

Palermo lost Amauri for a knee injury (his season has ended), so president Zamparini has just replaced him with another South-American, Edison Cavani of Danubio Montevideo. The 20 y.o. Uruguayan forward arrives one day later other forward Matusiak. Maybe Caracciolo will leave, with final destination Milan (red-black side). We will know in the next two hours.
Fiorentina has signed another 20 y.o. player, but a midfielder. Zradko Kuzmanovic from Swiss club FC Basel. That’s all, the rest of transfers could be good for someone to save from relegation or improve a couple of places in Serie A ranking. And it’s even normal that a club like Inter, which normally makes a lot of transfers, both inbound and outbound, this time lies in wait for next season’s transfers.

Last week we talked about the bookmaker SNAI that suspended bets on Inter win in Serie A. Well, today’s news is that they are already start paying all the betters four months before the end of the season. If we were superstitious, as we like Inter, we would buy a lot of charms. Anyway, in their shoes we would have waited 10.30 pm next Sunday, at the end of the match between the Nerazzurri and AS Roma (second in ranking, 11 points below), before paying.

At that time, if Roma doesn’t get the 3 points, can we really consider the Italian championship finished with 16 games still to play? Maybe yes, maybe not. Of course yes for bookmakers, if we consider that another one is just accept stakes only on the final gap between Inter and the second, probably Roma.

The Romans tried to put some pressure yesterday by beating Siena, while Inter had to face Sampdoria in the evening. It’s already so tough, to meet Inter this year. And Sampdoria did its best to make its life more complicated when Delvecchio tried to become the new Zidane, though this time his head butt hit Materazzi’s chin. Red card to him, yellow for Inter’s defender, and everything easier especially after Ibra’s header and Maincon goal after a counter attack.

Now, Inter –as we said- is eleven points clear at the top, but also Roma is now 7 points over Palermo. It looks like the most exciting story is the battle for fourth place the last that give Champions League qualifying stage. Now, Lazio and Catania have 30 points, Empoli and Udinese 29, Atalanta 28, Milan 27. Team that can go through are these, for less than a sensational second half by Fiorentina. Lazio –very good in Palermo even after Oddo went away- and Milan for its strength are the teams that can have more chances.

Milan would have even more chances, of course, with Ronaldo. The Brazilian is not available for Champions League, but could be helpful to reach next season’s qualifying round. But…is Ronaldo already an AC Milan player? Not at the moment. Galliani is in Madrid, but there’s still a mismatch in terms of player’s value and also of payment conditions. Tomorrow is the day. Anyhow, in place of Galliani we wouldn’t risk loosing Ronaldo for half a million euro, after that last summer Milan signed Oliveira for many millions more!