EUROPEAN LEAGUES:NO ONE could ever accuse AC Milan's Brazilian coach Leonardo of being a pessimist. Speaking on Saturday night after his side had drawn 0-0 with AS Roma at the Olimpico in Rome, Leonardo sounded the battle cry for Wednesday's Champions League return leg tie with Manchester United, even suggesting that his side could pull off the "mission impossible" and win by two clear goals: "We really believe we can do it. We've done really well in all the games we've played since that night at San Siro (2-3 defeat by United). We go to Manchester full of optimism, if we were able to stage a comeback there it would be something incredible, eternal".
Leonardo’s optimism was only partly borne out by his side’s performance in a game that was effectively a clash between the pretenders to Inter Milan’s throne. Milan did indeed dominate much of the match, they played much good football but Brazilian Ronaldhino, strikers Marco Boriello and Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar all missed the sort of chances that players of their class and experience would normally gobble up. Furthermore, this Roma side, missing talisman Francesco Totti and looking just a little jaded, clearly represented a less imposing opponent than United next Wednesday.
The Old Trafford returning Prodigal Son, David Beckham, did not start against Roma, being brought on in the 73rd minute. Despite the fact that he was not in Saturday night’s starting line-up, the impression remains that Leonardo may well start with Beckham at Old Trafford, perhaps in the hope that the “Ex” factor might produce some pyrotechnics.
Leonardo’s new twin strike force of Boriello and Huntelaar looked willing and able but hardly in goal scoring form. Given that Milan’s Brazilian striker Pato has not trained for a week now because of a thigh muscle problem, however, it is more than possible that the Milan attack will again be led by this pair.
The final word goes to Roma coach Claudio Ranieri, a man who of course knows a thing or two about the Premiership. Asked by The Irish Times as to how Milan might fare this week, his reply was nothing if not diplomatic: “You know there was a time when English teams did not read games like this very well, when they used to think that all you had to do was put the head down and charge. But that time is gone, it is much harder to play against English teams now. As an Italian I like to see Italian teams do well but this will be a very hard game for Milan”.
In yesterday’s play, Palermo moved back to fourth after a 1-0 win over Livorno as Italian striker Fabrizio Miccoli scored the only goal of the game nine minutes from time. The result sees the Sicilian team leapfrog Juventus and move into the Champions League qualifying spot.
Champions League Watch:
Fiorentina v Bayern Munich
FORMER JUVE midfielder Marco Marchionni headed Fiorentina’s goal in the 2-1 home defeat to Juventus on Saturday. Faltering Fiorentina, who host Bayern tomorrow, trailing 2-1 from the first leg, are down to 10th in Serie A.
Bayern Munich lead the Bundesliga despite being held to a 1-1 draw in Cologne on Saturday. Youngster Diego Contento has been ruled out of the trip to Tuscany with injury but Arjen Robben should be available having recovered from the cold that kept him out of the Cologne clash.
Real Madrid v Lyon
REAL MADRID coach Manuel Pellegrini hailed his side’s last-gasp 3-2 victory over Sevilla on Saturday as “psychologically important”. Sevilla led 2-0 with only 30 minutes to go but Madrid staged a stunning recovery, drawing level through goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos, before substitute Rafael van der Vaart stabbed in the winner two minutes into injury-time.
Lyon, who take a one-goal lead to the Bernabeu on Wednesday, drew 0-0 at second from bottom Boulogne-sur-Mer on Saturday.
