HOW FIT is Ronaldinho?
France-Football’s Spanish correspondent told Philippe Auclair that the medics don’t think Ronaldinho should be out there. Philippe called from the Eurostar train last night for a chat about this game.
The Brazilian missed Racing Santander and he also missed Villareal last Friday. Apparently, the doctors think he should not play in Milan, but he will.
Without Messi, Larsson and the suspended Deco, Barcelona need Ronaldinho at the San Siro because 50% of his genius can help Frank Rijkaard get a 1-1 draw against last year’s ageing finalists.
The full Barcelona team would thrash the full Milan team, I’m sure.
Van Bommel and Eto’o will be vital and we know that Eto’o and Cameroon will not be at the World Cup. So this is his World Cup. Tonight’s game might provide his statement : I won’t be there, so ciao – but before I go, take that ! Bang! Bang !
Italy is in a downward spiral as a country because it is too corrupt and inward-looking. Serie A is has gates that are small and falling. Massimo Moratti, who owns Inter, is talking of quitting.
THESE SEMI-FINALS will put my latest theory to the test.
As regular readers already know, I now believe that second legs don’t really exist.They they are just the later stages of a 180-minute game that was decided by the events of first 90, an appendix to the first leg, rather than a separate second game that can reverse the events of the first leg.
The last 16, the last 8, the last 4, are all about initiative and scoring first. If you think a first leg is tight, wait for the second, which will be tighter.Arsenal got a 1-0 lead in Madrid and protected it in the second leg. Arsenal took a 2-0 lead in the first leg against Juventus and protected it in the San Siro.
OK, you do get occasional reversals like Deportivo Coruna in 2004.
First leg of quarter final : Milan 4 Deportivo 1
Second leg : Deportivo 4 Milan 0.
Aggregate : 5-4.
That was the first time a team had ever lost a Champions League first leg by three goals and still qualified.
Deportivo then met Porto in the semi and lost
SHEVCHENKO won one European Cup at Old Trafford by scoring the winning penalty against Juventus and lost one in Istanbul by missing one in a shoot-out against Liverpool.
Sheva is one of the great strikers in postwar history alongside Puskas, Law, Muller and Van Basten. He can score every type of goal : headers, thunderbolts, free-kicks, volleys, one-one-ones, you name it, he can score it.
Their other striker Gilardinho is not as good as Pippo Inzaghi, who is out with a high temperature.
Shevchenko has done it year after year, against dirty, cheating defenders. His mentality is incomparable.
And Sheva has a partner on his level, Kaka. If you have a great player, the best thing you can do for him is to buy a second great player to play with him.
But Milan are weak in defence : a bunch of has-beens in front of the dodgy Dida, who drops too many balls.
With any service, Eto’o will expose the over-rated Nesta. He is a super-dynamic warrior with an amazing work ethic.
Yes, AC Milan have character, control, experience in abundance, but they are weak on crosses. Their centrebacks don’t command the danger area and Dida stays on his line.
Barcelona’s Carles Puyol is Spain’s John Terry, an inspiring captain. He knows that Shevchenko is much better than anybody in the Spanish League, even at 29, a couple of years past his prime
Puyol said, “There are few teams that play the way we do with the defence pushed up, controlling possession of the ball, and working hard to win the ball even in the opposition half. We are aggressive yet humble. We always go out to win. It is better to take risks playing good football than to keep things tight waiting for the right moment.”
EXPECTED LINE-UPS:
MILAN: 1-Dida; 2-Cafu, 13-Alessandro Nesta, 4-Kakha Kaladze, 3-Paolo Maldini; 8-Gennaro Gattuso, 21-Andrea Pirlo, 20-Clarence Seedorf; 22-Kaka; 7-Andriy Shevchenko, Gilardinho
BARCELONA : 1-Victor Valdes; 23-Oleguer, 5-Carles Puyol, 4-Rafael Marquez, 12-Giovanni van Bronckhorst ; 17-Mark van Bommel, 15-Edmilson, 24-Thiago Motta; 8-Ludovic Giuly, 10-Ronaldinho, 9-Samuel Eto’o.
Barcelona are unbeaten in the Champions League this season with seven wins and three draws. With the side available here, a 1-1 would be a result for them.
Ancelotti says his squad are all fit, which gives his golden oldies a chance to say : We may be old footballers, but we are the best old footballers in Europe, and we have three big games left in us.
CAN YOU SUM UP NOW?
Well, Milan are weak in defence but the overlapping Serginho can dominate Giuly on their left flank and attack right back Olegeur.
Barcelona are weak in attack because their uniquely attractive style depends on Deco-Messi-Ronaldinho and Deco and Messi are not playing and Ronaldinho may be only 60% fit and may be shut down by his friends Cafu and Kaka.
Cafu is back after knee surgery in January and looked full of running in the 1-0 win over Inter.
Last season Ronaldinho destroyed Milan with a wonder goal, a wriggling swerve across the D and a left foot thunderbolt that left Dida helpless. The genius was fit that night. But if he is less than 60% fit tonight he will not have access to his skills.
PS
I’ve been asked by a nervous reader, Clarky, to stop making confident predictions.
He says : All too often, your ‘firm’ predictions about key Arsenal games over the past two seasons have been wrong ! So please don’t put a hex on us by being certain that we will beat Villareal in tomorrow’s article. Thank you !!!!
Am I superstitious? Not really. And I already know what I will write tomorrow.