Liverpool Vs Milan the champions league final thread

Wouldn't suprise me.

He's also very pro-British.

Parks lives wrote:Wouldn't suprise me.

He's also very pro-British.

Is he not fond of Arsenal then?

How cool do Milan look!?

Gangster Crouchy! we don't need suits!!

To be fair, Crouch will look awful whatever he wears, poor lad.

Has Ronaldo had liposuction?

Murray wrote:



And Liverpool have got good players too - let's not forget about that. Steven Gerrard is as multi-talented as Kaka.

From the mouth of the opposition


'Greatest midfielder'
"I think Liverpool are even stronger than they were last time around," he added. "They are very well managed and well-organised, and they have some important individuals in the side. They have the greatest midfielder in Europe at the moment in Steven Gerrard; in my opinion he's unquestionably the best right now. It's enormously satisfying to pit my wits against him, it's a great buzz, and to do so in the final of a Champions League makes it an even bigger deal." Should they go 3-0 up again in Athens the Rossoneri will certainly be glad Ambrosini is not looking on from the sidelines.

Milan have outlined Crouch as the biggest threat along with Gerrard, will Benitez be affected by this? could he surprise everyone and start with Bellamy instead? or maybe Kuyt on his own

Carlo has said he already knows/decided how/formation Milan will play.

Kaká wrote:Carlo has said he already knows/decided how/formation Milan will play.

it's pretty obvious is it not?

Could work in our favour because even we have no idea how liverpool will line up which surely makes planning for the game that bit harder whereas rafa has extensive knowledge on how you will play and lineup

COTR wrote:

Kaká wrote:Carlo has said he already knows/decided how/formation Milan will play.

it's pretty obvious is it not?

Could work in our favour because even we have no idea how liverpool will line up which surely makes planning for the game that bit harder whereas rafa has extensive knowledge on how you will play and lineup

Bollocks really. They both as much knowledge as each other.

Parks lives wrote:

COTR wrote:

Kaká wrote:Carlo has said he already knows/decided how/formation Milan will play.

it's pretty obvious is it not?

Could work in our favour because even we have no idea how liverpool will line up which surely makes planning for the game that bit harder whereas rafa has extensive knowledge on how you will play and lineup

Bollocks really. They both as much knowledge as each other.

Well how could we argue with such a well made point


Benitez is renowned for his unpredictability. this simply has to affect milan's preparations and make them a bit harder. It isn't a major point and they will be very well prepared but might make a slight difference on wednesday. milan for example keep talking about crouch but he has no guarantee of even starting and there is no guarantee we'll play two strikers. whereas gilardino or inzaghi is just about the only question mark over poisitons for milan

^ As Parks said, I just posted what I've read, that Carlo knows how he will go about it.

Forget the "Gerrard, Crouch is the danger" talk, that is just normal banter.

COTR wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

COTR wrote:

Kaká wrote:Carlo has said he already knows/decided how/formation Milan will play.

it's pretty obvious is it not?

Could work in our favour because even we have no idea how liverpool will line up which surely makes planning for the game that bit harder whereas rafa has extensive knowledge on how you will play and lineup

Bollocks really. They both as much knowledge as each other.

Well how could we argue with such a well made point


Benitez is renowned for his unpredictability. this simply has to affect milan's preparations and make them a bit harder. It isn't a major point and they will be very well prepared but might make a slight difference on wednesday. milan for example keep talking about crouch but he has no guarantee of even starting and there is no guarantee we'll play two strikers. whereas gilardino or inzaghi is just about the only question mark over poisitons for milan

What's so hard? He just has to tell Nesta and his other world class defenders "ok, you'll either have to deal with x,y, and z if Crouch starts, or a,b,and c if Bellamy starts". They know the lineups 1 hour before the game, and that's more than enough time for the defenders to figure out what they'll be required to do.

Like I said in your thread earlier, sometimes people read far too much into tactics and lineups.

So Milan have Gilardino or Inzaghi and Liverpool have Crouch or Bellamy.

Difference being?

Kaká wrote:Forget the "Gerrard, Crouch is the danger" talk, that is just normal banter.

I know but rafa normally surprises nearly everyone with his team selections. he has a habit of doing the unpredictable and somehow getting it right (kewell, traore, biscan, zenden, arbeloa etc etc) He likes to make what seem like odd decisions to bug us fans but it mostly works. as i said it's a minor point but will hopefully help

Milan on the other hand won't know whether they will face five midfielders, four midfielders, two wingers, no wingers, a tall striker or a pacy striker. you will still play your own game but it's hard to predict what type of side we will put out

Luis wrote:Has Ronaldo had liposuction?

He definitely looks much fitter...it's partly due to the suit he's wearing (you can still see his belly jutting out), but it must be thanks to Milan Labs.

kas wrote:
Like I said in your thread earlier, sometimes people read far too much into tactics and lineups.

But this is part of the joy of football although I totally agree with you

'it isn't the managers fault. it was the players who were on the pitch'
is a common cliche from the losers

all benitez's best made plans can be messed up straight away if maldini scores in the second minute again

What are the odds of Maldini scoring the 1st goal ?

I'm not 100% sure Maldini will start.

kas wrote:

Luis wrote:Has Ronaldo had liposuction?

He definitely looks much fitter...it's partly due to the suit he's wearing (you can still see his belly jutting out), but it must be thanks to Milan Labs.

He's never been 'that' overweight, just the stupid spainish media.

He looks nerdy.

AC Milan is way off the lead in the Italian league and hasn't won the Serie A title in three years. Liverpool is far behind Manchester United in the Premier League and hasn't won the English championship since 1990.

Yet, Milan and Liverpool are playing for European soccer's biggest prize Wednesday, giving the Champions League a bad name.








It's not really the fault of Milan or Liverpool. The competition simply should be renamed. It's certainly not a league, and it's far from guaranteed a champion will win it.

The Champions and Nearly Champions Preliminary Round, Group Stage and Knockout Cup might be a more accurate description of a competition that has changed format repeatedly over the years.

When Europe's premier club competition started in 1955, it was called the European Cup and involved the champions of the major European domestic leagues.

As it grew in stature and TV began to take a far bigger interest, however, European soccer's governing body, UEFA, tinkered with the format so teams that made it to the last 16 would play each other in four groups and then revert to elimination play.

But the format allowed for the possibility of big clubs getting knocked out during early rounds, and that was of no real interest to TV.

UEFA faced a major problem in the 1990s when the top clubs -- mainly from Italy, Spain, England and Germany -- were unhappy they didn't make more money from TV revenues and commercial spinoffs. They began to make noises that they wanted to form their own breakaway competition on a league basis.

If they all pulled out, then the European Champions Cup wouldn't be much of a prize for those who were left. So UEFA came up with an alternative to stop the big clubs from leaving.

The competition would be reconstructed so the champions would be seeded directly into the group phase and play at least six lucrative games before the knockout round. But UEFA didn't stop there.

Not only did the domestic champions in the big leagues make it into the Champions League but so did the runners-up. Then the third- and fourth-place teams also got the chance to make it through the qualifying round and into the group stage.

The champions of the likes of Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic were overlooked by the seeding process and usually met a powerhouse team early in the competition. The clubs from the Premier League, Serie A and the Spanish league would bulldoze their way to the final stages.

Three Spanish teams made it to the semifinals in 2000, with Real Madrid beating Valencia in the final. Serie A clubs AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus reached the same stage in 2003, resulting in an all-Italian final. Three Premier League teams -- Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United -- made it to this season's semifinals.

Look at the last 16 of this season's Champions League, when the competition reverted to the knockout format. England had four teams still going strong -- Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal. Italy had Milan, Inter and AS Roma. Spain had Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia.

Rival coaches have different thoughts on the merits of winning their domestic leagues compared with the Champions League.

"The Champions League is the most important for us," Milan's Carlo Ancelotti said.

Yet Manchester United's Alex Ferguson, Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and Chelsea's Jose Mourinho say they favor the Premier League because it is harder to win. Maybe they would change their minds if they won the Champions League more often.

So why not make the Champions League a true league?

Clubs that reach the final under the current format have to play at least 13 games -- 15 if they have to play in the qualifying rounds. So why not scrap the preliminary rounds and take the top 16 champions in Europe and let them play each other on a round-robin basis? It would fit into the same time format.

While it would justify the name of the competition, it probably would not meet with approval from the powerhouse teams favoring the current format. But UEFA's new president, Michel Platini, might go along with it.

He already has decided that the big leagues should have three, rather than four, teams in the competition. That would give the champions of the smaller domestic leagues a better chance of reaching the knockout phase.

Milan and Liverpool wouldn't be in Wednesday's final if it were a champions-only competition, even though the Italian club has won the European title six times and the English team five.

One of them, however, will still become champion of Europe.

Parks lives wrote:So Milan have Gilardino or Inzaghi and Liverpool have Crouch or Bellamy.

Difference being?

so only strikers count?

what about the other players on the pitch? especially in the midfield where this game is going to be won.

milan have kaka, seedorf, gattuso, pirlo, ambrosini etc all set and in a kind of set formation, they only have to choose between gilardino and inzaghi in front of them

any ideas what liverpool's midfield will look like? whether gerrard will be in the centre or on the wing or even as a support striker behind crouch? whether maschereno or sissoko will play, one is about positioning and passing the other more athletic and energetic, what about alonso? zenden? kewel? gonzalez? pennant?

Mascherano, Gerrard, Pennant, Kewell, Kuyt & Crouch.

I'd bet an avatar on it.

I woudln't be so sure - Benitez might prefer to use Bellamy's pace verses Maldini

Parks lives wrote:Mascherano, Gerrard, Pennant, Kewell, Kuyt & Crouch.

I'd bet an avatar on it.

what's the point spank

you won't follow through with the bet as usual

it would take a brave man to bet any sort of money on how we will lineup