AC Milan Vs Arsenal | Champions League (2)

[rachel83]

Me:

[singaporegooner]

THIS WILL BE 1 PERFORMANCE I'M GONNA REMEMBER FOR A LOOOOOOOOOONG TIME.
I dono what to say....totally speechless....
Next Up...Wigan!

[RosickyRox!!]

i was actually in school when the match was going on (time difference) as soon as my exam ended i raaaannnn to this petrol station near my school where they hav a small tv .the only channel ever on it is BBC and there was this small slide at the bottom of the screen and it was like arsenal won 2-0!!!! i died on the spot!!!!! WOW!!!!!! SHIT!!! YYYEEEEAAA!!!!
*does summersaults,backflips,breakdance and jumps of cliff*

[Bristol_Gunner]

i thought diaby did well. he had some good link up i thought he was a bit wasteful at times and deffensivley too made some mistakes but i thught he put in a "team performance"

[absolutely_fabregas]

i was loving it when kaka got the ball and cesc was right on top of him, and if he wasnt flamini was

our midfield owned them the whole game, and that says a lot, when you ae talking about pirlo,kaka,ambrosini and gattuso

gallas had some moments of world class defending, and almunia was off his line quick as a flash a few times

the first 5-10 mins when they had a few corners i was starting to get worried, but after that they couldnt really penetrate us at all

theos introduction was at the perfect time, they were on the back foot and beginning to tire, and they see him coming on lol

im glad that RVP wasnt needed, hopefully he comes on for a couple of subs appearances and gets eased back into the team

Who do people want in the next round? apart from the 1 or 2 smaller clubs that have made it, its hard to pick one out as a good draw

[CLS]

what a great all round performance ,as we were missing chances i thought in the back of my mind milan might nick one on the break but the kids sorry men didnt let us down , they fought for every ball and showed all the guts,grit and determiation of a world war 2 solders i was so proud ,
when cecs scored and ran toward the touchline to hug wenger i cant remember a prouder footballing moment for me
it brought a tear to my i eye ,

what will be will be but knowone can take that game away from us, it was a pure masterclass againt a team with one of the best records in the europe

[absolutely_fabregas]

we did that missing van persie, rosicky and toure. eduardo as well

for a squad that has taken flak in the media all season as being too small, we go and dig out that result

mikey said about arsenal play better when everyone is against them, well last night proved it

[Good_Eye_Sniper]

Sorry Fabrestuta, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Diaby was excellent all game, linked up (and overlapped!) brilliantly with Clichy, and cut inside well too.

He certainly performed FAR better than Eboue on the other wing

[AFC RED ARMY]

Arsenal YOUNG GUNS 2-0 Ac milan OAP'S

[arseman]

Defeat to Arsenal saw Milan fail to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the second group stage was abandoned in 2003-04, and the first time they have failed to reach the semi-finals since 2004-05. With Milan's starting XI boasting an average age of over 30 last night, and 39-year-old captain Paolo Maldini set to retire at the end of the season, it is unsurprising, perhaps, that the Italian press have greeted last night as the end of an era.

"Milan: The End", booms the front page headline - written in English - of today's Gazzetta dello Sport, while other papers have taken a similar tack. "[Milan manager Carlo] Ancelotti's era is over", insists a Corriere dello Sport headline, despite the fact the club's owner, Silvio Berlusconi, has insisted he plans to stick by his manager even if he fails to qualify for next year's Champions League. "End of the Road", concurs the Corriere della Sera.

Nevertheless, few writers have been particularly critical of Ancelotti's team - most preferring to reflect simply on a remarkable spell of European dominance. "Now that it is finished, before explaining why it is finished, let's have a round of applause for the exit of the champions of everything," says Gazzetta's Franco Arturi. "Milan deserves it. They carried for a long time a legend, founded on their play, class, and desire, around the world; they are one of the most successful Italian brands. They burned themselves out as they did so often, pushing themselves to the very edge of their limits. A serene end, if not a glorious one, to years spent in the very best way.

"Ancelotti knew he had a squad on its knees, one that had been bouncing for months between Wednesdays and Sundays to an unsustainable rhythm: the last high, the intercontinental cup won last winter, was paid for at the highest price possible, with an impossible calendar. To try to repeat the miracle achieved last year would have required a complete turnover of players between the championship and the [Champions League] - 10 players in and 10 players out each time. Milan's precarious position in the league wouldn't permit such a course of action."

To a man the Italian press corps seem in accordance that Arsenal fully deserved their victory, but nevertheless a few were left ruing the timing of Cesc Fábregas's opener. "I have to admit I allowed myself to be fooled in the last 20 minutes of the game, when the exhausted Milan drew out their very best, through sheer heart and positive thinking," says Gazzetta's senior writer and former editor Candido Cannavò. "Some members of the team called for the physio, but the flashes from Kaka and [Alexandre] Pato allowed one to keep dreaming."

Corriere della Sera's Mario Sconcerti agrees. "With the sort of irony that often accompanies goodbyes, Milan's run ended with the concession of a goal in their best moment of the match," he says. "Arsenal were no longer managing to hold on to the ball, [Arsenal striker Emmanuel] Adebayor, extraordinary atypical monument of modern football, had disappeared. Indeed, Fábregas had understood the slowness of his team and took the responsibility of going it alone. He got lucky, but neither he nor his team-mates stole anything. They dominated the game. In the first leg and the second."

Arsenal are lauded for their attacking intent, La Repubblica's Gianni Mura noting that: "Arsenal brought seven players looking to play the ball in Milan's half, while Milan for long periods were restricted to two: Pato and [Filippo] Inzaghi forward, sometimes supported by Kaka, and the rest a long way behind." Fábregas, meanwhile, comes in for special praise from Mura's colleague Andrea Sorrentino. "Here he is, the splendid midfielder who disappointed a little in the first leg. This time he was the master of the pitch, in front of the defence to shut down (well) Kaka, then indefatigable weaver of the play, often the furthest forward, avoiding Gattuso and Ambrosini's traps and even getting himself into positions from which to shoot."

Inevitably, however, the acknowledgement of the end of an era has also opened the discussion of how Milan can progress from here. "The elimination now opens the route to a remodernisation," says Sconcerti, "maybe even a real refounding. The last time, at the beginning of the 2000s, Ancelotti managed to find new solutions on the fly. He had a 23-year-old Pirlo, a 28-year-old Inzaghi, a 25-year-old Nesta. He had leaders as well as champions. This team now, however, is a decadent Milan that no longer has a firm point of reference. Kaka goes on his own, Pato is a kid and outside of any communal initiative. Pirlo follows but doesn't lead. I don't think it was by chance that their worst night arrived when they were missing the one truly charismatic player they have left - [Clarence] Seedorf."

The last word was saved for Maldini, for whom last night marked the sad end of a glorious European career in which he has picked up five European Cups across three decades. All of the major Italian dailies named him Milan's man of the match. "In London, Maldini had been 'magnificent' according to the English press," concludes Corriere della Sera's Paolo Tomaselli. "Yesterday Paolino was simply one of the best in Ancelotti's team. One of the last to give in to the evidence of a generational clash which Milan couldn't win."

Guardian Football

[ozgooner]

^^^^^

here - here !!!

[rodney]

Was simply the best game ever. I've been to some great matches, but to be there to see us knock out the current European Champions and the second most successful team in European history was amazing. I cannot believe how great we were. We'd been on a bad run of form and to come out and produce our best performance of the season was truly remarkable. The atmosphere was absolutely crazy one of the best I've been involved in. I nearly fell over some railings when we scored and accidentely punched some guy in the end when I jumped on a bunch of people whilst celebrating. It took a f***ing age to get to the top and you were allowed to sit where you wanted, which was brilliant. The view was simply amazing, although the stadium was a shithole, but from where we were it looked amazing.

As for the game in the first half we started off a bit edgy when Milan had a couple of corners, that were pretty dangerous. I remember thinking if Milan scored we'd be in trouble considering the confidence wouldn't be at it's highest after a couple of poor results and performances. We saw it through and from that moment on we absolutely murdered them. Adebayor held up the ball superbly, as he did all night and gave Nesta and Kaladze a nightmare, he gave the ball to Diaby who fired it just wide. From then on we grew with confidence and we came so close when Hleb went on one of those mazy runs, gave it to Ade and his shot was superbly saved by Kalac. Really thought that was going in, but the next chance we had was even closer. Cesc found the ball and hit a shot that smacked the bar which I could not believe didn't go in. Hleb and Cesc were dominating Milan going forward and Flamini was controlling Milan any time they went forward.

Second half began and we earned a corner which Cesc put into the box and somehow the ball found big Phil at the back post he god knows how managed to hit the ball straight at Kalac. I really thought that was our chance as all he had to do was put it either side and we would have been 1-0 up. Eboue had an even better chance though a few minutes later, but sent the ball wide as he often does. It just seemed like these missed chances were going to cost us.

Kaka had a few bursting runs, but fired both his shots comfortably wide. Eboue came off and Theo came on for Eboue who was the one disappointing player on the night. Hleb and Cesc were still dangerous and Flamini absolutely destroyed Milan if they went forward. Theo nearly set up Ade when he cut the ball back, but the ball didn't seem to fall for him. I still haven't seen a replay so not sure of what exactly happened, but Milan managed to clear.

Then one of the best moments of my time following Arsenal. Cesc took the ball on and from 25 yards let fly and the ball found the back of the net. Scenes of absolute wildness in the gooner end. I couldn't believe the ball went in and it was thoroughly deserved. Then to sum it all up Theo burst down the right, got to the ball in front of Kaladze I think it was, carried on running and gave it to Ade to seal one of the greatest wins in Arsenal's history. Was an amazing moment and I can't remember being as happy as I was at that moment.

I've seen the pictures of Cesc's face when he scores and it is the reasons that I've given before as to why I love the guy. You can see just how much it meant to him, he was nearly in tears and was just sumed up by how every other gooner felt. The players came to us at the end to aplaud us off and we gave them the praise they deserved.

Flamini is an absolute hero, Cesc was masterful, Hleb was superb, Ade worked so hard, Senderos and Gallas were immense, the full bakcs did their jobs as superbly as they usually do and Almunia and Diaby contributed to a superb night. Not many thought we would do it, but we bloody did and the quater finals here we come.

Well done the Arsenal