UEFA Champions League
First knockout round, leg two
AC Milan Vs ARSENAL
Tuesday 4th March 2008
7:45pm
Aggregate score: 0-0
San Siro
by SE13 » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:51 pm
by arseman » Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:37 pm
by AFC RED ARMY » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:59 pm
by arseman » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:47 pm
Arsène Wenger celebrated one of his most memorable evenings at the San Siro when his Arsenal side demolished Inter 5-1 in the Champions League in 2003 and he would relish an equally emphatic performance on Tuesday night. Wenger has fond memories of Thierry Henry's two goals and can only dream of a similar scoreline when they face Milan in the same stadium.
The Arsenal manager knows they face a bigger challenge in trying to reach the quarter-final stage of the competition after the reigning champions held them to a 0-0 draw in the first leg. But with the pace and power of Emannuel Adebayor in the Arsenal attack and his young team defying the odds to challenge for the Premier League title, Wenger remains optimistic that his side can cause another major upset.
The Frenchman has stressed the importance of a good start after Manchester United were blown away in the opening half-hour by Milan at the semi-final stage last season as the Italians scored twice on their way to a 5-3 aggregate victory. Wenger said: 'The Inter game was a great result for us and we have positive vibes from the San Siro. At the time Inter played with three centre-backs who were all offensive players. We caught them well with the space they gave us. We were in a situation where we had to attack the game with a high score. Milan have a lot of experience and maybe we will need to have a little bit more patience against them.
'What is important is to be tight defensively because they tore United apart in the first 20 minutes of their second leg at the San Siro. We need to start the game in a strong way. From the first game we have the belief that we can beat them because we dominated the game.'
Wenger refuses to contemplate failure in their quest to win both the Premier League and Champions League. He said: 'This is the serious part of the season. When you go into March every game for your season is on the line, but I'm confident that my team can deal with that. I don't think about failure. In football everyone outside you looks for failure but if you start looking for it as well you are sure to get it, so I only look at the positive side.'
Brazilian midfielder Kaká will be Milan's biggest threat, but Wenger is refusing to man-mark the world footballer of the year and would never dream of telling his players to muscle him out of the game. 'There is no chance I will send my team out to harm Kaká. If you take the great players out of the game why should people go to watch football games? Great players make football art and if you are there to kill them it is not acceptable.'
by Swifty » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:56 pm
by AFC RED ARMY » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:30 pm
by absolutely_fabregas » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:41 pm
AFC RED ARMY wrote:kaka and sedorf are out!!!!
by singaporegooner » Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:43 am
AFC RED ARMY wrote:kaka and sedorf are out!!!!
by rodney » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:25 am
by Cheese » Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:33 pm
by rogerthornhill » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:41 pm
by Cheese » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:11 pm
by Cheese » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:16 pm
by Cheese » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:18 pm
by arseman » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:22 pm