Champions League: Milan Roll, Lazio Fight Out a Draw
By: Martha | September 18th, 2007
Despite wearing their pretty new pink away kit, Benfica were overmatched today in Milan, their case was not helped by uninspired goalkeeping when Quim palmed an early (and very good, it must be said) Andrea Pirlo free kick carefully into his own goal in the ninth minute. And then, within in the first half hour, Pippo Inzaghi scored off a brilliant counterattack without a hint of offside, always a very bad sign for Milan opponents. In addition to the two goals, Milan had myriad good chances in an end-to-end first half, while for Benfica, Rui Costa was always a threat, forcing multiple saves from of Dida.
Though they gave up an injury time goal to substitute Nuno Gomes, it sounds like (UEFA.com denied my OS, so I’m just watching the match now on ESPN Deportes) Milan essentially coasted through the second half, content to simple keep the ball in that familiar old Milan way. In the other match in the group, Shaktar beat Celtic by a 2-0 scoreline (Lucarelli!), leaving Milan joint-top, with a difficult visit to Parkhead looming ahead on Matchday 2.
In Athens, meanwhile, Lazio battled manfully in a giant, echo-y ground,* grabbing a crucial point against Olympiakos on a late (maybe-offside) goal from left back Luciano Zauri. Given the strength of their group, Lazio still don’t have much of a chance to move forward, but the point from the Greek side them off the bottom heading into the huge October 3 visit of Real Madrid, which is a step in the right direction. (Also, on an only slightly related note, when did Lomana Lua Lua go to Greece? What the hell happened to his career? And since when is he “LuaLua”?)
*Turns out Lazio’s supporters didn’t have to behave after all, because they weren’t allowed in — Olympiakos had crowd trouble last season against Shaktar and paid for it by playing behind locked doors.
Category: 
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Milan were great. Its a little unfair to say they just kept the ball. I thought they continued to attack just with a little less pace. In any case they certainly looked in control and some important players looked really good.
Pirlo was especially good
Posted from
Australia
-
Thanks, Pat — I’m about mid-way through the first half now and Milan look awesome.
Posted from
United States -
when did pirlo decide to become the new zidane? :)
Posted from
United States -
Milan were impressive. Pink uniforms…not so much
Posted from
United States -
Jamie, Pirlo’s been awesome in every game he’s played this season — for Milan and Italy — even when those around him have stunk it up. He’s incredible.
Bob, I’m a proud owner of a pink Rui Costa jersey. You take that back.
Posted from
United States -
Very enjoyable game, on both ends. The only thing that fu**ed it up for me was Benfica’s late goal in 92′, which effectively denied my team the clean sheet in the CL fantasy league (I have Dida and Nesta… grrrrrrr)
By the way, Milan’s 2nd goal was a textbook example on how to set up a counterattack. They should show the tape to young kids in soccer schools.
Posted from
United States -
Quit bitching Marco, I started Artur Boruc instead of Petr Cech by mistake.
And the last thing anyone should do is show tapes of games including Pippo Inzaghi to young kids learning the game. The games would have 9,000 offside calls, the joy would be effectively wiped out of the game and calcio as we know it would fall off the face of the earth.
Posted from
United States -
Chris and Marco, I got off to a great start in the fantasy league. I’m top of our little league and I still have 8 players who haven’t played. It also helped that I made Pirlo captain, anyway, yay me!!!
Posted from
United States -
I’d just like to say Pippo owns the entire Roma squad.
And now, Pirlo is basically the back-bone of the Italian squad, since everyone else feels like sucking… And as for Milan, it’s nice to see them actually get a comfortable win, instead of a 1-1 tie with Siena -_-
And I feel left out without a CL fantasy team =P I’m too busy with my Serie A team =D
Posted from
United States -
hey chris if milan could produce another two pippo’s by making kids watch tapes of him i’d be more than happy to watch the win everything for milan and italy. He is fantastic, Pele said he wished inzaghi could ave played in Brazil.
Id like to point out that the goal came from an un marked opponent on the far post again!!! this is a defensive error but im sure Dida will have to take the slack for it
Posted from
Australia -
Well Chris I guess they could show all the action up to Pirlo’s cross, then turn off the TV and say “oh yeah and that guy then scores, any questions?”.
I know you hate Pippo but unlike Gila he ain’t shooting blanks. :)
Posted from
United States -
Italy back on top:
http://fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/news/newsid=600057.html#italy+backEven better: france falls to sixth. bwahaha
To me this is just more evidence that little Andrea Pirlo is the most important player in football today.
Posted from
United States
Comments are closed
Home 
