Champions League: Milan Go Crazy, Lazio Lose Unbeaten Record

By: Martha | October 24th, 2007

Get this: Not only did Milan win at home and score four goals, but Alberto Gilardino had two of them. Both within the first 15 minutes! So, if you see a flying pig, don’t fret — clearly this is a day for odd occurrences. In addition to Gila’s explosion, Clarence Seedorf also bagged a brace, scoring both his goals in six minutes of the second half.

Again, I’m relying on The Man’s reports here having not seen either match, but it sounds as if Milan were playing like they used to — you know, before they started sucking — and that backup keeper Zeljko Kalac had a fantastic match, maybe earning some support from the Milan faithful who, until today, seem to have considered him even worse than a shaky Dida. In addition, Kaka apparently has a wonderful second half, creating about a billion chances for himself and everyone around him — I bet the announcers mentioned the Golden Ball at least 12 times in those 45 minutes. Shakhtar, on the other hand, struggled like crazy, scoring their only goal (Lucarelli!) off a terrible Oddo error and replacing a defender in the 17th minute for tactical reasons — that’s what happens, apparently, when you give up a brace to Gila.

Out in Germany, meanwhile, things went south for Lazio, who took their first Champions League loss on what is being described as a “poor defensive effort” against Werder Bremen. The Germans missed a couple of gifts early in the match but took greater control as the game went along, going into the lead on the half-hour mark through Boubacar Sanogo, who finished through Valon Behrami legs. Doh! Diego created the chance for Sanogo and was a constant source of trouble for Lazio, nearly doubling the lead shortly thereafter on his own. Both teams had goals ruled out for offside, but Werder went up by two shortly after the half, and a late goal from Christian Manfredini was all the Romans could muster in reponse.

The day ends, then, with Milan joint top of Group D with Shakhtar on six points, three clear of Celtic and Benfica, while Lazio are bottom of Group C with just two points, one behind Werder Bremen and two from Olympiakos, who have four.

Category: AC Milan, Champions League, Lazio, Results, Serie A

Tags: AC Milan, Champions League, Gilardino, Kaka, Kalac, Lazio, Lucarelli, Results, Seedorf, Serie A, Shakhtar, Werder Bremen

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• patcook |  October 24th, 2007 at 2:52 pm

  
  
  

  Milan did go a bit lax in the first half after Gila brace. I think Shakhtar ended up with more possession and more shots. The first time Milan have been beaten in both those statistical areas all season.

  Perhaps they should let the opposition have the ball a bit more often.

  Posted from Australia

  

• mele419 |  October 24th, 2007 at 3:08 pm

  
  
  

  Milan did get lax after the first 25 or so, like patcook said. Lucarelli’s goal came after a HORRIBLE mistake from Oddo -_- But Seedorf had two AWESOME volley goals. Amazing. Kaka amazing as well. At least 7 chances created by Kaka for himself, for Rino, for everyone. This was a GREAT game. And Kalac made some NICE saves as well! The goal was defiantely not his fault, he stopped the first attempt, but the ball bounced right to Lucarelli and he just tapped it past Oddo. But Milan played really, really well. And Gattuso looks really really wierd without that bear beard.

  Posted from United States

  

• Ashley |  October 24th, 2007 at 4:43 pm

  
  
  

  sweet sweet victory!!!

  Posted from United States

  

• Julie |  October 25th, 2007 at 12:52 am

  
  
  

  This was a fantastic match watch, real end-to-end stuff, and Milan in the first 20 minutes were awesome going forward and looked nothing like the misery they have been in Serie A. But …. they were fantastically lax at the back. At 2-1, they looked very shaky indeed as Shaktar had more of the possession and more of the shots (albeit that both sides had an enormous shots-on-goal count). Carlito looked like a worried man - and he should have been - but the goal for 3-1 gave Milan some blessed relief and the 4-1 scoreline flattered, even though the Seedorf goal was awesome. For me though, the surprise of the night was Rino. With his slightly longer hair, and shaved visage, I found myself thinking that he looked ….. dare I say it …. handsome.

  Posted from United States

  

• Ruby |  October 25th, 2007 at 4:56 am

  
  
  

  I am eating humble pie over Kalac as we speak. (Well, until the next time he messes up, in which case I will be first with the ‘I told you so’s.)

  And Mass had patently had a rather hectic night the night before, as his concentration was nowhere to be seen.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

• Martha |  October 25th, 2007 at 5:09 am

  
  
  

  Man, you guys are making me wish I’d seen the match, which is something I never say about Milan these days. It’ll be nice if Kaka can find some room to play against Roma this weekend, for the sake of the league Milan need so damn confidence.

  (And Seedorf is such a stud, 90 years old or not.)

  Posted from United States

  

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