[Fillipo Simone]

Serie A 2007/08 - Week 13

Cagliari vs. Milan

Saturday, December 1st, 2007

19:00 (UK); 20:00 (IT)

26/11/2007 19:01

Pirlo Looking Forward To Juve Clash

Milan star Andrea Pirlo is excited about this weekend’s match with Juventus and believes there will be a special atmosphere at San Siro.

This will be the first time that Italy’s two biggest clubs will have met competitively since the infamous Calciopoli crisis in 2006. 

The scandal saw Juve relegated to Serie B, while Milan were handed a heavy points penalty.  The Bianconeri have since returned to the top-flight and have made an impressive start to the campaign. 

“The game with Juventus is a historical match,” said Pirlo.

“I believe it will be a beautiful game with a very special atmosphere. “It is nice to see Juventus return to Serie A.” 

Pirlo also commented on his brilliant free-kick winner against Cagliari yesterday afternoon. 

“I always try to prefect the way I hit my free-kicks, sometimes they go well and sometimes they go bad,” said Pirlo. 

“Yesterday the goalkeeper moved with the movement of the ball, the trajectory then changed and so it went well.”

(IMG:http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1010000/images/_1014283_inzaghi300.jpg)

[dst]

Full pre-match press conference from acmilan.com

MILANELLO - Carlo Ancelotti: "I’m not worried, we’re coming from the Lisbon match with the qualification. Objective reached, even though the performance was not very good. From the fighting spirit we have something less than Juventus due to this European commitment, but already knowing it is an advantage. In football there isn’t just running. Surely, training with tranquillity during the week allows a team to have a better condition. However, there is also the attention, application, quality and we will try to use all of this tomorrow. The only unavailable players are Jankulovksi and Ronaldo, the rest will recover. Milan-Juventus arrives at the right moment, it will be very difficult as Juventus is improving. They found a good spirit and a good organization, but for us it’s the right moment to return to winning at home against a great team.”

Carlo Ancelotti again: "Juventus is always a great team, an opponent which fights till the end. I did not think that they could reach these levels so soon. Juventus changed a lot, but still managed to build on quality player a good organization. They hurried things up. For the fourth place, this game is important because we are a bit behind. From this point of view it’s more important for us, because Juventus is already better placed than us. “

The home games issue: “It’s the first time that this happens. It never happened to me in the past and it never happened at Milan. I hope that it will be solved tomorrow. The Scudetto of last season? Inter won it deservedly, it’s not a false Scudetto. Last year we got distanced by Inter too early. The absence of Ronaldo tomorrow evening will not influence Milan, as we would have played in the same way. I think that for Japan Ronaldo can be available. Maybe tomorrow it won’t rain, but if we want to re-play the same game we played at San Siro in the semi-final against Manchester, then we shall succeed. The English team arrived to San Siro playing offensively and they were not able to manage the positive result of the first leg. The English are like that also for the national team. For the rest, our formation will be almost like Milan-Manchester, apart from the absence of Jankulovksi. In fact the only doubt I have is on the left hand side of the defence. Buffon with the Rossoneri’s scarf? Either he dressed in the dark, or paid us tribute, or maybe a prediction. Maybe that scarf means something…Buffon is very well at Juventus. He’s also the captain and he became a flag of this team. Buffon is the best goalkeeper in the world, it gives you more advantages than disadvantages."

What is this he talks about in the end? Was Buffon seen with a Milan scarf?? Can anyone who follows the Italian press shed some light on this please?? Thanks in advance! It'd be even worse to know that we did not get Buffon and it was a dream move for him... this thought came to my mind when I read this: we let Giuve have Buffon for one more season so that they can stand back up faster but we have a deal with him and Juventus for next season... a man can dream right?? (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sleepysmiley03.gif)

[Rossoneri7]

... this thought came to my mind when I read this: we let Giuve have Buffon for one more season so that they can stand back up faster but we have a deal with him and Juventus for next season... a man can dream right??  (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sleepysmiley03.gif)

You can dream baby .. you can dream (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Score:

3:1 (Pippo, Seedorf, Kaka (pen))

@misha .. is it a cliche now that Kaka' only scores from penalties (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)