[Portman]

Sunday, 10th September '06

Day 1 - Serie A 06/07

Milan - Lazio @ San Siro

14:00 (UK Time); 15:00 (Italian Time)

Anyway, IT'S THE FIRST OFFICIAL MATCH OF THE SEASON.

I hope a good match, and obviously a win. No injuries. We'll have another match, on the CL, 3 days after.

Prediction: 1-0, Kaka' (I would say Oliveira, but don't know if he'll play). (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

This post has been edited by Portugal: Sep 7 2006, 08:24 PM

[Portman]

ANCELOTTI PRESS CONFERENCE

9/9/2006 5:25:00 PM

Carlo Ancelotti believes he has a team capable of competing on all fronts.

Carlo Ancelotti has been looking ahead to the new season in the press conference before Sunday's Serie A opening fixture.

The coach said: Borriello is improving, fitness-wise and his personality. He's doing well with us. We have a competitive side, the preliminary round got us fit, we have to take advantage of every game to recover the points handicap, if not the probems will arise ahead.

It's not true we have an easy game tomorrow, Lazio are an excellent side and are fit. They have had plenty of time to allow the new players to fit in.

Ambrosini is fit again and available. Kala is a bit behind, maybe he's the only one unavailable. Maldini is fit and ready. Nesta is fine enough, he's trained. Oliviera will play in the upcoming games, he's similar to Shevchenko in the way he varies his runs.

It will be a lot more relaxed championship, less pressure on the referees. The handicap will be a further motivation. There are teams that are capable of having an excellent championship, like Chievo, but at the moment I do not know. I think Cagliari will be surprise, they have a good coach, good environment and excellent players. Apart from Inter, there is Milan, Roma as well as Palermo.

A lot depends on Inter, they are predicted favourites. They have an eight-point advantage which is a lot even if there is a whole championship to play. They can keep the situation under control.

Depsite everything, the Milan fans have stayed close to the team in the preliminary round and there are 35,000 season-ticket hoders. The reason is that Milan are always competitive. We can reach certain objectives this season.

What happened to Milan doesn't matter anymore, now it's time to play football, we are concentrated on playing in the Champions League and are equal to anyone but the championship remains our priority. Fortunately, we have a lot of encounters to look forward to.

The penalisation can also be an incentive. We have lost Shevchenko so that's more of an incentive for the rest who can make up for that. Maldini said Shevchenko could have handled it better, I agree, he said for a long time he wanted to leave and could have communicated it in a time well before. He has a good relationship with his ex-team-mates anyway. Kissing the Chelsea shirt straight away is a mere detail, what should be remembered are the wonderful things he did for Milan.

In 2001, I didn't think I would get this far even if I am an optimistic person. I have the appetite and I still want to remain here. I am not interested in the breakdown between Milan and Real Madrid, that's an issue between the clubs, things have changed between the two teams, there might be respect but less feeling.

We will play with two strikers tomorrow, we have to see how the players who came back from international duty are. Brocchi will probably substitute Pirlo. If Gila doesn't make it then Oliveira will play.