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Serie A Report: Milan Knock Stripes Off Udinese A second three-goal win is the perfect tonic for the Rossoneri to bid farewell to a fraught 2006 in the best manner possible. Talk of a crisis at Milanello has now been put on the back burner so that a relaxed Xmas break will see the Diavolo raring to go in the New Year.
The Stadio Friuli maintained it’s talisman feeling for the needy visitors who have laid critics low with today’s and Wednesday’s 3-0 wins plus Gilardino's rebirth with a triplet of goals in the past two games. Kalac was called upon early on as Di Natale he slapped an effort wide for a corner.
The Aussie sticks man was tested by Di Natale again, this time the stopper defusing the Bianconeri man’s rocket but was left at the mercy of Vincenzo Iaquinta who – fortunately for Milan’s interests – failed to tap in from five metres.
A Kaká combo with Pirlo was rudely hacked short by Pinzi and the subsequent spot kick was slapped in by a cool and collected Kaká (28 min) who is growing closer to becoming a Rossoneri eternal idol with each passing matchday for his reliability and no-frills hard work as well as the princely natural flair with which he autographs the ball at each touch.
The match had barely restarted when Gilardino (35 min) tipped in a Jankulovski cross with his outstep to make it an uphill struggle for the already floundering hosts. Cafú almost made it 0-3 as he rippled the exterior of De Sanctis’ nets but the action careered to the other end.
Udinese finally put Kalac under consistent pressure, the keeper pulling off a series of timely interventions against Pinzi, Di Natale, Chris Obodo and Paulo Barreto. Kaladze went off injured, Pirlo metamorphosing into an awkward looking centre-back for the rest of the game.
It’ll be a special Xmas for Ricardo Oliveira (76 min) as the much-criticised Brazilian bagged his first Serie A goal since Round 1 with a cold-bloodedly precise drive that was celebrated with no small glee by the man who has broken the longstanding goal jinx.
UDINESE (0): De Sanctis; Zenoni, Coda, Zapata, Dossena; Eremenko (Siqueira 46), Obodo, Pinzi; Barreto (Virtanen 90), Iaquinta, Di Natale
AC MILAN (3): Kalac; Cafu, Simic, Kaladze (Ricardo Oliveira 69), Jankulovski; Gattuso, Pirlo, Brocchi, Seedorf (Antonelli 85), Kaka (Gourcuff 52); Gilardino Yellow Cards: 16' R. Eremenko 30' G. Pinzi 63' C. Seedorf 80' G. Gattuso
Goals: 31' [0 - 1] Kaka (pen.) 35' [0 - 2] A. Gilardino 76' [0 - 3] R. Oliveira
goal.com
This post has been edited by Rossoneri7: Dec 23 2006, 06:22 PM
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