Carletto This guy has got balls. I consider him to be the greatest coach. No one no one is able to represent Milan as Carletto.

Have you ever seen his face? His expression never changes, never, it did not even change when he stood there watching as Liverfool raised their hands to the skies in Istanbul.

NO matter what players he plays, no matter what he does he is Carletto.

I think Carlo is one of the few coaches who can make use of any player around, he is the greatest, he is Milan.

You will never ever find another Milanista such as himself. You will never find another coach who always looks directly forward, and is ready to take on any team and risk. I would NEVER change Carlo to any coach in the world.

Yes, maybe I have in the past criticized him, and I am sure i will in the future, but we can not forget what he has done for Milan, and how he lives with Milan.

I wont say anything about the match, because the impression is too great. I dont think we played great, but we are Milan.

Kaka delivers for Milan in extra time

An extra time goal from Kaka sent Milan through and dumped Celtic out of the Champions League at the San Siro on Wednesday evening.

A superb individual effort from the Brazilian - now the competition's top scorer this season - sealed Carlo Ancelotti's side's passage to the quarter-finals.

The six-times European champions dominated the runaway SPL leaders for much of the game, and both Massimo Ambrosini and Kaka struck the crossbar before the deadlock was broken in the 93rd minute.

It was an eventful match, with Milan having no less than 30 efforts on goal. Celtic, on the other, hand struggled to get near the Italian's end until the final stages of the game, but battled nonetheless to push their opponents all the way.

Celtic keeper Artur Boruc produced an outstanding display, and was forced into early action on four minutes. Kaka curled a shot round Stephen McManus, but the Pole arched his body to athletically divert the effort away.

Just two minutes later Celtic had a clear-cut penalty appeal turned down when Shunsuke Nakamura's free-kick from the left wing found Jiri Jarosik at the far post.

The former Chelsea and Birmingham midfielder controlled on his chest and fired a shot towards Dida, but Paolo Maldini slid in to block. The Italian legend's raised arm slapped the ball out of play, but the ensuing pleas from the Celtic players were ignored by Austrian referee Konrad Plautz.

Celtic will have felt hard done by after that and they struggled to threaten the Milan goal for the remainder of the half.

Some good probing runs down the left from Marek Jankulovski caused problems, and after 25 minutes Clarence Seedorf raced into the box and cut back for Kaka to unleash a shot.

However, a great sliding challenge from Lee Naylor put the Milanese maestro off.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's lack of pace cost Celtic a glorious chance to steal the lead on half an hour when he collected a Maldini mis-kick and had what seemed a clear run on goal. His sluggishness proved decisive though and by the time he had squared the ball to Aidan McGeady the Irish youngster had been swamped by Milan players.

Filippo Inzaghi chased a few chips over the top in vain before Kaka had another attempt saved by Boruc after Seedorf had got to the by-line and cut it back in a carbon copy of the pair's earlier link-up.

Ambrosini thumped a header off the crossbar seconds later in the best move of the first 45 minutes. Kaka's beautifully delicate chip from the left was met by a colossal leap from the Milan midfielder and he rattled Boruc's woodwork.

McManus and Ambrosini both picked up yellow cards for late tackles before half-time to round off an entertaining opening period.

The irrepressible Kaka continued to menace in the second half and could have put Milan ahead three minutes in. He could not get the ball out of his feet though after a neat ball in from Seedorf had set him up in the box.

Inzaghi then smashed a near post first-time shot into the side-netting on 53 minutes after yet another good run and delivery from Jankulovski on the left.

Maldini cut out a McGeady cross after an hour in what was by then becoming a rare Celtic push forward, and Thomas Gravesen's introduction from the bench on 63 minutes almost paid off immediately.

The Dane smashed a volley from the edge of the box which was blocked, and it looked a dead cert to have flown in had it received a clear path to goal.

Inzaghi's last contribution of the game before being substituted almost provided a goal in the 71st minute when he out-witted Boruc in an aerial challenge. McManus saved the day with a header off the line to keep Celtic in the game.

Gravesen almost found McGeady with ten minutes remaining, but a frantic scuttle from the winger could not retrieve a deep cross to the back stick.

A hectic and pulsating finale to normal time then ensued as Boruc made two world class saves to keep Celtic in the game.

First the Pole foiled a point blank header from Maldini and then tipped a Seedorf free-kick over the bar.

He could do nothing though with two minutes of normal time to go as Kaka delightfully lifted the ball onto the underside of the crossbar.

It was fitting that it was he who scored the decisive goal three minutes into the first half of extra time.

Collecting the ball close to the halfway line, the man-of-the-match sped away and homed in on goal. As he reached the area, he calmly slotted the ball through Boruc's legs to finally deliver.

Two more fantastic saves from the Celtic keeper followed, but without much outfield inspiration his performance counted for nothing as Gordon Strachan's side failed to penetrate.

The full time whistle saw exhausted Celtic players collapse dejectedly, while Milan celebrated their passage to the next round with relief.

DP

again

Ravenous Kaká spurs Milan on
Thursday, 8 March 2007
by Richard Aikman
from Milan

After steering AC Milan into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League with an inspired performance and a goal in extra time against Celtic FC, Kaká attributed his match-winning performance to his optimistic nature.

Brazilian belief
The six-time European champions were made to sweat for 120 minutes after the visitors resisted no fewer than 29 goal attempts to secure a 0-0 draw. Kaká came the closest of all in normal time when his 86th-minute drive cannoned back off the crossbar but the Brazilian insisted he always believed the goal would come. "When I hit the bar I didn't lose heart," he told uefa.com. "I never lose heart. I always think on the positive side. I'm an optimist. So I said to myself that although I missed that one I'll score when the next chance comes along."

Energetic run
It did not take long for that opportunity to arise as the 24-year-old midfielder took off on another foraging run three minutes into extra time. Kaká raced fully 40 metres with the ball at his feet in just five and a half seconds before sending it through the legs of Artur Boruc in the Celtic goal. "The pleasing thing is that is I found the energy to make that run even though we'd been playing for a long time," he said.

'Funny campaign'
That was his sixth strike in the competition so far, making him the leading goalscorer alongside Real Madrid CF's Ruud van Nistelrooy. He said: "It's been a funny campaign for me. Although I'm top goalscorer, scoring is not my main objective when I play. I also like to contribute in other areas but clearly it gives me great satisfaction be up at the top of the charts with all those great strikers. It's been a very special UEFA Champions League for me so far."

No preference
Milan are now in the draw for the quarter-finals which takes place in Athens, the venue of the final, on Friday but Kaká has no preferred opposition at this stage. "I don't really mind which side we play next," he said. "Milan are a side capable of taking on the big names as well as the less-fancied sides. There aren't many so-called big names left but as they were knocked out by the other sides whoever we play will be tough. Milan are good enough to take on any of the remaining teams. It has been our goal to win this competition from the start and that's what we intend to do. With every year that passes the greater my hunger to win it becomes. I've never won it before, it's a very special tournament and I'd love to win it."

I'll choose to ignore that

Maldini's handball WAS a penalty, NO DOUBT (there's no reason replying to this I already know everyone's opinion)!! But then again no one would give a penalty against Paolo Maldini, not even Markus Merk! And it was at the very beginning of the game, it's not that it altered the game decisively.

Nakamura's effort was just shameful especially after what he said about Italians cheating and diving...

Post-game interview with Gattuso. In English.

link

aaawwwww!!!

Carlo's baby came out 6ft tall wearing the Milan jersey.

^^ Come to daddy

Okay now Im starting to worry

Why? I was joking about the foto

His filthy mind heard the comment "come to daddy" and you know, he ran with it

Hello

I was on that game and i must say that it was real thriller for me. I won't write about match because all of you propably had watch it or read about it. I would like to mention about Celtic fans which conquered Piazza Duomo from early hours on wednesday and are occupying it till now (thursday evening) . They're drinking beer and singing so loud that you can here them from a kilometer. But they're very very friendly.

Below link to video made by myself after game with AC Milan anthem . Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGZ0PAp9Gag

Great video! Thanks for sharing - you had great seats

I know u were ..

I only really took notice of it now; San Paolo played the whole 120 minutes and he was excellent (apart from the penalty incident) and running till the end... is he actually 38!?


... Oh my God!

You shouldn't be too surprised. Paolo is not human