The Hindu : Sport : AC Milan has final in sight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 28, 2005

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Sport

AC Milan has final in sight

MILAN: AC Milan has one leg in Istanbul.

With a 2-0 win against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League first-leg semifinals on Tuesday, the world's top-rated club defence should be able to uphold a healthy lead for the return leg in the Netherlands in two weeks.

The final is scheduled for Istanbul on May 25, against either Chelsea or Liverpool.

``We can say we have the cake and now we're just missing the cherry on top,'' Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. ``We're closer (to the final) than PSV, but we'll have to prepare very well for the return leg, seeing how tough they were.''

PSV produced six shots on goal at San Siro. But Milan had 10, with Andriy Shevchenko and Jon Dahl Tomasson finding the net.

Seven-in-a-row

And the club's backline of Paolo Maldini, Jaap Stam, Kakhabar Kaladze and Cafu — Alessandro Nesta was suspended — held the opposition blank for its seventh straight European match.

Last season, Milan was eliminated by Spain's Deportivo La Coruna in the quarterfinals when its three-goal first-leg lead was erased by a stunning 4-0 second-leg rout.

With that in mind, Ancelotti added Tuesday's win was ``a good result as long as we don't feel too secure. This is a small advantage and nothing more.''

But PSV coach Guus Hiddink said the return leg would be ``difficult.''

``They will wait for us and try to control the game and try to counterattack. But we won't give up,'' he said.

Milan hasn't lost in the Champions League since November 3, when it went down 2-1 at Barcelona. Since then, the six-time European champion has earned six wins and a draw without giving up a goal.

Shevchenko's sixth

In the 42nd minute, Shevchenko received a downfield pass from Brazilian playmaker Kaka, sprinted past defender Wilfred Bouma, and shot beyond charging goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes. It was the Ukrainian's sixth score in the Champions League this season.

As the clock struck the 90th minute, Tomasson, a Danish striker who came on as a second-half substitute for Hernan Crespo, kicked in a rebound off a shot by Kaka.

``I'm extremely pleased, it was a very difficult match,'' Shevchenko said. ``I'm exhausted because I ran for 90 minutes — they have a slow pace but they control the ball well, they never give it away.

``Milan had a good strategy of counterattacks. Tomasson's goal was very important, a two-goal advantage is huge.''

Shevchenko said he was particularly pleased for Tomasson.

``He's had a difficult season,'' Shevchenko said. ``But now he's at his maximum; (Filippo) Inzaghi is back, there's Crespo and me. Good for the final.''

Inzaghi, who has missed most of the season while recuperating from injury, sat on the substitutes bench on Tuesday.

He watched Gomes block Shevchenko's close-range attempt two minutes in, and Crespo shoot high twice off two Andrea Pirlo corners in less than 30 seconds.

Pirlo directed the rear of Milan's attack in his first action since injuring his knee on April 9. Dutch defender Stam played with a thigh injury.

PSV eventually organised itself and 20-year-old Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan sent in a long shot that Milan's Brazilian 'keeper Dida stopped in the 12th. — AP

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