Wednesday, March 29, 2006

All open for the Milanese

Well, after the grim performance that Juve provided there was some pleasure provided by the two Milanese outfits on Wednesday night.

Inter, let's face it, were their usual infuriating selves slipping behind to a goal that Wome should have a few nightmares about but fighting back with some determination and passion. They will have a hard but not impossible task in the away leg. One thought that crossed my mind during the game was - why did Mancio sign Cesar? I am about 50/50 split on his imports from Lazio. I understand Stankovic and, to a lesser extent, Veron. But Mihailovic and Cesar leave me cold. The latter was poor against Villareal and has never made an impact. Mind you, he is better than Kily Gonzalez.

On the Milan front, they started off well and could have gone in at half time ahead. Maybe Lyon showed them too much respect but they did not look the goal machines they did in previous rounds. In the second half they were sharper but Milan held firm. A word of praise to Billy Costacurta who looks determined to become the oldest player ever to play in Serie A and is in condition to do so. He was impressive and so was the returning Paolo Maldini. Italy fans will have been pleased to see Nesta in fine form too. At 0-0 they have every chance of going through.

Black night for Juve

Well, it was 2-0 going on 5-0 for the Italian champions elect at Highbury last night which was both disappointing and embarrassing. The Bianconeri started off alright but quickly faded as the Gunners took the initiative and a big advantage to the Delle Alpi next week. A few random thoughts on proceedings:

1) Why did a manager so astute as Capello bring Zebina with him to Turin? He looks a liability and is prone to seeing red on a regular basis.

2) Is Adrian Mutu really any good? He gets good reviews in Serie A but was a failure (for a variety of reasons) in the Premiership and rarely impresses in Champions League.

3) Once Ibrahimovic was well-marked the Juve attack had very little to offer. Despite what Luciano Moggi says they do need some back up to Trez-Del P-Ibra as the gap to Zalayeta is too great.