Sport Today

My impression of the Milan-Barcellona game is that the Spaniards played as
badly as A.C. Milan did an year ago against Marseilles. Last year, for the
first time ever, a team qualified for the EC1 final by winning all the games.
The awsome record prompted A.C. Milan to believe the final was just another
formality; they played and OM adopted a very defensive tactic: the Frenchmen
won, but the match was not entertaining at all.
Alternatively A.C. Milan were afraid of OM, since they were beaten by them in
controversial circumstances (AC Milan players had walked out of the second leg
2' from the end when they were losing and a power failure obliged the referee
to halt the match).

However, in Athens A.C. Milan went on the ground determined as I have rarely
seen them before. Also Capello designed a perfect game strategy based on
cutting Koeman out of the action and on dominating at midfield. The result was
that A.C. Milan came up with a performance, which was just the opposite of that
of last year. They won, and Barcellona looked like newcomers who had never been
there before.

In conclusion, I think that A.C. Milan won because they were incredibly
determined to do so. I made no difference that VAn Basten, BAresi and
Costacurta were put; the substitutes played at the same level as the more
famous absentees. The question, however, remains: is this the true A.C. Milan?
Well, in my view this is the best they can ever play. Unfortunately in any
sport nobody can be at his/her/their peak all the time.

Alfonso
A Sampdoria soccer fan from Downunder

I do not necessarily disagree with what you say later in your posting.
But I think that you are wrong in comparing the 1993 Cup of Champions final
 with the 1994 final. The Milan should have won in 1993 too. The problem
was that Massaro missed a anumber of good chances in the first half.
The 1993 game pitted two equally strong opponents although the play
itself was rather boring. Instead the first half of the 1994 was one
of the most entertaining games I have seen so far. Milan did not just win,
it destroyed Barcelona. This was not the case in 1993. It is true however
that Milan played an unusual game in Athens. It was almost like a return to
thebest Sacchi period. What was new was however the cunning of Capello's
plan.

Azzurro