Ronaldinho hat-trick puts the heat on Inter

January 17, 2010

Hat-trick hero Ronaldinho inspired AC Milan to a crushing 4-0 thumping of 10-man Siena to close the gap on Serie A leaders Inter Milan to just six points with the Milan derby to come next week.

Milan also have a game in hand meaning they could potentially draw level with the four-in-a-row champions if they were to win next weekend’s crunch clash.

Playing the league’s basement sitters Milan hardly needed a helping hand but they got exactly that as Siena goalkeeper Gianluca Curci was harshly sent off on 10 minutes.

Ronaldinho despatched the resulting penalty and Marco Borriello scored on 28 minutes to put the game to bed before half-time before the Brazilian rounded off the scoring in the second period.

Milan coach Leonardo paid tribute to his Brazilian compatriot and looked forward to the derby.

“It’s normal when someone feels the love, he responds. He’s entertaining everyone, he’s a great player,” he said of Ronaldinho.

“He’s having a great season, he’s rediscovered his taste for playing well and scoring goals.

“It’s a great time in a great title race (for the derby) and it will create interest because we are closer (to Inter).

“There will be a lot of expectation and attention and I’m delighted to be a part of that.”

Milan started in determined mood following Inter’s 2-2 draw at Bari on Saturday night and Ronaldinho took an Alessandro Nesta cross on his chest on three minutes before sending a spectacular overhead bicycle kick just off target.

But on 10 minutes the referee took the decision that essentially ended the game as a contest.

Jardim Brandao dithered on the ball in his own box and Borriello dispossessed him before trying to round Curci.

There was minimal contact between the pair and Borriello crumpled to the ground but the striker’s last touch had been too heavy anyway and left him no chance of reaching the ball before a back-tracking defender.

Even so, the referee pointed to the spot and showed Curci a straight red card.

Substitute goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo’s first task was to pick the ball out of his net.

Siena battled on gamely and on 26 minutes Massimo Maccarone someone escaped from a crowd of three defenders on the edge of the Milan box to bundle through before firing over on the stretch as Thiago Silva came across to put him under pressure.

Yet just two minutes later the lead was doubled as Andrea Pirlo curled a cross into the near post and Borriello hooked a brilliant volley over his shoulder and into the top corner.

Ronaldinho proved a constant menace and had two early second half chances, flicking the ball over the bar with the first and being denied by Pegalo with the second.

But 18 minutes from time he rose unmarked in the box to head home a David Beckham corner.

Then, having tricked his way into the area Ronaldinho flicked the ball wide of the far post, but the Brazilian finally sealed his first Milan hat-trick with a rocket into the top corner from outside the area a minute from time.

Juventus slumped to their seventh defeat in 10-games with a 1-0 reverse at Chievo that is sure to increase the pressure on under-fire coach Ciro Ferrara.

Juve dropped to fourth but will tumble out of the Champions League places if Napoli avoid defeat at home to Palermo in the day’s late game.

AS Roma moved up to third as on-loan striker Luca Toni scored his first goals for the club in a 3-0 win over free-falling Genoa.

Simone Perrotta opened the scoring on 17 minutes after a scramble at a corner and then Toni turned home Mirko Vucinic’s cross on the stroke of half-time.

And on the hour mark Vucinic turned provider again for Toni to head home his second.

ROME (AFP)

Tags: ac milan, Bari, bicycle kick, compatriot, crunch, gianluca curci, hat trick hero, helping hand, inter milan, Marco Borriello, referee, ronaldinho, scoring goals, second period, Siena, striker, three minutes

Milan looking to push on from Real win

October 24, 2009

AC Milan look to build on their stunning Champions League win at Real Madrid with Sunday’s trip to little Chievo representing a perfect opportunity to continue their recent renaissance.

A week ago coach Leonardo expressed his hope that his team’s next two games against AS Roma and Real could act as a springboard to a return to something nearer their expected form.

They beat their Italian rivals 2-1 in Serie A and then stunned the only team to have won more European titles than them, 3-2 in Madrid.

But Leonardo will not be getting carried away.

Roma totally outplayed Milan in the first half at the San Siro a week ago and should have led by more than 1-0 at the break and it took a highly controversial penalty to change the flow of the game.

At the Bernabeu, Milan were on the back foot for the majority of the game but were helped out by two uncharacteristic howlers by Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Add to that the fact that Milan have often been a team for the big occasion and those two wins weren’t such a big shock.

Milan’s problem has often concerned more mundane matters, a category into which this weekend’s trip to Verona falls.

The seven-time European champions have already lost to Udinese and FC Zurich while failing to beat Atalanta, Livorno and Bari.

And their scoring problems haven’t entirely been solved by the five goals in their last two games given that they had a huge helping hand in three of them.

“Every match is an examination, every Sunday. But now we are going into the next match after two good performances,” said centre-back Alessandro Nesta.

“We’re going to Verona but we have to be careful because we’ve not done well against the little teams.”

The problem for Milan will be making the mental adjustment from competing in front of more than 80,000 in the Bernabeu in the Champions League to having to roll up their sleeves in front of less than half that in Verona.

“Sunday’s match will certainly be a different sort of reality with respect to the Bernabeu,” said Andrea Pirlo.

“But likewise there’s three points on offer and we have to go into it with the same desire and motivation.”

Meanwhile, the top two in Serie A play on Saturday in home matches against teams near the bottom of the table.

Inter Milan host Sicilians Catania while Sampdoria — two points behind Inter in second — are at home to Bologna, who changed coaches in midweek, with Franco Colomba replacing Giuseppe Papadopulo.

Third-placed Juventus are away to lowly Siena, who sit second bottom, but have not won in four Serie A games, although their 1-0 home success over Maccabi Haifa on Wednesday was their first win in a month in any competition.

Rock-bottom Livorno, who also changed coaches this week with Serse Cosmi replacing Gennaro Ruotolo, travel to Roma.

Fixtures

Saturday

Inter Milan v Catania, Sampdoria v Bologna

Sunday

Atalanta v Parma, Bari v Lazio, Cagliari v Genoa, Chievo v AC Milan, Fiorentina v Napoli, Palermo v Udinese, AS Roma v Livorno, Siena v Juventus

ROME (AFP)

Tags: Alessandro Nesta, andrea pirlo, atalanta, Bari, Bologna, catania, controversial penalty, european champions, fc zurich, Franco Colomba, Gennaro Ruotolo, genoa, giuseppe papadopulo, helping hand, howlers, lazio, leonardo, MADRID, Milan, napoli, Palermo, Rock-bottom Livorno, Roma, San, san siro, udinese, verona, ZURICH

Usual suspects will be at the World Cup, but would we have missed them?

October 15, 2009

So now we know which European teams are in the World Cup playoffs and we have a pretty good idea of the seedings, though FIFA’s updated rankings out at the end of the week will provide confirmation ahead of Monday’s draw.

It looks like Russia, France, Greece and Portugal will be the seeded teams with Ukraine, Ireland, Bosnia and Slovenia playing them. After Argentina’s qualification in the final match against Uruguay, it looks increasingly likely that all the big teams will be there in South Africa.

But four days on from my blog on Sunday, the decision to seed the Euroepan teams in the qualifiers doesn’t look any fairer.

Doctor Mario, in a comment on that blog, said seeding was a reward for credits earned but it will take a long time for a new nation like Slovenia to earn enough credits to start a qualifying campaign on a level playing field.

That’s one of the reasons why it tends to be the same old faces making it to the finals. If you are Italy, France, Germany or Spain you know that in your qualifying group will have no other “elite team”, just a couple of second or third tier nations and some also-rans.

If you are someone like Wales, Israel or Finland you know you will have to pull off a series of upset wins even to finish second in your group. And if you do it your reward is to be seeded in the bottom half again in the playoffs.

How much help do France need? If they are not good enough to win a group comprising Serbia, Austria, Lithuania, Romania and the Faroe Islands where is the justice in giving them another helping hand in the playoffs?

They didn’t make the World Cup in 1994 and I don’t remember too many people complaining about a degraded tournament.

In fact Bulgaria, who qualified ahead of them and had a particularly woeful World Cup record, produced some of the most memorable moments of the finals as they went all the way to the semi-finals. Four years later, France won the World Cup.

The 1970 World Cup is many people’s choice as the best-ever tournament — it’s hard to see how it would have been enhanced had Argentina been there.

There is no asterix alongside the results of the 1974 and 78 finals saying * Note: England failed to qualify.

Everyone is saying that Portugal, and Cristiano Ronaldo, should be there next year because the best players should be seen on the world stage, but Portugal have played in only four of the 18 World Cups. They are hardly a fixture.

And where was the help for Ryan Giggs, George Best or George Weah, whose lowly-seeded teams never made it through.

And anyway, it’s not the point. It’s FIFA’s unexpected introduction of the seeding that has so angered so many people. If they thought that was the fairest way then they should have enshrined it in the regulations at the start of qualifying, shouldn’t they?

PHOTO: Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after being injured against Hungary during their 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer match at Luz stadium in Lisbon October 10, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Borga

Source

Tags: confirmation, cup playoffs, doctor mario, elite team, faroe islands, FIFA, final match, france germany, france greece, france won the world cup, helping hand, italy france, memorable moments, old faces, qualifying group, semi finals, serbia, slovenia, South Africa, world cup record

Bayern´s birthday-boy Muller helps down Haifa

September 16, 2009

German giants Bayern Munich got off to an ideal start in their opening Group A Champions League clash on Tuesday as birthday boy Thomas Muller scored twice to seal a 3-0 win over Maccabi Haifa.

Muller, who only celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday with two goals against Dortmund in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Dortmund in the Bundesliga, netted twice in the last few minutes here at Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Stadium.

After Belgium defender Daniel Van Buyten had got the guests’ first goal on 64 minutes with a well-taken strike, Muller added further goals in the 85th and 88th minutes to give the Germans three points in their group.

It was the winning start Dutch coach Louis van Gaal had demanded of Bayern, but Muller is starting to make a name for himself at a club which is no stranger to European success.

Van Buyten took advantage of a slip in the home side’s defence when the ball bobbled away from Bayern’s substitute Mario Gomez and the Belgian defender rifled his shot past Haifa’s goalkeeper Nir Davidovitch.

With time running out, Muller showed finishing way beyond his tender years when he was first set up by substitute defender Christian Ottl in the hosts penalty area and smashed his shot past Davidovitch with five minutes left.

And Gomez played a helping hand again when he was left free on the wing and crossed the ball in for Muller to score from all of three metres out at the near post on 88 minutes.

It was a bad start at home for Elisha Levi’s Haifa side who are seeking to become the first Israeli club to progress from the group stage but provided Bayern with little resistance.

Bayern brought virtually a full strength side here as Germany striker Miroslav Klose was the only key name left behind to work on his fitness after taking longer than expected to get over a leg injury.

TEL AVIV (AFP)

Tags: 20th birthday, 88 minutes, Bayern, bayern munich, birthday boy, Bundesliga, Christian Ottl, Daniel van Buyten, elisha, full strength, Gan Stadium, Germany, group stage, haifa, helping hand, leg injury, louis van gaal, maccabi haifa, mario gomez, miroslav klose, ramat gan stadium, striker, Tel Aviv, tender years, thomas müller

Advantage Porto as Lisandro punishes Atletico defending

February 25, 2009

MADRID (AFP) – FC Porto seized the upper hand in their last 16 Champions League tie with Atletico Madrid scoring two vital away goals in a 2-2 first leg draw at the Vicente Calderon on Tuesday.

Argentine Lisandro Lopez scored twice to take his Champions League tally to six as Porto twice came from behind to level the score in Madrid.

The 2004 champions are now in the box seat for the return leg in Portugal on March 11 and should have had a bigger advantage with Atletico’s goalkeeper Leo Franco keeping them at bay with a string of important saves.

It was a tale of two goalkeepers with Franco having an inspired game while opposite number Helton almost gifted Atletico vitory with a calamitous error.

Captain Maxi Rodriguez put Atletico ahead after three minutes only for Lisandro to cancel out the strike after 21 minutes.

Diego Forlan netted close to half-time to restore Atletico’s lead although Brazilian goalkeeper Helton gave more than a helping hand with some woeful handling.

The relieved Helton was bailed out by his team-mates with Lisandro scoring again in the 71st minute as Atletico’s haphazard defending – a problem all season – was on show again.

With just over 90 seconds gone Porto almost scored an early away goal with Brazilian striker Hulk foiled by Franco.

It was an important save and Atletico made the visitors pay for the missed chance scoring after just three minutes.

Argentine Sergio "Kun" Aguero put a through pass to compatriot Maxi, who nipped in at the back post to slot home.

It was a perfect start for Abel Resino, who was experiencing his first European match in charge of Atletico after taking over from Javier Aguirre, who guided the club through the group stages.

However, Atletico looked frail at the back and Porto got a deserved equaliser with a terrible defensive mistake from Pablo Ibanez allowing Lisandro to level.

Spurred on by the equaliser Porto put the hosts on the back foot and spurned two great chances to take the lead.

The overworked Franco first denied Lisandro on 24 minutes and then Hulk, who was clean through, four minutes later. Resino was off the bench furious at his team’s slack defending.

But a dreadful error from Helton gave Atletico the lead again with the Brazilian shot-stopper allowing Forlan’s bouncing shot to squirm through his hands in first half stoppage time.

Porto somehow went into the break 2-1 down when they should have been a few goals up.

It was more of the same in the second half with Franco saving a goalbound header and Lisandro missing a sitter from close range.

Aguero, who had a son with Diego Maradona’s daughter Gianina Maradona five days ago, was hauled off by Resino after 55 minutes to the surprise of the home crowd who responded with whistles.

Porto finally got the reward their football deserved when Lisandro capped a fine move with his second goal meaning Atletico must score in Portugal in the second leg if they are to progress.

Written by: AFP

Tags: Abel Resino, Argentine, atletico madrid, box seat, compatriot, diego forlan, diego maradona, equaliser, fc porto, Gianina Maradona, Goalkeeper, goalkeepers, group stages, helping hand, Javier Aguirre, LA Liga, league tie, Leo Franco, LigaBwin, lisandro lopez, MADRID, maxi rodriguez, opposite number, pablo ibanez, PORTO, portugal, return leg, team mates, UEFA Champions League, Vicente Calderon, vitory

Leverkusen shock leaders Hoffenheim

February 14, 2009

BERLIN (AFP) – Germany striker Patrick Helmes scored twice as Bayer Leverkusen shocked Bundesliga leaders Hoffenheim 4-1 on Friday.

Both goals were executed with ruthless finishing as Hoffenheim were humbled at home for the first time at the newly-opened Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

The league leaders are now in danger of losing their place at the top to Bayern Munich or Hertha Berlin. They lead by just a point from Bayern with Bayer Leverkusen now up to fourth and just three points off the leaders.

Leverkusen took the lead after Hoffenheim’s defence allowed Bayer’s Brazilian Renato Augusto to slide a cross into Helmes who showed clinical finishing and buried his shot in the back of the net after three minutes.

Hoffenheim were 2-0 down just eight minutes later when a goal-mouth scramble saw Bayer captain Simon Rolfes stab his shot home.

But the home side fought back thanks to a helping hand from Bayer’s Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler.

Adler made a hash of his tackle on Senegal striker Demba Ba, earning himself a yellow card and conceded a penalty simultaneously with half an hour gone.

Midfielder Sejad Salihovic made no mistake with the spot kick.

But Hoffenheim fell further behind just before the half-time whistle when Helmes again received a crisp pass in front of goal and made no mistake in beating former Germany goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand to make it 3-1 at the break.

Leverkusen made sure of the three points when ex-Germany defender Gonzalo Castro lobbed his header over Hildebrand on 48 minutes.

With Bayern Munich playing Hertha Berlin at the capital city’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday, the winner of that game will go top of the league.

Written by: AFP