July 23, Cremona: Cremonese-Milan
Milan win 1-0. This is a margin of victory that would have sent a lower division club into ecstasy but Milan being a 'BIG CLUB' managed to scrape a 1-0 win. Impressive victory, against a giant from God Knows Where.
July 29, Turin: Trofeo Tim with Juventus and Inter
This is a joke of a triangular series against two other biggies from Italy. Milan won both the games on penalties. Therefore winning the cup. The gloating resumed right after the tournament.
August 1 & 3, Moscow: Tournament beginning with Milan-Sevilla, Milan- Chelsea
A friendly 4 way tournament. Milan lost to Sevilla thanks to Gattuso, who for a moment forgot he wears the Rossoneri jersey and doesn't play for Sevillisatas. He showed the world how to meet the ball with the head and score. The strikers across the planet would have been delighted with the display of technical accuracy.
Milan vs Chelsea ended in an inevitable result. Nicolas Anelka scoring 4, Lampard scoring 1. End result Milan 0 Chelsea 5. This is a taste of things to come for one of the weakest 'superclubs' in Europe. Kalac was dancing in front of the goal, as usual. He was throwing his legs at the ball instead of his hands, probably forgetting that he was the goalkeeper and being in that position had the privilege to use his hands. To cap it up, Milan were (still) being managed by the Italian great Carletto. All the best Rossoneri for the future, who face off against Manchester City on the 9th of August. Anything less than a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Eastlanders would be welcome.
So thats how it turned, Milan were fortunate enough to escape with a 1-0 defeat from Eastland. It was a disgraceful defeat no doubt, but not as disgraceful as expected. The goal ironically coming from a man who plied his trade in the Serie A with Juventus and Fiorentina. His name is Valeri Bojinov.
August 17, Milan, Luigi Berlusconi Trophy
Its the traditional trophy named after President Berlusconi's father. The game is held at the San Siro between Juventus and Milan. Milan this year, after having a host of shambolic defeats were expected to be defeated heavily by the in-form Juventus, but that dint seem to happen. When i went on to www.goal.com/en/ on the 18th of august, i was frozen by seeing the scoreline, Milan 4 Juventus 1. This was a depleted Milan with barely any of its top forwards in the squad due to unavailability and injury. Jankulovski scored for Milan first followed by Ambrosini with a trademark header, then Inzaghi did what a striker had to do before Juve had a complimentary goal scored by a 19 year old striker who came on for Alessandro Del Piero, his name being Christian Paquato. Seedorf played beautifully to say the least. He was simply outstanding in the goals he created. Very pleased with the performance and hoping we can see this more consistently. Ambrosini completed the night for Milan by scoring the brace,
August 21, Stadio San Paolo, Trofeo Birra Moretti
This was a 3 way tournament, The teams contending were Milan, Juventus and Napoli. Juventus ended up winning the trophy by beating both Milan and Napoli on penalties, quite lame i must admit. But thats similar to what Milan did in the Trofeo TIm. Milan came second after beating Napoli, through Alberto Paloschi's goal. His style of play is so similar to that of Pippo's that its hard to draw a line of difference anymore. Cardaccio was really impressive and Seedorf played a vital role, Milan have very good depth in midfield and am very happy to say this. FORZA MILAN!!
August 24, El Molinon, Gijon Trophy
Milan played against Sporting Gijon of Spain on the 24th of August. The result was not very different from what we experienced recently at the hands of other clubs, another defeat. Some may argue its just a friendly. I say, B*LLSH*T! Its the club of AC Milan we are talking about here. You go to some club that has invited you to Spain, and lose by a convincing margin with a decent bunch of players, its quite inexcusable. There is a serious problem with motivation in the team, or perhaps the coach. If people are turning a blind eye to Milan's pre-season campaign, saying its 'ok' as these are only friendlies, they are in for a rude shock come the new season. The pre-season in more ways than one has been an extension of the disastrous campaign which we had last season. God be with Milan, i don't see this club succeeding in the near future, if these performances continue.
The Milan line up against Gijon-Abbiati; Zambrotta, Kaladze, Maldini, Jankulovski; Cardacio, Pirlo, Flamini; Brocchi, Seedorf, Paloschi
You call this a weakened line-up?
MILAN 1 BOLOGNA 2
