propitious referees

Milan 2 Siena 1
The hallmark of great champions is winning, and winning gloriously. Somehow, it doesn't apply to Milan lately, and by lately I mean the previous 3-4 seasons.Thats an awful lot of time for a club to prove itself. Yes the club had its share of tough times, but the arrogance of the club has contributed in its own way. Nonetheless, that is a different argument altogether.

What I am hitting at is, how can a club like Siena, come to the Guiseppa Meazza and leave unscathed? Very few players from the home side showed any drive. Pato for me stood out, and so did Gattuso. Kaka, yes you can call me biased here. First half started with both the clubs uncertain as to what they must do with the football. Slowly the game gained the desired pace. Developing wingback, Antonini, had a good game. He constantly bombed up and down the flanks. Learning from his Italian team mate Zambrotta. By the way, it was an all Italian defense. Dint posses the characteristics to be hailed as one though. The terrible pairing of the 2 most uneducated center backs for Milan in Bonera and Favalli played its role in my judgment of the defense. In attack, Pato was a bright spark, the kinda player who would run riot in any defense. His special moves were scintillating. The way he ran past 3 challenges shows he has got a physical dimension to his game as well. Siena attack seemed disinterested in scoring the goals. Maybe their coach has team talk issues. Milan however did break the deadlock with Inzaghi finishing a beautiful move that was started by Kaka. Gattuso was unusually good in passing the ball, and he had an effort cleared off the line in the second half. Good play by the dogged midfielder.

Second half, Siena started brightly, and this time they seemed like they knew what to do with the ball: score. And they did, the Rossoneri defense did obviously contribute. And then the side from the San Siro got a bit more active. There was a certain urgency in their play. The referee may have had some sort of affiliation for Milan as he decided to give a penalty against Daniel Portanova of Siena, which Kaka dispatched with relative ease. Milan were up and running again post the penalty. Pato was still a menace as his header crashed against the post, and he just about volleyed wide after some tremendous ball control. Siena then upped their tempo, and that made the former European Champions a bit shaky. All said and done, we did come away with the 3 points. And our defense can thank their stars for not conceding more than one goal.

Manitta, the Siena keeper was partially responsible for the scoreline being close. He put in a decent display. Emerson is impressing Ancelloti, and that is not a very good thing. And what Favalli is doing to impress Ancelloti, one would never know. Abbiati was ok, not his best. Zambrotta had a decent outing, and so did Seedorf. Though the latter went missing during some parts of the game.

Napoli await us at the weekend. The pace of Denis, Lavezzi and Hamsik can potentially rip apart our flimsy defense. I would be pleased with a draw and delighted with a win. We can only count on our attack to fire us to victory against the mighty young lions from Naples.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fZFG9EAF98s&eurl=http://www.footytube.com/page/2/

Goalscorers -
Milan - Inzaghi (31'), Kaka [p] (65')
Siena - Vergassola (53')