destiny calls?

Milan 1 Chievo 0
Sometimes I wonder, what should be the scoreline when two clubs, both at the opposite ends of the table, meet? I fathom a fancy number, like a 4-0, 5-0. And then I see a 1-0. Ouch! And the pain turns into a sting when you realize that the 1-0 is actually a destined scoreline and not a well earned one. Milan lost top spot after some atrocious defending against Lecce last weekend. Chievo were sitting pretty at the bottom of the table. One would have thought this would be a total devastation job by Milan, but AC merely saved their face. Unsurprisingly this is not the first time this season that this situation has occurred

'Lucky Milan close the gap' was the headlines on the Serie A section on Soccornet. I wouldn't disagree. Winning ugly is the stuff of champions, but winning lucky, really isn't. What people dont notice is that the teams we have played against so far are mediocre, below average teams, which probably wouldn't even fit into the EPL. The only big names we have beaten are Napoli and Inter, and again there, we were lucky.

In the first half, Milan faced some opposition from Chievo and we were able to deal with the danger. Ronaldinho was playing reasonably well, not only was his passing good, but he showed good strength. The moment of controversy arrived on the 14th minute, when a challenge made outside the box on Kaka was penalised with a penalty. The Brazilian maestro dispatched the penalty with utmost ease. Milan started to press ahead for the 2nd, but the Chievo keeper was up to the task. The partnership between Ronaldinho and Kaka was delightful. They have certainly developed an understanding, which was missing two years ago in Germany. The game began to slow down, and for the rest of the first half, people were only counting the minutes.

Sorrentino, the Chievo keeper was having a hayday between the posts. After the break, he made some neat impressive saves from Ronaldinho and Jankulovski. Penalty decisions were being turned down as the referee probably had realised at the break what an ass he had made of himself. Abbiati was also up to the job. With a patched up defense in front of him, he needed to be the man of the hour. There were some nervy moments for the Diavoli defense, and Ancelloti, sensing that his side would concede sooner or later decided to bring on Pato for Inzaghi. AC then had a host of chances with Pato, Jankulovski and Kaka, but Sorrentino was displaying the reasons as to why Serie A produces the best keepers in the game. With about 10 minutes to go, a move created by members of the Selecao resulted with a save from none other than Sorrentino. He saved twice from Jankulovski, who on another day could have scored a hattrick. And one of these saves was a world class effort from a short range free kick.

If not for Sorrentino, we could have made a meal of the visitors. But I will emphasize the fact that we lack a world class striker in the team, who would make any Sorrentino quiver. But hearing the comments coming from the Milan camp, that a player like Benzema is too expensive for the club, I see us surviving sheerly on fate.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=STkKVDjfvXU&eurl=http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1770739/

Goalscorers -
Milan - Kaka (p) (14')
Chievo Verona - none