Liverpool v AC Milan is live on RTÉ Two and RTÉ.ie ((RoI only; 450k) on 23 May
We’ve had two really good Champions League semi-final contests involving two contrasting styles of play. Chelsea and Liverpool was a tough physical battle, while Man United and Milan was the more attractive, expansive game.
Liverpool and Chelsea ended up going the distance, which wasn’t a surprise. It was a huge battle that lasted until the very end – very physical with a lot of long balls but an absorbing contest and one I think Liverpool deserved in the end. They came out of the traps quicker and put a lot of pressure on Chelsea in the first half hour and got the all-important goal.
Chelsea had their chances but Liverpool were unlucky not to score late on through Kuyt who hit the post and was unfortunate to be ruled offside. But it went all the way, which a lot of people expected as there’s never going to be much between those sides.
Benitez and Mourinho build their teams on not giving goals away cheaply. They don’t play the expansive sort of football Milan or Manchester United play. They are teams with very very strong defenders and if they go a goal up it’s generally enough. You saw Chelsea against Bolton last week and they gave two goals away from set pieces and almost went into shock it was so out of the ordinary! So both coaches are careful and build their teams on defences – which is the right thing to do, but I think they put more emphasis on it than others.
Mourinho’s comments after the game were unsporting and silly [Mourinho claimed the best team had lost and only Chelsea played to win], it’s just whinging really and not nice to see. It is sour grapes and unbecoming really but there you go - that’s the modern game of soccer.
To one degree or another they’re all like that, in England anyway. To be fair to Benitez though he generally conducts himself very well.
The pressure on managers is huge but they should be able to conduct themselves better. The pressure is also on other sports people and you don’t see behaviour like that. I’m watching snooker at the moment and the manners and sportsmanship is just a delight, golf is the same and even in rugby there’s nothing like that. The way people like Eddie O’Sullivan and Brian Cody conduct themselves is the way it should be. They’re gentlemen and take their defeats graciously if it happens and the same with victory. Unfortunately soccer is scarred with actions like that of Mourinho and it’s disgusting.
In the other semi-final Milan easily saw off United, who looked tired and got off to a really poor start. United’s big players didn’t perform – Ronaldo was shown up to be just what he is – nothing more than promising and certainly not a great player. When you think about a player from that game you think Kaka. He is a magnificent player who does it on the big stage, that’s where the standard is and that’s where the bar is set.
Rooney is United’s potentially great player. He hasn’t had a great season but he’s scored some important goals and is a warrior, but he didn’t play well either, while Vidic didn’t look fit.
United were exposed on Wednesday night. There’s always a lot of hype surrounding United and the hyping up of Ronaldo is a good example of it, but there are great players there, I mean Scholes for sure, Rooney can be, Giggs has had a wonderful season and Vidic has been a great asset for most of the season. But they have a lot of ordinary players; John O’Shea, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher – these aren’t really players in the great United tradition and they’re regulars in the team.
They’re going to sign Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich apparently and he isn’t going to do the job either – he’ll just be another Carrick clone, a little bit better with more energy but not such a good passer of the ball, so they’re in the wrong zone in my opinion.
The standard was there for all to see in Milan; Gattuso, Pirlo, Kaka. United don’t have the quality of player they should have and definitely don’t have the quality of player to justify talk of this being another great Ferguson team.
So Milan exposed United to earn another date with Liverpool and it will be another intriguing contest. It will be a different game to that of 2005 however as Liverpool have a stronger squad now and I think it will be a question of whether Milan can stand Liverpool’s high tempo game and physical approach.
I do question the temperament of Italian teams and Milan have certainly lost it before. They’ve were beaten 4-0 by Deportivo in the quarter-finals away in 2004 having got a good result at home, while they of course lost the 2005 final after going in at half time 3-0 up against Liverpool – Italian teams can blow it and temperament does come in to the equation for sure.
It will be a clash of styles and absolutely fascinating. My inclination at the moment would to be to give Liverpool a slight edge because I don’t think they’ll let Milan play the kind of football United allowed them to in the San Siro. Benitez will set out to stop that and he’s got the players to do so in Mascherano, Sissoko and Gerrard – they can break up play in midfield and make it more of a physical battle.
Milan have had experience of it though but will need to get their passing game going early on and get Kaka involved – he’s their serious goal threat. Gilardino isn’t the best and Inzaghi is a veteran now so it’s a tough match for Milan and they won’t be looking forward to it near as much as Liverpool.
Eamon was in conversation with Johnny Proby
