KICK OFF, page 6

liverpool and chelsea do represent england .. i hear people say ''if it wasnt milan...''  

Sir Alex Ferguson has all but written off Liverpool's Champions League chances and is backing AC Milan to win the final in Athens on May 23.

The Manchester United boss taunted his Premiership rivals by saying he plans to toast the Italian club's victory with a bottle of wine given to him by opposite number Carlo Ancelotti after Milan knocked United out at the semi-final stage last week.

"I'd bet for sure that Milan will win the Champions League. I'm absolutely certain of it," Ferguson said in The Sun.

"I said to Carlo at the end of our semi-final that there is no way he can now not win this competition," Ferguson added.

"Carlo gave me a magnificent bottle of wine.

"But I immediately told him I would only drink his win once I see him lifting the Champions Cup."

Ferguson admits he was in awe of Milan's performance in the semi-final second leg at the San Siro, which his side lost 3-0.

But he believes United's off-colour display was partially the result of their Premiership exertions the previous weekend.

"Milan's second-leg victory over us was stupendous, fantastic and extraordinary," Ferguson said.

"I know we paid a high price for the Premiership fightback which we needed at Everton to turn a 2-0 scoreline into a 4-2 victory.

"Last week, Milan were fresher and better prepared tactically and physically.

"I'm still trying to analyse the factors involved. But the truth remains we faced one of the best performances in the history of AC Milan."

now thats a words by a wise and valiant man which fergie says once in a great while

maybe he is a legendery coach/manager or whatever but i never liked him.wtf means milan will win the cl?where the f does he know that?2005 milan was leading 3 - 0, did they won? NO!so nobody can be sure who will win...

now a little story from last night. after crash their Milano rivals for the title at san siro a while back, Roma did it again with a 6-2 win vs Inter at their home olimpico in the 1st leg of italian cup final and made its return match a way easier. They did a bombastic start and turned the things in their advantage in the 1st 15 mins when the score was 3-0 while the champions was in lethargy

Coppa Italia Final 1st Leg

AS Roma [6 - 2] Inter Milan
1' [1 - 0] F. Totti
6' [2 - 0] D.D. Rossi
16' [3 - 0] S. Perrotta
20' [3 - 1]  H. Crespo
31' [4 - 1] A.F.A. Mancini
54' [5 - 1] C. Panucci
56' [5 - 2]  H. Crespo
90' [6 - 2] C. Panucci

is this football or volleyball  

Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho has been arrested and cautioned after refusing to let police take away his pet dog.


A Scotland Yard spokesman said police and an animal welfare officer went to an address in central London at 7.45pm yesterday to assist with the seizure of a dog.

He said: "A 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police and was taken to a west London police station.

"He subsequently received a caution for obstructing police."

The Sun newspaper said Mourinho had argued with officers as they tried to take his Yorkshire terrier away and put it into quarantine.

They believed it had travelled out of the UK and then back again without the correct injections.

Scotland Yard said the dog was to be seized for alleged offences under the Animal Health Act of 1981 and the Rabies Order of 1974.

The Sun reports Mourinho, 44, was at Chelsea's player of the year awards when his wife Tami telephoned to tell him his pet terrier was being taken away.

Mourinho arrived at his home at 9pm and the police spokesman said officers discussed the removal of the animal from the address with the owners.

However, the newspaper says the Chelsea manager angrily bundled his prized pooch away from police.

It is now reported to be on the loose and efforts are being made to track down the dog.

funny story Mel, this guy is too nervous, i can imagine his face at that moment

lol

UEFA Cup Final

May 16

Espanyol [2 - 2] Sevilla *
18' [0 - 1] A. Correira
28' [1 - 1] A. Riera
105' [1 - 2] F. Kanoute
115' [2 - 2] D. Jonatas
*penalty shoot-out : [1 - 3]

Sevilla won UEFA Cup for 2nd time in a row

good boy jose!
i would have kicked the policeman in the nuts if he treid to take away my dog

Champions League, Wed, 23 May 2007, Milan win Champions League
Champions League - Milan gained revenge for their 2005 Champions League final defeat at the hands of Liverpool as they lifted the trophy in Athens with a 2-1 victory.
Filippo Inzaghi broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time before adding a second nine minutes from time.
Dirk Kuyt pulled one back in the final minute but Liverpool could not deny the Serie A giants a seventh European Cup success.
The irony for the Merseysiders was that they played better than they did when lifting the trophy in Istanbul two years ago only to go behind to a fluke goal.
Andrea Pirlo's free-kick struck Inzaghi, who was looking to collect any rebound off Jose Reina, and deflected past the diving Spanish keeper and into the middle of the net.
It was tough on the Premiership side who had looked dangerous with Jermaine Pennant and Bolo Zenden causing problems on the flanks.
Rafa Benitez' side on two occasions came close to capitalising on hesitancy by Marek Jankulovski.
When the Czech was slack in possession, Pennant seized upon it and forced Dida into a sharp low-save and later in the half, the full-back was dispossessed and the ball eventually fell to Kuyt whose goalbound effort was blocked.
Xabi Alonso had also hit a sweet drive just past the far post while hitherto the goal, Milan's only effort was a long-range shot from Kaka which was comfortably saved.
That goal gave the Rossoneri an obvious boost and they were quicker out of the blocks in the second-half with Liverpool lucky that an errant offside flag denied Kaka a clear sight at goal.
But then talismanic skipper Gerrard came close to an equaliser on two occasions.
After picking up a loose ball, he drove past Alessandro Nesta but was unable to open up his body enough to curl the ball into the far corner from the left channel and Dida got down to preserve his side's lead.
A 25-yard drive was then just a few inches wide of the far post before Inzaghi showed his predatory instincts to deliver a hammer blow to the large band of Liverpool fans in the Olympic Stadium.
Kaka threaded a precise ball through to the striker who tucked the ball under the advancing Reina to justify his inclusion at the expense of Alberto Gilardino.
Kuyt did give his side a glimmer when he nodded home from close range in the final minute but there was to be no dramatic comeback this year as Liverpool lost for just the third time in 11 European finals.

After all,they really desrve it! Even that i'm not a MIlan fan

most of the big teams do have a world class striker:
milan - inzaghi
man u - rooney & ronaldo
r madrid - nistelrooy & raul & robinho
chelsea - drogba
barcelona - ronaldinho(not a typical striker but still) eto'o
tottenham - berbatov
arsenal - henry
inter - adriano
etc etc..
now, what do have liverpool?kuyt - worldclass?nope.Crouch - worldclass?nope.Fowler - worldclass?he was..years ago.our defenders and midfielders are scoring most of the goals - crouch & kuyt score sometimes just for fun.if benitez finds a real striker who scores then i think liverpool will have big chances for the premiership, the cups and ch leage of course..and not agger or gerrard scoring every game..
Crouch is still really good.he scored few goals before the final and one of his goals was really beautiful tho he scores only agains teams that even levski can beat..

FC BASEL is "Swiss Cup Champion06/07"!!!!!!!

Basel - Luzern 1:0 (0:0)
93. Majstorovic (Foulpenalty) 1:0

We lost the season against +"*!ing Zürich with 1 point!! But we won the CUP!!! Now we can search our luck in the uefa-cup!
It was a fantastic season with a lot of beer          
In 2 months starts the new season! FC BASEL OOLEE....