AC Milan make lone Inzaghi goal count: 1-0
1 (0) - 0
(0)
Champions League, Group Stage
Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, Milan,
Italy
Tuesday, 16 September, 2003
The most urgent question on the mind of every Ajax
supporter was finally answered in Milan on Tuesday: is this
season's Ajax team as good as last season's team that made it
to the quarter finals of the Champions League? Everyone who saw
Ajax play AC Milan in San Siro stadium will agree that the
answer to this question is 'yes'. Ajax was as good as last year
- and in several ways even better. The result, however, was
frustrating once again: Inzaghi 1, Ajax 0. Thanks to the
undisputed Man of the Match: Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper,
Dida.
A disconsolate Hatem Trabelsi
covers his head in San Siro. [Photo: ANP]
It seems to be an unwritten football law: you play bravely,
you create chances, you miss a few of them, but then Inzaghi
scores and you lose. Ajax was Milan's equal during its third
Champions League visit to San Siro in less than one years'
time, but football itself is an irrelevant factor in beating AC
Milan. Whoever wants to lay claim to the three points against
the 2003 Champions League winners will have to eliminate
strikers 'Sheva' (Andriy Shevchenko) and 'Pippo' (Filippo
Inzaghi) for 90 minutes - plus stoppage time. The quality of
the duo makes this almost impossible. This time the fatal
moment for the visitors came in the 67th minute: counter
attack, low shot Shevchenko to which Lobont can't hold on,
rebound Inzaghi, 1-0.
In the preceding 66 minutes Ajax did everything right, even
more so than in last season's dramatic quarter final. The team
was calm and self-assured, made fewer defensive mistakes,
created more chances itself and - despite two phases in which
Milan enjoyed more possession - never seemed to lose control.
Wesley Sonck was about the only Ajacied who had a disappointing
performance. Otherwise the formation seemed to 'work': Hatem
Trabelsi's rushes, Petri Pasanen's stalwart performance, the
diligence in midfield of Galásek and Yakubu. Meanwhile,
Zlatan Ibrahimovic worked hard upfront and somehow played much
better than it seemed: he was constantly ready to receive the
ball, protected it well amidst a multitude of defenders and
usually did something intelligent with it.
On more occasions than in April the Amsterdammers came close
to scoring. But Dida, AC Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper, had the
game of his life: he tipped a Rafaël van der Vaart
free-kick over his goal via the cross-bar, punched two Zlatan
Ibrahimovic headers out of his goal and chose the right
position as Hatem Trabelsi rushed all the way through the Milan
defence from the right flank, but tried to score from a very
tight angle instead of pulling back to the totally unmarked
Ibrahimovic and Sonck.
AC Milan vs Ajax was, once again, a remarkably 'open' game.
The guests had their moments as well. Gattuso had a free
shotting chance from some 20 metres and referee Michel could
have easily given a penalty as Inzaghi was pulled down by
Julien Escudé in the Ajax penalty box. The best field
players for the Italians, however, were their central man in
midfield, Kaka, and Andriy Shevchenko, who constantly proved to
be of absolute world-class. On several occasions a quick turn,
with an Ajax defender in his back, allowed him to release low
shots. They were never too dangerous, until one of them turned
out to be fatal.
Rafael van der Vaart battles
Gatusso. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Milan's goal came less than one minute after Ajax had
created its best chance so far. Trabelsi delivered the ball to
Ibrahimovic, who held on to it well and passed to Pienaar at
exactly the right moment. The South-African attempted to score
with an artistic backward flick, but saw Dida save.
However, the very best chance of the evening for Ajax was
yet to come. Four minutes into stoppage time, to be precise,
the minute in which Inzaghi and Jon-Dahl Tomasson destroyed
Ajax's semi-final hopes in April. After AC Milan had had
chances to double the score in regulation (including a
Kaká attempt from a tight angle that surprised Lobont
and hit the post), not the Italians but Ajax could have dealt
the devastating blow this time: Trabelsi concluded yet another
of his runs with a fine cross, which was totally missed by
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and suddenly ended right in front of
Rafaël van der Vaart, totally unmarked, two yards away
from Dida's goal. The Ajax captain's hard, well-controlled shot
would have gone in against every other goalkeeper than Dida,
who miraculously managed to punch the ball wide in a desperate
dive.
Second later the triumphant fists of ten AC Milan players
(Gennaro Gattuso was sent off in the last minute for hitting
Ibrahimovic in the face) were in the air, while Van der Vaart
sank to his knees, shaking his head, covering his face with his
hands. "I don't think I've ever missed such a chance before",
he said after the game. Coach Ronald Koeman did not have
something memorable to say either, although his brief analysis
did sum it all up: "They scored. We didn't."
Ajax will once again have to make do with the praise from
the press - and, after the disappointment has vanished, with
the knowledge that they are easily good enough to make it to
the next round if they continue to play like this. (MP)
GOALS
Referee: Michel (Slovakia)
Yellow cards: Van der Vaart, Escudé,
Ibrahimovic (Ajax),
Red card: Gattuso (AC Milan, 90')
Attendance: 55,000
Ajax line-up: Lobont; Trabelsi, Pasanen,
Escudé (70. Soetaers), Maxwell; Pienaar (80. Pienaar),
Galásek, Yakubu, Van der Vaart; Sonck (54. Sneijder),
Ibrahimovic.
AC Milan line-up: Dida; Cafu, Nesta, Maldini,
Costacurta (33. Laursen); Gattuso, Seedorf (64. Serginho),
Kaká, Pirlo; Shevchenko, Inzaghi (76. Ambrosini).
Other Group H result:
Club Brugge - Celta de Vigo 1-1
(UEFA.com
match report)
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