AC Milan v ArsenalBY NOW, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza no longer feels quite like the bearpit of old. Arsenal have won on their past two visits to this famous old stadium. Manchester United, Spurs and Liverpool have all silenced the curva sud and curva nord in the past four years and the Milan coach, Massimiliano Allegri, was facing questions here yesterday night about whether they were in danger of developing an inferiority complex against English opponents.
That is not to say San Siro, under the lights, with the Champions League anthem blaring, is no longer one of the great football challenges for a side from the Premier League, but this is an unusual time for Milan. They are top of Serie A, yet generating only modest acclaim for their performances and widely seen as falling short when it comes to what it takes to win Europe’s premier club competition.
Carlo Ancelotti, twice a winner during his eight-year tenure at Milan, has already said he sees it as beyond them. Arrigo Sacchi, another former manager, has been scathing in his criticisms. Sacchi is 65 and, after one defeat at Lazio, talked of having “doubts that some of the players were not my age”.
All of which would be fairly encouraging for Arsenal had they not given the impression this season that it would be an even greater leap of faith to imagine them standing on the podium in Munich on May 19th.
Arsene Wenger’s side are currently 17 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City. They have conceded more away goals than any other team bar 20th-placed Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers, and only a few weeks ago the Arsenal crowd subjected Wenger to the most vitriolic abuse of his 15 years at the club.
Ancelotti was asked about Arsenal’s chances and was polite but dismissive. “I’m not sure they’re thinking they can win the Champions League.”
Wenger, naturally, disagreed. “If I thought we had no chance I would stay at home. I don’t like to waste my time.”
If they are to win, they may need to rediscover the kind of streetwise edge that has been missing far too often since that last encounter with Milan, arguably Arsenal’s last great knockout victory in Europe. The best Champions League teams tend to play with control and concentration and Arsenal displayed all those qualities inside San Siro that evening, winning courtesy of late goals from Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. Four years on only one player from the starting XI, Bacary Sagna, will be in Wenger’s line-up this time.
Milan are going through their own period of change and, like Arsenal, it has not always been to the liking of their crowd. A perception has grown that they have sacrificed some of the old panache to play in a more functional manner – epitomised, perhaps, by the presence of the Dutch enforcer Mark van Bommel in midfield. More perspiration, less inspiration. Or as Allegri put it: “You can’t always dine on lobster and caviar. Every now and again you have to be satisfied with a ham sandwich.”
After being unbeaten at San Siro for 13 months they have lost twice on their own ground in the last few weeks. They are also beset by injury problems, with 13 players missing their victory at Udinese last weekend. It was their first win in four matches and Juventus have closed the gap at the top of Serie A to two points, with a couple of games in hand.
For a club at the top of the league, the mood in Milan seems unexpectedly pessimistic, especially when also taking into account Arsenal have so many injury issues of their own that Wenger is considering fielding a deliberately weakened side in the FA Cup fifth-round tie at Sunderland on Saturday.
By then, Thierry Henry will have returned to the New York Red Bulls, the Milan trip ending a loan arrangement that has so far brought him three goals in six appearances. Henry has fond memories of San Siro after scoring twice here when Arsenal trounced Internazionale 5-1 in 2003, but it was the 2-0 against Milan five years later that Wenger recalled. “Are we stronger or not? I will give you the answer after the game.”
GuardianService
