To the new Champions League Winners
AC Milan.
2-1

congratulations to liverpool as well, superb performance and i think they deserved to win it

I wouldn't say it was a superb performance by any means... but well done to AC Milan, even when Liverpool scored at no point did I think Milan were going to throw it away again, they were comfortable on the ball and played out the last couple of minutes like the seasoned pros they are. nicely done AC Milan

I agree mttc.. they did very well in the last 15 minutes.

The boys tried their best, this game clearly shows that we lack a powerful striker upfront, or a quality striker.

I cant believe how many chances we lost, we should have went up in the first half. I was dissapointed with the way the first goal went in, it gets on my nerves how goals like that goes in.

Mascherano made Kaka look ordinary. He was absent until masch was taken off and then kaka fed a beautiful ball to inzaghi.

Seedorf? whose he?

Pennant and Masch were fantastic.

Congrats Milan

Pennant is getting slagged off on the official site.
I thought he was one of the better players on the pitch.
Mascherano was superb....I hope he gets even better with age!

Nice to see the player accept defeat with a bit of grace!

I would give motm to either pennant or mascherano. they were superb.

i agree MH penant played some nice balls in but more often than not there was nobody there in a red shirt.and mash potato in my opinion was liverpools best player kaka wasnt in the game while he was still on the pitch
i got to be honest up until milan scored that first goal i thought liverpool was going to walk it.

I would like to congratulate AC Milan for their most recent Champion's League triumph.

They, much like the Italian national side, faced such adversity throughout the season with the scandal and the "ref-fixing" debacle, yet they came out champions, just like the Azzurri. Cheers to them.

Now to Liverpool. As a Manchester United supporter and a rival of the 'Pool, we often get caught up in lots of banter, but in all honesty, I don't think there is a more classy footballer in the world than Steven Gerrard.

What a tremendous individual. He acted like a true leader, not whining or taking a fit after a difficult defeat, but standing tall, and you saw the respect the Rossoneri levied towards him as Liverpool walked up the steps to receive their runners-up medals.

As for the game itself - where as Milan were the better side in the CL final two years ago, all for about seven minutes and LOST, this time around they were probably second best in many categories, but WON. Football is a funny game - it's not how long you have the ball, it's what you do with it and that's what makes Pippo Inzaghi such a potent player.

He will never be considered a world-class star, but he finds a way to score those big goals, being in the right place at the right time.

I watch a show here in Canada called "Italian Soccer Fanatics," and I won a year-long free subscription to "Soccer Italia" magazine just before the World Cup began for sending the show what they considered to be the "email of the week." In that email, I stated my case for Lippi to select Inzaghi for a spot on the Azzurri's bench in Germany. And it was for that exact reason - he knows how to come through in the clutch.

P.S. It is good to be back on this board. I've been away for a while, as my work as a reporter has consumed much of my time. I hope to be around here more often. Technically, I could have posted more often last month, but with United leading the league, I stood by my supersticious tendencies and decided to not post until the league was accomplished.

It got somewhat weird. I woke up every morning of a United match at the exact same time because it seemed to be working and I ate the same breakfast meal every match day as well.

Now that the season is over, I can get back to "normal." Hahahaha, after a couple years of Chelsea dominance, I wanted to do whatever I could (as if it made a difference) to make sure we brought the title home.

Although I should add a text message I got here in Oz from a Liverpool fan after the final whistle:

"Milan are cheating c**ts and should not be allowed to participate in the competition. People seem to overlook that."

Methinks a reference to the Serie A debacle. Evidently one person in the Southern Hemisphere believes Milan should be with Juve in Serie B.

That's all BS in my view. People were condemning Italy for the match-fixing scandal and the Azzurri had to overcome bias and shite to win the World Cup. Milan are in the same boat. People were all whining that they should have been demoted to Serie B, but at the same time, they walk right into the CL and bury teams left, right and centre, all the way to Athens where they excercise the demons that haunted them in 2005.
There is something to be said about this. Obviously, Italians are mentally strong. They thrive when put against the wall.
Too bad fuckin' England don't do the same for God sakes.
By the way, they better not f**k up against Estonia next month. C'mon you lads!

And rightfully so.

Other than doing plenty of running and receiving plenty of the ball what exactly did he do? Where was the killer ball? The amount of times both Pennant and Zenden had the ball you would have thought they could have come up with atleast one bit of magic.

I thought Pennant was a bit iffy with his crossing, 4 out of 5 were no where near finding a target. I didn't think Pennant was anywhere near being the worst player on the pitch though...

on the flip side, I thought Mascherano was the best player on the pitch. he quietly and efficiently went about his business, the idea that he can only get better is actually quite scary! his positioning and awareness is already top quality...

Gerrard on the night didn't do what he usually does, and that's drive Liverpool forward and have a stormer on the big occasion. I was surprised by this, and when Gerrard went through one-on-one with Dida midway through the second half and weakly shot at the keeper, I knew it wasn't going to be Liverpool's night.

Dirk Kuyt's goal was offside, so Liverpool got a bit lucky there, but it meant nothing in the end. apart from the fact that it meant I got my pre-game prediction of a 2-1 Milan win spot on!

Commiserations to Liverpool fans everywhere....

..but as has been said..that killer punch was missing ..as was Crouch for most of the match (why?) ..Pennant...looked great running down the right wing but...too many opportunities and too few good crosses...


Rafa needs to buy this summer or see what youth he has waiting in the wings...and ..roll on next season.

Milan were shadows of what they could be... but as RayTheRedDevil says..that's football...

absolutely gutted !

congratulations to milan.. but they were there for the taking....

so many 'if onlys...' to mention...


good game, good tactical set up by rafa, but no cutting edge in the final third..

i'll put my thoughts on the game a little later on... anyways suffice to say i'm looking forward with great optimism to the future.. rafa has performed minor miracles in the last 3 years.. now he'll get the chance to spend at similar levels to the other top teams and get in the quality he wants, rather than what the budget dictates..

the boys were magnificent yesterday.. all of them and gracious in defeat..

the milan lads applauded them and the respect was very mutual..

our fans were... magnificent as always... applauding paolo maldini who lifted the cup.


KD

I didn't want Milan to win and seing the smug orange face of Burlusconi next to the cheshire cat that was Platini really made me want to be sick.


Hard luck liverpool. Personally I thought Benitez made a big mistake taking off mascherano as it left a huge hole for Kaka to run into.


Just repeat 18+5 every ten minutes and it won't seem so bad.