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AC Milan 2008-2009 Pre-Season Summary

August 29th 2008 18:06
Opponents Score Stadium Occasion Date
Cremonese 0 – 0 Stadio Giovanni Zini Pre-season Friendly D/MM/YY">23/07/08
Juventus 2 – 2 (6 – 4 PK) Stadio Olimpico TIM Trophy D/MM/YY">29/07/08
Internazionale 0 – 0 (4 – 3 PK) Stadio Olimpico TIM Trophy D/MM/YY">29/07/08
Sevilla 0 – 1 Lokomotiv Stadium Russian Railways Cup D/MM/YY">01/08/08
Chelsea 0 – 5 Lokomotiv Stadium Russian Railways Cup D/MM/YY">03/08/08
Manchester City 0 – 1 City of Manchester Thomas Cook Trophy D/MM/YY">09/08/08
Juventus 4 – 1 San Siro Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi D/MM/YY">17/08/08
Napoli 1 – 0 Stadio San Paolo Trofeo Birra Moretti D/MM/YY">21/08/08
Juventus 0 – 0 (4 – 5 PK) Stadio San Paolo Trofeo Birra Moretti D/MM/YY">21/08/08
Sporting de Gijon 0 – 2 El Molinon Trofeo Villa de Gijon D/MM/YY">24/08/08




Note: Several pre-season matches were 45 minutes long, hence why I haven't reviewed the majority of Milan's matches.

Players Status Position Games Played Games Started Goals
Christian Abbiati First team Goalkeeper 4 4 0
Michelangelo Albertazzi Youth system Defender 2 2 0
Massimo Ambrosini First team Midfielder 8 8 2
Luca Antonini First team Defender 7 3 0
Willy Aubameyang* Youth system Striker 1 1 0
Daniele Bonera First team Defender 6 5 0
Cristian Brocchi** First team Midfielder 9 5 0
Mathias Cardacio First team Midfielder 4 3 0
Matteo Darmian First team Defender 3 2 0
Dida First team Goalkeeper 2 1 0
Digao* First team Defender 2 1 0
Emerson First team Midfielder 1 0 0
Giuseppe Favalli First team Defender 7 6 0
Mathieu Flamini First team Midfielder 5 5 0
Gennaro Gattuso First team Midfielder 5 5 0
Filippo Inzaghi First team Striker 2 1 1
Marek Jankulovski First team Defender 5 5 1
Zeljko Kalac First team Goalkeeper 4 4 0
Kakha Kaladze First team Defender 5 4 0
Kaka First team Midfielder 3 3 0
Paolo Maldini First team Defender 4 4 0
Massimo Oddo* First team Defender 5 3 0
Osuji Youth system Midfielder 3 1 0
Alberto Paloschi*** First team Striker 9 8 1
Nicola Pasini Youth system Midfielder 1 0 0
Andrea Pirlo First team Midfielder 7 7 0
Clarence Seedorf First team Midfielder 10 9 2
Dario Simic** First team Defender 2 2 0
Strasser ? Midfielder 2 0 0
Tabare Viudez First team Striker 5 1 0
Gianluca Zambrotta First team Defender 6 6 0


*Out on loan
**Transferred out
***Co-owned player

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Opponents Score Stadium Occasion Date
LASK Linz 3 – 2 Linzer Stadion 100th Anniversary of hosts LASK Linz D/MM/YY">27/07/08
Hamburg 2 – 1 Emirates Emirates Cup D/MM/YY">02/08/08
Arsenal 0 – 1 Emirates Emirates Cup D/MM/YY">03/08/08
Santa Fe 2 – 1 El Campin Pre-season friendly D/MM/YY">08/08/08
Eintracht Frankfurt 1 – 1 Commerzbank Arena 48th Anniversary of European Cup final D/MM/YY">12/08/08
Sporting CP 5 – 3 Santiago Bernabeu Trofeo Santiago Bernabeu D/MM/YY">27/08/08


Players Status Position Games Played Games Started Goals
Jose Maria Anton Youth system Defender 2 0 0
Julio Baptista* First team Midfielder 5 3 1
Juanmi Callejon** Youth system Midfielder 4 1 0
Fabio Cannavaro First team Defender 1 0 0
Iker Casillas First team Goalkeeper 1 1 0
Jordi Codina First team Goalkeeper 2 0 0
Ruben De la Red First team Midfielder 3 0 0
Mahamadou Diarra First team Midfielder 6 5 0
Royston Drenthe First team Defender 1 0 0
Jerzy Dudek First team Goalkeeper 5 5 0
Fernando Gago First team Midfielder 1 1 0
Javi Garcia First team Defender 6 4 0
Raul Gonzalez First team Striker 6 6 2
Guti First team Midfielder 6 6 0
Gabriel Heinze First team Defender 6 5 0
Gonzalo Higuain First team Striker 4 2 2
Marcelo First team Defender 1 1 0
Christoph Metzelder First team Defender 2 1 0
Daniel Parejo** Youth system Midfielder 3 0 1
Pepe First team Defender 3 2 1
Felipe Ramos Youth system Goalkeeper 1 0 0
Sergio Ramos First team Defender 2 2 0
Arjen Robben First team Winger 6 4 1
Robinho First team Winger 4 2 1
Michele Salgado First team Defender 5 4 0
Javier Saviola First team Striker 5 0 1
Wesley Sneijder First team Midfielder 3 1 0
Miguel Torres First team Defender 6 5 0
Rafael Van der Vaart First team Midfielder 3 2 2
Ruud Van Nistelrooy First team Striker 6 3 1


*Transferred to AS Roma
**Out on loan
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After signing Ronaldinho, Zambrotta, Flamini; getting back Andriy Shevchenko from Chelsea, and receiving Arsenal's Philippe Senderos on loan, the Rossoneri have made some offloading of their own during the past few days.

First off, striker Alberto Paloschi has been transferred to Parma. The signing of Ronaldinho along with Shevchenko's return meant that there would be some congestion in front, leaving no first-team opportunities for the youngster. Consequently, he will continue his development in the Serie B.

Secondly, defender Massimo Oddo has been loaned to the Bundesliga's Bayern Munich for the rest of the 2008-2009 season, leaving the left-back postion to either Zambrotta or Kaladze (technically, Maldini can play there too, but I prefer seeing the veteran in the center of defense).

Finally, midfielder Cristian Brocchi has been sold to Lazio permanently. That guy had no chance on the first team with the likes of Pirlo, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Kaka, Seedorf, Flamini, and Ronaldinho all better players than Brocchi.
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After losing the first leg by the score of 3-2 on Valencia's turf, Real Madrid players could take solace in the fact that all they needed was 1-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu to win the Supercup. Unfortunately, Valencia's David Silva and a couple of red cards got in the Meringues' way. The rest was just history writing itself in one of the world's most famous stadiums.

The Whites were the first team to get going in the opening stages of the match. Both Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Rafael Van der Vaart tested Hildebrant early, forcing the German goalkeeper to come up with some fine saves. Defensively, Madrid played a tight formation, not leaving any space between the defenders and midfielders for David Silva and Joaquin to exploit. Though the home team started well, it was Valencia who got on the score sheet first at the 33rd minute when Silva's shot to the bottom-right corner of the net left Casillas frozen in place. In Casillas' defense, I must point out that there were three Madrid defenders completely blocking his view, and none of them were quick enough to challenge Silva. Down 1-0 at their home turf, Madrid's situation would get worse when Van der Vaart was shown a straight red card for a nasty tackle on Juan Mata. The red card came less than ten minutes after Valencia's goal, putting the Madrid supporters in a state of shock. Since I watch most of the international soccer games on the net, there's often a chatroom connected to the streams; when Madrid got the red card several people left the room, convinced that it was over, but those who stuck it out witnessed an epic second half that will stay in my memory for a long time


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Arsenal 2008-2009 Pre-Season Summary

August 15th 2008 04:14
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When the Meringues traveled to Frankfurt for their final pre-season game, I expected them to easily dominate the German club and walk away with – at least – a 2-0 win. What I saw instead was a team lacking creativity in midfield during the first half, and a bit shaky in defense. Fortunately, they pulled their act together in the second half and grabbed the equalizer twenty minutes before the final whistle.

With Sneijder injured, it was new signing Rafael Van der Vaart who was assigned playmaking duties in the center of midfield. Unfortunately, the Dutch never had time to settle into the groove of things as Real Madrid found themselves behind at the fifth minute of play. A stupid foul by Miguel Torres (he held the opposing winger's leg in order to prevent him from running down the flank) resulted in a average free-kick badly played by Madrid's defense. After that, the Germans patiently waited for their opportunities, attacking on the break and often on the left wing (Real Madrid's right


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Chelsea 2008-2009 Pre-Season Summary

August 13th 2008 21:55
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Arsenal Draws 1-1 Against Sevilla

August 11th 2008 05:16
It was a case of attack against defense Saturday night in Amsterdam as Arsenal found themselves forced to play under pressure for a little less than 90 minutes after taking the lead early on in the match.

The goal came at the 4th minute when Carlos Vela stole the ball from Sevilla's right-back and beat the goalkeeper with a shot to the far post. After that, Arsenal were forced to hold on and pray for the best because they were completely unable to string along more than three passes before losing possession


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It was goal-galore in Amsterdam Friday night as Arsenal and Ajax delivered an enthralling performance in their first match for the Amsterdam Tournament. For the first time in pre-season, Arsθne Wenger's starting eleven was the same as you would expect for a Premier League game with players such as Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, and Emmanuel Adebayor all taking the field before opening kick-off.

In the opening stages of the match, it was Arsenal on the attack as Theo Walcott led two unsuccessful counterattacks and Fabregas tried a long-range shot that was stopped by the keeper. However, their great forays in front hid one glaring flaw in defense – their inability to deal with Ajax's right-winger Luis Suarez. Indeed, the young Urugayan gave all sorts of problem to Clichy who couldn't participate in the attack for fear of being caught too high, so it came off as no surprise when Suarez scored the first goal of the match – a superb volley that left no chance to Almunia. The goal came after a long spell of Ajax possession in Arsenal's half. It was only a matter of time before the Dutch team found the back of the net with Arsenal's defense slowly wilting away. In fact, Suarez's volley was the result of a poor defensive header by Toure who cleared the ball to the entrance of the box, a big no-no for defenders. Two minutes later, Ajax would strike again with striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who half-volleyed the ball past Almunia. The goal came from a free-kick right after the kick-off, the Gunners had made only three passes between both goals. Huntelaar would score again at the 40th minute, but the goal was ruled offside and thus, disallowed. Although Ajax had a two-goal lead after 45 minutes, Arsenal weren't playing badly. They only had a couple issues to sort out. The first was their final ball which left a lot to be desired and the second was the huge gap between their midfielders and strikers. With those two sections so far apart, Ajax players only had to wait in the middle to gain possession. Every time a midfielder tried to reach a striker, the ball would get stolen along the way by Ajax midfielders. Either a striker would have to come back deep to help out or the midfielders would reduce the distance and play short passes like they usually do


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For their last match of preparation before the season gets under way (unless you count the Community Shields game), Manchester United met their toughest foe of the pre-season, Italian giant Juventus. Although the game ended scoreless, there were a couple of things that stood out in both teams' performances.

Juventus did a good job in denying space to United forwards. The defense was very compact so the Red Devils couldn't make their quick passing plays nor shoot at the goal since there too many bodies in and around the box. When the Red Devils tried to attack from the flanks, their crosses were more often than not intercepted by goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Their best scoring opportunity came at the 50th minute when Rafael Da Silva delivered a superb cross to Paul Scholes who somehow missed the header


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In a confrontation pitting father against son, Sir Alex Ferguson came out on top thanks to the wonderful performance of his young players who managed to defeat Darren Ferguson's team, Peterborough United.

Despite lining-up first team players such as Nani, Tevez, O'Shea, Fletcher, Ferdinand, Brown, and Evra (the rest had the day off in preparation for the match against Juventus today), the Red Devils had a lot of trouble responding to the Posh's efforts. The United defense was constantly under pressure, and were often forced to make several dangerous back-passes, putting goalkeeper Kuszczak in trouble more often than not. The absence of Scholes and Carrick in center midfield was clear as day as the defenders couldn't find that outlet to relieve the pressure. As good as O'Shea and Fletcher are, neither of them can take on the role playmaker with their limited skills. Furthermore, when United did manage to enter the final third of the field, their opportunities were often wasted by Nani who played a terrible game. The Portuguese was unable to link up with any of his teammates, losing possession almost every time he attempted a pass. As such, Peterborough was the best team on the field during that first half until the 38th minute. Less than ten minutes before half-time, United received a gift from defender Russell Martin who chested the ball into his own net while trying to pass it to his goalkeeper. It was the young defender's sole mistake of the match, a rather unfortunate event since he was excellent in breaking down Nani and Evra's rushes on the left wing


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Arsenal Defeats Real Madrid 1-0

August 5th 2008 19:20
After losing against Juventus on a linesman's mistake, Arsenal put up a better front against La Liga champions, Real Madrid, denying them the space and time needed to be effective while bombarding Jerzy Dudek's goal. Despite all their efforts, it was a penalty-kick that gave the winning goal to the Gunners when defender Michele Salgado fouled Robin Van Persie inside the box. The ensuing kick was converted by striker Emmanuel Adebayor at the 49th minute. Here are a couple observations on the match.

There was an interesting battle on Arsenal's right flank as both Robinho and Walcott looked to have some influence in the game. When Robinho had possession, Walcott would often race back to help out his teammates in defense. This resulted in several altercations that left Robinho smiling at the young winger's intensity. When Robinho was substituted at the hour-mark, Robben took the Brazilian place on the wing. In response, Wenger replaced Walcott by Emmanuel Eboue in order to completely lock down the right flank


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Chelsea Trashes AC Milan 5-0

August 5th 2008 18:25
After a disappointing loss against the Lokomotiv Moskow on Friday, Chelsea got back to their winning form, running over AC Milan as if the Italians were a second-tier team.

The onslaught started early as Frank Lampard's free-kick made its way past goalkeeper Zelkjo Kalac in the second minute of play. Although John Terry's run inside the box probably distracted Kalac, the keeper should have the stop since the ball was going straight to him. After that, it was all Nicolas Anelka's show as he scored his team's next four goals


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