Serie A Week 5: Ronaldinho Shines in Derby della Madonnina
October 1st 2008 01:39
Casual observers and “fans” alike have always criticized Italian football for being dull. There are not enough goals, the action is too slow, it's too defensive, nothing's happening – all excuses for their disdain of something they can't quite grasp. Yes, Serie A football isn't as open as the Premiership, neither is it as technically exquisite as Spanish and Portuguese football. Instead of those things, you find a highly tactical environment where the match is turned into a game of chess, each team tinkering and probing to find their opponents' weaknesses. Sometimes, it does look boring. I have to admit, a game tied at 0-0 with most of the action happening in the midfield rather than either end doesn't attract me much. Yet, there are also those games that can stay scoreless and still leave you fully satisfied. The Milan Derby is one of those games. This year's edition ended only 1-0 in favor of the Rossoneri, but it was one of the best games (tactically-wise) that I've seen so far in this season.
Ronaldinho was the star of the game on Sunday. He scored the winning-goal – with his head, no less – and seems to have found a nice complicity with Kaka. Ancelotti must feel pretty good about that. Indeed, there was never time in pre-season for the two players to hit it off since Ronaldinho was in the Olympics with the Brazilian national team and Kaka's knee was still bothering him. Consequently, the Rossoneri had a rough start to their season, losing their first two games due to subpar performances. Now though, the Brazilians ('Dinho, Kaka, Pato) have found their groove, and this win against Inter could prove to be the springboard needed to get them going.
The night wasn't only for Milan's number 80 though as several players had great performances in their respective positions; the defensive midfielders being the best. Cambiasso and Zanetti were the real center of the Internazionale squad as they took the ball away from Milan to redistribute to their teammates. Cambiasso was especially great, everything he did seemed effortless, and none of his passes were wasted balls, it's too bad that neither Quaresma or Mancini could do anything with his passes. The ineffectiveness of Inter's wingers was mainly caused by the tireless work of Ambrosini and Gattuso who were posted on Seedorf's flanks for the defensive side of Milan's midfield. They both prevented Quaresma and Mancini from expressing their creative selves in the final third of the field. As a result, Ibrahimovic often had to come back and pick up the ball instead of waiting to be serviced. Quaresma was especially poor on that night, and I wonder why Mourinho didn't sub the Portuguese winger for Adriano instead of taking out the more experienced Mancini.
The game had its fair share of emotions too, especially in the second half where every tackle was harshly punished by the referee. Both Burdisso and Materazzi were given red cards (though Materazzi was already on the bench when he was sanctioned – which is a pretty rare event). Assistant-coach Franco Baresi was also shown red for protesting too loudly. Despite all of this, the highlight of the game for me came at the 90th minute when Zambrotta sacrificed his body in a moment of panic for Milan's defense by sliding in front of the ball to prevent the shot despite the forest of players' legs looking to either clear the ball (Milan defenders) or kick it in the net (Inter strikers).
AC Milan's line-up: Christian Abbiati; Gianluca Zambrotta, Paolo Maldini, Kakha Kaladze, Marek Jankulovski; Gennaro Gattuso (Claudio Bonera, 87th), Clarence Seedorf, Massimo Ambrosini, Kaka, Ronaldinho (Andryi Shevchenko, 83rd); Alexandre Pato (Mathieu Flamini, 73rd).
Inter Milan's line-up: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Nicolas Burdisso, Marco Materazzi (Julio Cruz, 58th), Cristian Chivu; Patrick Viera, Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti, Ricardo Quaresma, Mancini (Adriano, 58th); Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ronaldinho was the star of the game on Sunday. He scored the winning-goal – with his head, no less – and seems to have found a nice complicity with Kaka. Ancelotti must feel pretty good about that. Indeed, there was never time in pre-season for the two players to hit it off since Ronaldinho was in the Olympics with the Brazilian national team and Kaka's knee was still bothering him. Consequently, the Rossoneri had a rough start to their season, losing their first two games due to subpar performances. Now though, the Brazilians ('Dinho, Kaka, Pato) have found their groove, and this win against Inter could prove to be the springboard needed to get them going.
The night wasn't only for Milan's number 80 though as several players had great performances in their respective positions; the defensive midfielders being the best. Cambiasso and Zanetti were the real center of the Internazionale squad as they took the ball away from Milan to redistribute to their teammates. Cambiasso was especially great, everything he did seemed effortless, and none of his passes were wasted balls, it's too bad that neither Quaresma or Mancini could do anything with his passes. The ineffectiveness of Inter's wingers was mainly caused by the tireless work of Ambrosini and Gattuso who were posted on Seedorf's flanks for the defensive side of Milan's midfield. They both prevented Quaresma and Mancini from expressing their creative selves in the final third of the field. As a result, Ibrahimovic often had to come back and pick up the ball instead of waiting to be serviced. Quaresma was especially poor on that night, and I wonder why Mourinho didn't sub the Portuguese winger for Adriano instead of taking out the more experienced Mancini.
The game had its fair share of emotions too, especially in the second half where every tackle was harshly punished by the referee. Both Burdisso and Materazzi were given red cards (though Materazzi was already on the bench when he was sanctioned – which is a pretty rare event). Assistant-coach Franco Baresi was also shown red for protesting too loudly. Despite all of this, the highlight of the game for me came at the 90th minute when Zambrotta sacrificed his body in a moment of panic for Milan's defense by sliding in front of the ball to prevent the shot despite the forest of players' legs looking to either clear the ball (Milan defenders) or kick it in the net (Inter strikers).
AC Milan's line-up: Christian Abbiati; Gianluca Zambrotta, Paolo Maldini, Kakha Kaladze, Marek Jankulovski; Gennaro Gattuso (Claudio Bonera, 87th), Clarence Seedorf, Massimo Ambrosini, Kaka, Ronaldinho (Andryi Shevchenko, 83rd); Alexandre Pato (Mathieu Flamini, 73rd).
Inter Milan's line-up: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Nicolas Burdisso, Marco Materazzi (Julio Cruz, 58th), Cristian Chivu; Patrick Viera, Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti, Ricardo Quaresma, Mancini (Adriano, 58th); Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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