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.
His first came at the 7th minute when Simic's clearing header found itself at Anelka's feet who didn't hesitate to unleash a powerful drive to the left corner of the net. This time, it was Milan's right-back who was to blame since he hadn't followed the play and reacted too late after Simic's header. But then again, you're never supposed to clear the ball to the entrance of the 18-yard box as the Croatian defender did. Ten minutes later, Kalac would make his second mistake of the game, missing the ball on a back-pass. Anelka then quickly seized the ball and pushed it into the empty net for his second of the game.
Unlike the match against Sevilla where Milan's midfielders where nowhere to be seen, both Pirlo and Gattuso signaled themselves in the first half. Gattuso's shot at the 38th minute was tipped into corner by Peter Cech and Pirlo was his usual playmaking self, distributing the ball left and right.
The second half was more of the same. Five minutes after the break, Anelka completed his hat-trick by heading in Florent Malouda's cross. Once again, a defensive mistake was to blame for the goal as Anelka was left unchallenged at the far post; defender Kaladze was standing a few feet away from the striker instead of sticking to hid shorts. The same thing happened at the 58th minute when Malouda crossed the ball to the far post where Anelka tipped the ball him, Kaladze was once again a couple of steps behind the forward. Chelsea would continue to attack for the rest of the game with both Deco and Shaun Wright-Phillips getting shots on goal. At the end, Anelka's one-man show would stay the highlight of the day as the game ended on the final score of 5-0.
Although it looked like Chelsea completely dominated the match, Milan are as much to blame for their defeat. Their usually iron-clad defense was nowhere to be seen on that day, and they clearly suffered from that. But then again, you have to wonder at Carlo Ancelotti's decision to deploy an essentially defensive formation with no real striker and a double defensive curtain (in addition to the four defenders, Zambrotta and Jankulovski started on the wings while Gattuso and Flamini played in center midfield behind Pirlo). How would they get any offense out of that?
Chelsea's line-up: Peter Cech (Cudicini, 72nd); Branislav Ivanovic (Paulo Ferreira, 61st), Alex, John Terry (Ricardo Carvalho, 61st), Ashley Cole; Michael Ballack (Deco, h-t), John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Shaun Wright-Phillips (Scott Sinclair, 77th), Nicolas Anelka (Andriy Shevchenko, 66th), Florent Malouda.
AC Milan's line-up: Zeljko Kalac; Daniele Bonera (Alberto Paloschi, 23rd), Dario Simic (Digao, h-t), Paolo Maldini (Kakha Kaladze, h-t), Giuseppe Favalli (Luca Antoninni, 63rd); Gianluca Zambrotta, Mathieu Flamini, Gennaro Gattuso, Marek Jankulovski, Andrea Pirlo; Massimo Ambrosini (Clarence Seedorf, h-t).
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.
His first came at the 7th minute when Simic's clearing header found itself at Anelka's feet who didn't hesitate to unleash a powerful drive to the left corner of the net. This time, it was Milan's right-back who was to blame since he hadn't followed the play and reacted too late after Simic's header. But then again, you're never supposed to clear the ball to the entrance of the 18-yard box as the Croatian defender did. Ten minutes later, Kalac would make his second mistake of the game, missing the ball on a back-pass. Anelka then quickly seized the ball and pushed it into the empty net for his second of the game.
Unlike the match against Sevilla where Milan's midfielders where nowhere to be seen, both Pirlo and Gattuso signaled themselves in the first half. Gattuso's shot at the 38th minute was tipped into corner by Peter Cech and Pirlo was his usual playmaking self, distributing the ball left and right.
The second half was more of the same. Five minutes after the break, Anelka completed his hat-trick by heading in Florent Malouda's cross. Once again, a defensive mistake was to blame for the goal as Anelka was left unchallenged at the far post; defender Kaladze was standing a few feet away from the striker instead of sticking to hid shorts. The same thing happened at the 58th minute when Malouda crossed the ball to the far post where Anelka tipped the ball him, Kaladze was once again a couple of steps behind the forward. Chelsea would continue to attack for the rest of the game with both Deco and Shaun Wright-Phillips getting shots on goal. At the end, Anelka's one-man show would stay the highlight of the day as the game ended on the final score of 5-0.
Although it looked like Chelsea completely dominated the match, Milan are as much to blame for their defeat. Their usually iron-clad defense was nowhere to be seen on that day, and they clearly suffered from that. But then again, you have to wonder at Carlo Ancelotti's decision to deploy an essentially defensive formation with no real striker and a double defensive curtain (in addition to the four defenders, Zambrotta and Jankulovski started on the wings while Gattuso and Flamini played in center midfield behind Pirlo). How would they get any offense out of that?
Chelsea's five goals
Chelsea's line-up: Peter Cech (Cudicini, 72nd); Branislav Ivanovic (Paulo Ferreira, 61st), Alex, John Terry (Ricardo Carvalho, 61st), Ashley Cole; Michael Ballack (Deco, h-t), John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Shaun Wright-Phillips (Scott Sinclair, 77th), Nicolas Anelka (Andriy Shevchenko, 66th), Florent Malouda.
AC Milan's line-up: Zeljko Kalac; Daniele Bonera (Alberto Paloschi, 23rd), Dario Simic (Digao, h-t), Paolo Maldini (Kakha Kaladze, h-t), Giuseppe Favalli (Luca Antoninni, 63rd); Gianluca Zambrotta, Mathieu Flamini, Gennaro Gattuso, Marek Jankulovski, Andrea Pirlo; Massimo Ambrosini (Clarence Seedorf, h-t).
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