Diamonds and Pirlo
Blog: Diamonds & Pirlo
Milan may have made a stuttering start to Serie A, but Richard Godden is quick to remind their critics that form is temporary, class is permanent
The 15th edition of the Champions League got up and running on Tuesday night with holders Milan once again proving that they save their best form for continental action. The Rossoneri needed an injury-time equaliser to rescue a point against Tuscan minnows Siena in their last Serie A outing, which was preceded by a disappointing home draw against Fiorentina. Carlo Ancelotti’s critics didn’t need a second invitation to start sharpening the knives.
Yet when Benfica strolled into the fashion capital of Europe, you just knew that there was only ever going to be one winner. The only surprise of the evening was that Kaka didn’t get on to the scoresheet after his 10-goal haul last term.
However, the Brazilian’s performance against a decent standard of opposition from the Portuguese Liga was as majestic as ever. President Silvio Berlusconi has regularly hit out at Ancelotti in the past for using the Christmas Tree formation, but it’s hard to imagine the former Italian Prime Minister echoing those sentiments these days with both Kaka and Clarence Seedorf running the show as tandem Trequartisti.
On this occasion though, the attacking aces were outshone by a resurgent Andrea Pirlo. The Azzurri midfielder was perhaps a tad fortunate to net from a free-kick, given that Quim made a real hash of it between the Benfica sticks. But his role in Pippo Inzaghi’s goal underlined what a fantastic player he is in the attacking third, as he helped round-off a stunning team move with a great ball to his international colleague. It allowed the master poacher the opportunity to bag his 60th goal in European competition, but all Ancelotti could talk about after the game was the part Pirlo had to play in their Group D opener.
“Andrea scored a goal, made an assist and spread the play very well,” insisted the tactician. “Considering his characteristics, Pirlo is irreplaceable at the moment. He deserves to be a candidate for the Ballon d’Or. I don’t see many midfielders out there at his level, but I think Kaka has an advantage because of the goals he scored in last term’s Champions League. Hopefully we’ll get first and second though.”
The 2005-06 term – in which Milan failed to pick up a trophy – combined with the World Cup success in Germany seemed to have taken it out of Pirlo, who struggled to find his rhythm for most of last season. This time out he has hit the ground running and he will continue to shine with the likes of Massimo Ambrosini and Gennaro Gattuso doing his dirty work. Even Emerson might be able to look good alongside one of the finest playmakers in the world right now!
In the September issue of Calcio Italia we featured an article on the Rossoneri’s city rivals Inter and how their major objective this season is to usurp their neighbours as Kings of Europe. It may be a tad early to pass judgement on the Nerazzurri given that they haven’t even kicked-off their campaign yet, but it’d take a brave man to tip them outlasting Milan in what is undoubtedly the Diavolo’s natural habitat.
So things might not quite be going how Carletto had hoped in Serie A – although let us not forget that they are still undefeated this term – but he can always rely on Kaka and Co to click when the big European nights come around. Apologies for trotting out an old cliché, but it couldn’t be more applicable to Milan – form is temporary, class is permanent.
ima dosta slobode u igri,pa se nadje i u ulozi playa,a jedini put kada pirlo igra zadnjeg veznog -jeste kada milan ganja rezultat -a blizi se kraj utakmice.tada pirlo igra osiguraca,i salje upotrebljive duge lopte(u tom slucaju gatuzan je vec na klupi 
..mozda da pokrenem kakav kratkotrajni kurs 
(odnosno desni i lijevi midfielder)..to se brate fino kaze :ZADNJI VEZNI I PLAY,odnosno prednji vezni.drugo je sta glupi japanci na PS meću. 
a eno pune novine ancelottia i galliania koji tako govore