Milan 1-0 Cagliari: It’s Another Injury-Fest, Seedorf Saves Rossoneri (Serie A Matchday 25)

AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf celebrates after scoring against Cagliari during their Italian Serie A soccer match at the San Siro stadium in Milan February 22, 2009. (REUTERS)

“Pain & Suffering” seems to be the theme for big clubs this week-end. After Inter, Roma, and Juventus, injury-laden AC Milan was the fourth team having to go through hell and fury to scrape a win against Cagliari on Sunday. A Rossoblu side which, as evidenced by their 7th spot in the league rankings, confirmed once again to be fully deserving of their recent attention.

Indeed, Massimiliano Allegri’s team put up a really fierce display at the San Siro today, having only bad luck (cf. Cossu’s shot off the woodwork plus a couple of wrong offside calls) and one tiny defensive mistake to blame for their loss. Clarence Seedorf’s tally is thus keeping Milan’s slender serie A title hopes alive.

Serie A 2008-09 - Milan vs. Cagliari

Serie A 2008-09 - Day 25 - Milan 1-0 Cagliari

Already missing Kaká, Borriello, Shevchenko, and Ronaldinho, Carlo Ancelotti’s hopes of recuperating Alexandre Pato rapidly dissipated, and to say the Milan coach had to face an “emergency situation” would be a severe understatement. Thus the Rossoneri started the game with a rather unorthodox formation (by their Xmas tree standards): 4-4-1-1 with Jankulovski promoted left midfielder and Seedorf operating behind lone striker Inzaghi.

The biggest problem for Milan in the first half, despite the good form of Pirlo and the generous runs down the wings of Janku and Zambrotta, was that Inzaghi was severely isolated up front. Seedorf always ended up chasing the ball further back in midfield, resulting in Federico Marchetti seeing very little danger in the first 45 minutes.

AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf (L) fights for the ball with Cagliari's Daniele Conti during their Italian Serie A soccer match at the San siro stadium in Milan February 22, 2009. (REUTERS)

Different story entirely at the other end, where Christian Abbiati was working overtime to deny Acquafresca (twice) and Cossu. And speaking of Cossu, the Cagliari striker was really unlucky early in the second half to see his 30m missile hit the side of the post and bounced wide. Bad luck for the Rossoblu, and even worse luck in minute 65 when a wrong offside call by the linesman stopped the striker again with a one-on-one chance in front of Abbiati.

Luck turned from bad to worse to rotten for Cagliari, because just two minutes later Milan capitalized on their only real chance of the game. A seemingly harmless pass forward was miscued by center-back Diego Lopez towards his keeper, and while the two collided the ball bounced back towards Clarence Seedorf for the unmissable finish. 1-0 Milan with a big “thank you” note.

Sadly for the visitors that was pretty much the end of the game. Allegri tried to shake his troops by inserting Matri & Lazzari, but Milan controlled the proceedings with boring ball possession, eventually even substituting their only striker for Massimo Ambrosini. Talk about defensive mentality huh? But who could blame Ancelotti? Given his roster situation we can cut him some slack.

Milan players celebrate their goal against Cagliari as Rossoblu goalkeeper Federico Marchetti (front) looks on

.

 AC Milan
MILAN-CAGLIARI
1-0
[Match Highlights]
Cagliari Calcio
GOALSCORERS: 65’ Seedorf (M).
MILAN (4-4-1-1): Abbiati – Zambrotta, Bonera (70’ Senderos), Maldini, Favalli – Beckham (92’ Antonini), Flamini, Pirlo, Jankuloski – Seedorf – F.Inzaghi (84’ Ambrosini). (bench: Dida, Kaladze, Emerson, Viudez). Coach: Ancelotti.
CAGLIARI (4-3-1-2): Marchetti – Matheu (84’ Agostini), Canini, Lopez, Pisano – Fini, Conti, Biondini (72’ Lazzari) – Cossu – Acquafresca (63’ Matri), Jeda. (bench: Lupatelli, Bianco, Astori, Parola). Coach: Allegri.

.

Tags: , , , , ,



Shopadidas.com

Posted in Cagliari, Milan, Serie A |

Related Posts:

  • Sampdoria 2-1 Milan: Cassano & Pazzini Sink the Rossoneri Boat (Serie A Matchday 26)
  • Cagliari 0-0 AC Milan: Rossoneri Take One Step Back (Serie A Matchday 6)
  • Roma vs. Milan Preview: Beckham Serie A Debut Imminent
  • (P)ATOmic AC Milan Slips Five Past Napoli (Serie A Matchday 18)
  • Serie A Matchday 33 – Week-end Review + GOALS of the Week (2007-08)
  • Comments are closed.