Ac Milan 3-0 Atalanta

Milan scores an impressive victory

AC Milan scored an impressive and important victory over Atalanta at the San Siro Stadium in Milan. The 3-0 win, which comes after fourth placed Fiorentina’s 2-0 loss against Palermo, took Milan five points adrift of Fiorentina and to a safer position to get hold of the Champions’ League spot.

Milan dominated the match against the 10^th placed Atalanta right from the start to finish. Milan closed off the match with Filippo Inzaghi’s hat-trick. Inzaghi opened his scoring spree in the seventh minute with a beautiful half volley off a cross from Marek Jankulovski past Atalanta’s goalkeeper, Consigli. Milan missed a few close chances to score after Pato’s near perfect shots were drifted off by the goalkeeper.

Inzaghi finally made it 2-0 in the 71^st minute after Pato fooled Consigli and opened up the net only to pass the ball to Inzaghi, who easily shot it through. He followed it up soon with a third in the 74^th minute with a wonderful shot off a Jankulovski cross. It was all over for Atalanta from there and Milan warded off any serious threat from Atalanta to come back into the match.

The last minutes close to the finish saw standing ovation for both Beckham and Inzaghi from the Milan fans. Milan’s happy manager, Carlo Ancelotti will look to carry forward this excellent form of Milan through the rest of the season and secure a direct berth in the Champions’ League.

Goals: Filippo Inzaghi 7′ ; 71′; 73′

Check out the Goals and Highlights here:

Sampdoria 2-1 Ac Milan

Serie A Round 26
Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa

Milan suffers more setbacks

AC Milan’s quest for the Serie A title took a severe blow after they were thrashed by the 14^th placed Sampdoria 2-1 at the Ferraris stadium in Genoa. The debacle comes after a shocking UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Werder Bremen, making it a very tough week for Milan and its fans. This loss adds to the slowly fading title hopes for Milan.

The match was a follow up after UEFA Cup exits for both Milan and Sampdoria, with both the teams looking to salvage some pride in front of their fans. After the season was ravaged by injuries to most of its star players, Milan pinned its hopes on the newly signed David Beckham and Pato. However, Sampdoria’s hero of the day, Antonio Cassano, came up with a brilliant performance to put paid to their plans to make it a big day.

Cassano drew the first blood for Sampdoria after sending in a header in the 33^rd minute past Milan’s out of form goalkeeper Christiano Abbiati. Cassano set up another goal in the 51^st minute after sending across a pass to Pazzini, who made no mistake. There was some consolation for Milan after Pato pulled one up for the visitors in the 80^th minute with an excellent header but it was too late to stage a comeback.

Milan is still 12 points shy of the league leader Inter Milan and 5 points away from second placed Juventus. With a dozen matches left to be played, Milan will look forward to its star performers to turn the tables in their favor.

Goals:

Sampdoria: Antonio Cassano  33′ ; Giampaolo Pazzini  51′

Milan: Alexandre Pato  80′

Check out the Highlights here:

What are the latest betting odds on Ronaldinho scoring in the next match - find out at Bwin!

The 28-year old player from Brazil, Ronaldinho, joined the Rossoneri recently. Many were enraged with what happened but there are also some who thinks that it is clearly just a marketing strategy. But not matter what everyone else thinks, Dinho proved that he does not lack the form in contrast to what his non-supporters are rumbling about.
According to the Turin-base Italian newspaper, Tuttosport, Adriano Galliani, the Vice President of Milan, he is now prepared to tie Ronalddinho with another contract.

If you would remember, the Brazilian ace has just signed a contract last July that would last for three years. This contract is worth €6.5 million for every season. But there are rumors that he will be given a contract extension so he could still play for the team until the year 2012. Rumors also had it that he will be given a salary worth €8 million for every season.

The talks about the alleged contract extension may start next week. They are still waiting for the brother of Ronaldinho and his agent, Roberto de Assis to arrive in Italy.