Kaka!!!! =)

Athens robbery! The magical nights in Athens Stadium. What a real heartbroken for the Liverpool’s fans. Without a shadow of doubt the game is on; as exhilarating and intense with full of suspense though isn’t as thrilling as 2 years back in Istanbul. It’s also a night to be remembered by whole Milan fans around the world (including me). =) They won the Champions League of 2007 and I would say they are worthy champions in that match. Upon finished watching the premier of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 at 12am; the match started just nice on time when I reached home at 2.45am. Talking about the ‘2 hours and somewhere 45 minutes’ movie, I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars. The show is okay but I felt the 2nd sequel will be much more interesting. The third was much more focused on the ending of the story; a lot of verbal conversation rather than action-thriller packed scenes. The plot should be fine though there are few parts where mystical and fantasy things took place such as Calypso being enlarged after her soul’s released by the 4th Brethen Court and Will Turner turning into undead without a heart. That Calypso part reminds me of Lina using Black King Bar. Hehe! I would suggest movie-goers to actually watch the first and second sequel before stepping foot into the cinema for this movie to grasp what the whole storyline is about. The conclusion is that this show is worth watching, go for it!

Back to the main point, AC Milan vs Liverpool match at Istanbul. AC Milan won the finals by 2-1 thanks to a brace by Filippo Inzaghi with the assist of Kaka. First half is all for Liverpool to kill the game but they squandered numerous golden opportunity. These chances don’t come twice and because of that, they were punished by Milan late in the first half through Kaka’s intelligence, a brilliant free kick by Pirlo and not to forget Inzaghi’s position that close the curtain for first half. For that goal, I would rather say Milan got it through luck; real fluke chance. The set up was brilliant by Kaka, real smart to trick Alonso to foul him just right outside the penalty box. Let us take a look at Liverpool’s side for the first half. They dominated that half but just couldn’t find the net. Pennant playing at the right was effective; having pace and drive but what was lacking is his intelligence, experience and most importantly, finishing. The right flank was totally exploited by Liverpool. On the left side, we have Stevie G commanding that particular area which I think wasn’t a good move by Rafa Benitez. Stevie G’s most preferable area is at the heart of midfield and not the flank. The flank should have been played by speedy players such as Bellamy. Milan’s centre-back was lacking a lot of speed and pace at that moment and if Liverpool made full use of that advantage, they could have been at least 2-nil up. It is a great display by Nesta and Maldini to stop those dangerous threats by Liverpool’s midfiled. Kuyt as a solo striker doesn’t function well in that game. He didn’t get much chances to be inside the penalty box to strike. At the defense, Mascherano was superb in closing down the threats by Kaka. That leaves almost no space for Kaka to exploit. Liverpool should have known that the key of their victory is to stop this one man, Kaka. Carragher and Agger were hardworking in stopping Milan’s flank which proved quite effective. Midfield was quite balance for both sides; Alonso and Zenden pushing Seedorf and Pirlo back to their own half. Gattuso wasn’t that effective compare to the semi’s against Man Utd; keeping Christiano Ronaldo at the bay. In the end, luck wasn’t at Liverpool’s side and so, Milan stole an important goal lead in the first half.

Coming into the second half is the most vital part of the game. Both teams started of good but as Milan is leading by a goal, Liverpool was more on the attack. As the game went on, Liverpool almost seemed to be scoring a goal through Gerrard and Alonso’s strike but they missed them. Late in the second half, Rafa made a gamble by replacing Mascherano with Peter Crouch to add more bites to the attack. This will be the biggest mistake made by him. Taking of Kaka’s marksman will give him even more space to explore when Milan’s on the attack. Once more, this man’s brilliant sight in putting a superb through pass to Inzaghi; beating the offside trap and Inzaghi overpowered Reina to slot home the second goal. By then, Liverpool’s defense was caught sleeping on the pitch and seemingly lethargic. That goal couldn’t have happened if the defense ran down to the goal line and cleared the ball off. If you look through the replay, Inzaghi’s second goal strike has very less power and momentum; the ball just rolled into the net. Where was the speedy defense of Liverpool at that decisive moment? I’ll just have to say that the night belongs to AC Milan. In my point of view, another tactic that Rafa made that lead to the downfall of Liverpool’s game is that above all substitutes, he chose to put Kewell instead of Bellamy. Kewell has been out for months due to injuries and totally wasn’t match fit. At least Bellamy was outstanding when he played in a couple of Champions League match, e.g. against Barcelona. Remember the 2nd leg match between Man Utd against AC Milan? Man Utd paid the price of putting the unfit Nemanja Vidic at the centre of defense which let Kaka to strike a powerful goal sending Van Der Sar to the wrong way. That game was understandable because they do not have any more quality players to fill in the defenses due to injuries. At this very high tempo and vital match, it’s very important for a team to have all match fit and experience players. A wrong move or tactic without luck will just end up losing. Liverpool got the only consolation goal late in the 2nd half through Kuyt’s header and that’s the only time Kuyt ever get into the penalty box to strike. Upon Kuyt’s goal, I thought this night will be another remarkable comeback for Liverpool to repeat the 2005’s final feat but it all ended when the whistle was blown by the referee.
Overview, Liverpool is much more of hardworking on the pitch where as AC Milan’s smart in every move that they take. What makes Milan worthy winners is that they have a bunch of very quality and experience individual players such as Kaka, Inzaghi, Nesta and Gattuso compare to Liverpool. Above all, the managers’ tactics and decision wins the game. Ancelotti outsmarted Rafa that night besides depending on luck. As a fan of Kaka, I can’t helped but to say this man makes the biggest difference of all in spearheading Milan to the final and thus, winning the most lucrative football competition in Europe. Hola! =p

Moral of the story : Intelligence plays a vital role in a person's life. Hardworking alone isn't enough. Sometimes luck does matter. Use them (combination) wisely and u'll be successful in life! =)