AC Milan avenges its loss to win Champions League

After watching the Italians hoist the World Cup I had to watch an Italian club hoist the champions league trophy...not really as bad to watch. Albeit a team that should not have been in the tournament to start with, have you heard me say that before?




On to the game -

The Good:

• Honestly not much good, the game was a boring defensive and cautious contest between two teams that were too scared to take chances.

The Bad:

• See above!
• Liverpool - lined up 5 midfielders and one striker. They looked to clog the midfield and try to beat AC on the counter. That appeared to work during the first half, but it was clear that Zenden was close to useless and did not have the legs necessary to break down AC. Kuyt was the solo striker and as usual demonstrated that he is not the pro typical lone striker, he does not have he speed or dribbling ability to beat defenders one on one. With Liverpool stacking the midfield and not pushing up en masse - Kuyt was not getting the service necessary.
• AC Milan - what a surprise, once they scored they had 5 defenders in the box. Kaka never really got going, Mascherano really locked him down always hounding him. The one moment of "brilliance" from Kaka was against Riise, but if you notice Kaka has about 2 seconds of freedom after the roll over before Mascherano is right on his heals once again. AC Milan played the usual Italian defensive and slow style of football.....
• Benetiz -first a caveat, I cannot stand the Spaniard. I think he is an overrated manager and had Liverpool not had the miracle in Istanbul 2 years ago would have been sacked since then due to his complete lack of success domestically (and I don't mean winning the FA cup, I mean actually challenging for the Premiership title). But what was he doing yesterday? Liverpool is down 1-0 with 20 minutes left and he still had not inserted Crouch or Bellamy.....not sure what he was thinking....I think he managed the game with a lackadaisical manner not warranted for such a high level game.
  

The Ugly:

• Inzaghi - yes he scored a brace but his goals were a bit ugly. The first one not sure why he gets credit (well I know why) but when you watch the goal it is pathetic. Pirlo takes a wicked free kick that Inzaghi dumbly runs into and deflects in to the back of the net. u-g-l-y. His second goal came from a great pass from Kaka, and a smart run from Inzaghi. The reason I call it ugly, and I will give credit to Ryan for mentioning this, was that his "shot" was painfully slow. So slow that I am surprised that not one of the 3 Liverpool defenders that got burned by the initial pass did not get back to protect the goal line. Any of the three could have and should have back tracked after they looked silly on the first pass. Had they done so I am sure they could have easily cleared the ball of the line. Instead they decided to pretend they were Italian defenders and spent their time raising their arms asking for an off sides call and being stuck in cement.

Overall this is not a classic when it comes to the Champions League finals. Neither team impressed me, and I cannot truly believe that AC Milan, a team that should not have been in the competition for CHEATING last season, is not European Champs....onto next season.....