On 23 May 2007 at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece, AC Milan were at the top of the European Club football that was more than ten years ago, when Carlo Ancelotti and his Milan side lead by Kaka exorcised their demons by defeating Liverpool in second time of asking after so astonishingly losing to them in the 2005 Final blowing away what looked like an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Anyway in 2007 they were the best again and Ancelotti & Milan looked like a match made in heaven until Chelsea came calling for Ancelotti, and eventually Kaka left to fulfill his dream to play for Madrid and Milan kept on declining year on year so much so that now Champions league qualification seems like a big task for them. Ancelotti meanwhile has kept on filling his trophy cabinet with Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid, & Bayern Munich but he has rarely looked at home like he did at MIlan for more then one season. He has become what in football people sometime call as a mercenary, a gun-for-hire coming in to stabilize a flailing ship or head a billionaire's dream team to deliver some much needed injection of trophies. To his credit he has accomplished a lot of major feats like delivering the much revered 'La Decima' to Real Madrid, winning leagues with PSG, Bayern, & Chelsea, but eventually sooner rather than later he does get 'It has been fun but I think we should see other people' from all his employers.
On the other side of this thought are AC Milan who over the last decade have gone from Winning the Champions League to mid table dwellers in the Serie A. This season they have had new money come in through new owners and have bought in mind boggling eleven new players, & the start of the season which included a 4-0 preseason win over Ancelotti's Bayern had the promise of great things to come but the recent results in Serie A (where they sit sixth) have left more questions than answers for the manager at helm Vincenzo Montella and the new owner Yonghong Li, even though their start has not being a bad one but a 4-1 thrashing at Lazio and 2-0 loss at Sampdoria are starting to raise a few eyebrows.
Speaking of eyebrows, Will we get to see 'The Eyebrow' in Milan's dugout? Only time will tell, but I am intrigued by the possibility of the Milan-Ancelotti story getting one more chapter and with Ancelloti getting the sack from Bayern this week along with Milan's struggles over the decade pieces maybe falling in place for just that.
Anyway in 2007 they were the best again and Ancelotti & Milan looked like a match made in heaven until Chelsea came calling for Ancelotti, and eventually Kaka left to fulfill his dream to play for Madrid and Milan kept on declining year on year so much so that now Champions league qualification seems like a big task for them. Ancelotti meanwhile has kept on filling his trophy cabinet with Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid, & Bayern Munich but he has rarely looked at home like he did at MIlan for more then one season. He has become what in football people sometime call as a mercenary, a gun-for-hire coming in to stabilize a flailing ship or head a billionaire's dream team to deliver some much needed injection of trophies. To his credit he has accomplished a lot of major feats like delivering the much revered 'La Decima' to Real Madrid, winning leagues with PSG, Bayern, & Chelsea, but eventually sooner rather than later he does get 'It has been fun but I think we should see other people' from all his employers.
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| Good Times! |
On the other side of this thought are AC Milan who over the last decade have gone from Winning the Champions League to mid table dwellers in the Serie A. This season they have had new money come in through new owners and have bought in mind boggling eleven new players, & the start of the season which included a 4-0 preseason win over Ancelotti's Bayern had the promise of great things to come but the recent results in Serie A (where they sit sixth) have left more questions than answers for the manager at helm Vincenzo Montella and the new owner Yonghong Li, even though their start has not being a bad one but a 4-1 thrashing at Lazio and 2-0 loss at Sampdoria are starting to raise a few eyebrows.
Speaking of eyebrows, Will we get to see 'The Eyebrow' in Milan's dugout? Only time will tell, but I am intrigued by the possibility of the Milan-Ancelotti story getting one more chapter and with Ancelloti getting the sack from Bayern this week along with Milan's struggles over the decade pieces maybe falling in place for just that.
really like the narrative and the story telling too
ReplyDeletefor people who care about football must be an interesting read
Thanks , I sure hope so
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