Magical Pirlo Leads Milan To Important Win

Milan 2 – 1 Benfica

A goal and an assist from Andrea Pirlo handed AC Milan a deserved win over Benfica at the San Siro.

He was a major doubt until the last minute, but in the end, Andrea Pirlo recovered for this first match of the Champions League group stage and ended up being the man of the match thanks to a wonderful goal and a splendid assist.

Milan dominated from start to finish, though Benfica had some good chances against the run of play, and in the end it was a deserved win for the European Champions who started their title defence in style.

Milan pressed on the accelerator from the first minute, and in the very 8th minute the Italian side could have taken the lead through Ambrosini following a very good move by the Rossoneri, but the Milan captain’s effort went wide from inside the penalty area.

However, Pirlo made up for this missed opportunity a minute later when in the 9th minute he curled a beautiful freekick from the left side which Quim was unable to stop.

The home team kept pressing forward and first Inzaghi and then Ambrosini could have doubled the score, but luck and Quim stopped the Rossoneri from going two up in the first 15 minutes. Yet again it was Quim who stopped Inzaghi as the Portuguese side’s goalkeeper made a decisive save on Inzaghi in the 21st minute.

Benfica finally got into the game after 20 minutes without doing much upfront as Rui Costa tried his luck from the edge of the penalty area, but Dida reacted well and punched the ball away.

A minute later Benfica had a golden opportunity to equalize when Rodriguez incredibly enough hit the post in an empty net one metre away from the goal line.

As the action progressed, Kaka stole the ball away from the Portuguese players and after running for almost the entire pitch, he assisted Pirlo all alone on the right hand side, where the silky midfielder sent an inch perfect ball towards Inzaghi in the middle of the penalty area, who thanks to a half volley managed to beat Quim for the 2-0.

After 23 minutes Benfica were already two goals down in their best moment of the game, but this resulted as a wakeup call for Camacho’s lads who started playing on the same level of their opponents from then onwards.

Still, despite Benfica enjoying a good ball possession, it was Milan who went closest again when Kaka failed to connect an assist from Oddo in front of goal in the 35th minute. Two minutes before it was Rui Costa who could have pulled one back for the visitors, but once again Dida made a brilliant save to deny the Portuguese side.

The second half proved to be a more balanced affair as Benfica kept on playing like they did in the second part of the first half. However, Kaka tried to add his name to the scoreline in the 55th minute as he accelerated on the right hand side before entering inside the penalty area and having his shot parried by Quim.

Jankulovksi proved to be a thorn in the Benfica defence as he became more active offensively in the second period with various accelerations which ended up with him trying his luck and going close on a couple of occasions.

Despite Benfica holding a good ball possession, it was Milan who kept going close to add another goal and in the 65th minute Inzaghi managed to miss a sitter from just a few metres away from goal as his shot went over the bar.

Three minutes later Oddo tried his luck from the long distance, but Quim deflected the shot with his fists. In the 70th minute Katsouranis copied the Italian fullback and even this time the opposing goalkeeper, Dida, managed to parry the shot.

In the 75th minute Emerson made his Champions League debut for Milan as he substituted Seedorf in the middle of the pitch.

Quim produced a fantastic double save in less than 30 seconds as first he blocked a tap-in by Inzaghi from close range, then he saved his goal from an Emerson lob in the 77th minute.

In the 87th minute Camacho substituted Assis with Rui Costa, and the former Milan player received a standing ovation by the San Siro crowd.

In the last minute of stoppage time, Benfica succeeded in finally pulling one back through Nuno Gomes but that was too little too late for the Portuguese side who will have to target a win in their next Champions League clash in order to remain in the race for the qualification to the next phase.

On the other hand, Milan proved that the Siena game was forgotten and that the European Champions are back in Europe to defend their title. This result allows the Rossoneri to start in the best possible way their Champions League commitments and can therefore look forward to the remaining encounters in this group.

STARTING LINE-UPS:

MILAN (4-3-2-1): Dida; Oddo, Nesta, Kaladze, Jankulovksi; Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Kakà, Seedorf; Inzaghi.

BENFICA (4-4-1-1): Quim; Luis Felipe, Edcarlos, Miguel Vitor, Leo; Pereira, Rodriguez, Di Maria, Katsouranis; Rui Costa; Cardozo.