With two weeks to go to the Champions League final, the AC Milan boss – Carlo Ancelotti – has spoken about how he thinks Liverpool will approact the game. Whereas Liverpool’s league season is over to all intents and purposes, AC Milan are still fighting for the Italian league title. This means Milan are the obvious favourites for the final, but so were Chelsea and Juventus when they played Liverpool. Ancelotti says that Liverpool will try and play the game their way.
The Milan coach has a lot of respect for Liverpool – he says, "Liverpool are a horrible team to play against. They are also a side that can spring surprises. Against Juventus and Chelsea they ran the games exactly as they wanted, giving away very little and exploiting their chances."
Ancoletti thinks that Liverpool’s tactics will be to defend and to prevent Milan from being too positive: "They are highly organised in defence, and I am certain that they will try to cast a cloud over our attacking intentions. We will need to prepare well, and to retain our composure. But I am confident.”
Meanwhile PA Sport have issued a story that seems to have come from nowhere. The former boss of AC Milan’s rivals has denied that he’s been speaking to Liverpool.
PA say the story has been circulating in the English media that Alberto Zaccheroni has been lined up to replace Rafael Benitez. Despite Benitez telling the world that he would love to stay at Anfield for 20 years, Italian journalists still felt the need to ask the former Inter boss if he’d been contacted by the Reds: "Absolutely not, I have never had any contacts with them."
The coach is currently looking for a new job, and would prefer to coach in Serie A: "With regards to my future, I would prefer to remain in Italy. If I had to go abroad my first destination would be Spain and then England."
Sounds like more agents have been busy, as the silly season for football kicks in.