By Trevor Huggins
ATHENS, May 23 - AC Milan lifted the Champions
League trophy after grinding out a 2-1 victory over Liverpool on
Wednesday that bore all the hallmarks of Italy's World Cup
triumph last year.
Both Italian teams had gone into their competitions under
the cloud of a match-rigging scandal that had tarnished their
reputation and standing in the world game.
Just as Italy's players said at the World Cup in Germany
they wanted to show a different image of their country, so Milan
coach Carlo Ancelotti said the club's points deduction for their
part in the scandal had made them all the more determined.
In both cases, the Italian sides rarely played to their full
potential but were ruthless when it counted and enjoyed a slice
of good fortune when they needed it.
A stoppage-time penalty earned Italy a 1-0 victory over
Australia in the second round and Andrea Pirlo, the architect of
his country's World Cup triumph, made the most of a 45th minute
free kick against Liverpool in Athens.
Pirlo's shot took a wicked deflection off lone striker
Filippo Inzaghi, leaving goalkeeper Jose Reina diving in the
wrong direction as the ball hit the back of the Liverpool net.
BEST MIDFIELDER
The free kick was conceded by Xabi Alonso, who had been the
best midfielder on the pitch and whose shoulder challenge on
Kaka might well have been ignored in the English Premier League.
It proved to be the turning point of the game, inflicting a
demoralising blow on Liverpool as they headed in for the break
and forcing them to leave fewer men at the back while they
pushed forward in search of an equaliser in the second half.
Inzaghi, a hugely-experienced predator in the penalty area,
made them pay in the 82nd minute, rounding Reina after being put
through by a great defence-splitting pass from Kaka.
Though Dutchman Dirk Kuyt headed a consolation goal for
Liverpool in the dying minutes, there was no way Milan were
going to be denied their revenge for having lost an amazing
Champions League final to Liverpool on penalties in 2005.
In Istanbul, Liverpool had roared back from 3-0 down at the
break to draw 3-3.
This time, Milan had learned their lesson and there was to
be no repeat in Athens, as the defence marshalled by 38-year-old
captain Paolo Maldini withstood Liverpool's final challenges.
Maldini won club football's biggest trophy for the fifth
time and not just because his team had kept things predictably
tight at the back and made the best of their chances up front.
LACKING BITE
Liverpool simply failed to deliver the kind of attacking
threat that had taken them to the final at the Olympic Stadium.
Their Spanish manager Rafa Benitez had built a resilient
4-4-2 formation led up front by Kuyt and a choice of either
Peter Crouch or Craig Bellamy.
However, faced with Milan's 4-5-1 lineup and the clear
threat of being overrun in midfield, Benitez opted for a single
striker by trade in Kuyt, chaperoned up front by captain Steven
Gerrard.
The Liverpool skipper is widely recognised as being one of
the best footballers in Europe, but even Gerrard cannot fill the
boots of a striker at this level.
His only chance was saved by Dida in the 63rd minute and his
presence added little to Liverpool's attack, which was mainly
driven by the workaholic Jermaine Pennant on the right flank.
Dutchman Boudewijn Zenden, who lacked any guile, pace or
attacking bite on the left, was replaced by Harry Kewell just
before the hour mark but the Australian tried in vain to turn
the game around.
A glimpse of what might have been for Liverpool came at the
very end when late substitute Crouch unleashed a shot from
outside the area which Dida did well to tip over the bar.
It was too little too late for Benitez's men who were beaten
by a Milan side that had drawn on their experiences over the
past year, good and bad, to clinch their seventh European Cup.