| Milan dealt with Deportivo in cold blood After the first quarterfinal matches, Milan and Porto can prepare for the full-time semifinals. It would take a miracle for the reigning Champions Cup and UEFA Cup holders to not meet in the next round on April 22.
The greatest interest was caused by the match between Milan and Deportivo. The Spanish club has already managed to knock out the Italian Juventus from the league. But not only this circumstance attracted attention to the next Italian-Spanish confrontation. Especially for Russian fans, this match had an additional intrigue - referee Valentin Ivanov was called upon to judge the dispute between some of the best clubs in the world.
Valentin Ivanov is currently considered the best referee in Russian football. In any case, in Europe there is no doubt about this. It is Valentin Ivanov who will be the only chief referee at the European Championship from Russia, the Ukrainian Football Federation intends to invite him to officiate the final match of its national cup, and the management of the same Milan has more than once sent letters of gratitude in which they highly appreciated the work of the Russian referee. And only Sir Alex Ferguson is dissatisfied with Ivanov. It's easy to understand for the Manchester United coach - when a team stops fighting for the trophy, the main thing is to find the culprit on the side.
In Russia, Valentin Ivanov has not been doing so well lately. In the first two rounds of the championship he received unsatisfactory marks. The decisions of the inspectors who assessed his work are more than controversial. But the result is obvious: another “failure”, and Valentin Ivanov will be suspended from officiating at national championship matches until the end of the season. Moreover, the fact that only Ivanov’s assessments become public, while the results of the work of other judges are kept secret, makes one think about many things.
In the European arena, the Russian referee continues to be trusted. And after the match “Milan” - “Deportivo” there were no complaints about him. And why blame the referee if one team is completely defeated by the other. Although no one expected the defeat. Milan likes to start two-round matches away from home, where the whole team goes on the defensive, preferring to solve problems in return matches at home. This time the draw intervened in the well-established scheme, and starting the quarterfinals at San Siro, the “red-blacks” felt uncomfortable. Some shyness of the hosts when finishing attacks resulted in a missed goal. Already in the 11th minute, Pandiani, who was not covered by anyone, literally shot through Dida's goal - after all, the absence of injured Milan defender Alessandro Nesta had an effect. “Scoring away was our main task, and we did it,” Depor coach Irureta said after the match. “But what happened next was just a disaster.”
But at first everything went according to the Deportivo scenario: the hosts attacked, the guests defended, as is customary in classic cup matches. Even Kaka's goal, scored at the end of the half, did not upset the Spaniards too much, but after the break the disaster that Irureta spoke about happened. In the first seven minutes of the second half, Milan achieved success three times. Shevchenko, Kaka and Pirlo mercilessly crushed Deportivo's dreams of a decent result and took away their last hope of reaching the semi-finals. “During the break, I asked the players to be more persistent in their selection,” Milan head coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed the secret of victory. - The main thing is that even after conceding the goal we didn’t lose our cool for a minute. It was amazing to score three goals in such a short space of time. We have secured a significant advantage for ourselves, but we must try to show the same football in Spain.”
In the second match on Tuesday there was a more equal fight. “Porto” and “Lyon” can hardly be called European giants, and there was no clear favorite in this match. Which affected the game. Both teams cared more about not conceding. And with a small number of dangerous moments, the hosts were more successful in this. At the end of the first half, Russian Dmitry Alenichev's passage along the flank with a pass into the penalty area ended with Deco's effective shot. Lyon didn't even manage to lose with a minimal score. In the middle of the second half, another rare Porto attack ended with a goal. But despite the French team’s slim chances of reaching the next stage, Porto coach Jose Mourinho was cautious in his predictions: “So far, so good. But Lyon will do everything at home to rectify the situation.”
Champions League. 1/4 finals. First matches. "Porto" - "Lyon" - 2:0 ( Deco 44, Carvalho 71 ), "Milan" - "Deportivo" - 4:1 ( Kaka 45, 49, Shevchenko 46, Pirlo 52 - Pandiani 11 ). Andrey VDOVIN |
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