Feliz Navidad a hinchas del Inter!

Saludos,
Dida Claus

Merry Christmas to Inter Milan fans!

Love,
Dida Claus

When young Yoann Gourcuff left Stade Rennais for Milan, he was supposed to be the next big thing. There had been concrete interest from Arsenal and Lyon for a year, and it didn't take a particularly gifted talent-spotter to see that the boy had promise. Likened to Robert Pires, Youri Djorkaeff and Zinedine Zidane, Gourcuff is a technically supreme midfielder, able to see the game and manipulate the ball like few others. To add to that, he is tall and considerably strong (hence the comparison to Zizou), and able to work as a more conventional central midfielder in addition to his obvious abilities as an attacking one.

He emerged through the excellent youth setup at Rennes, but was lured away by the allure of Milanello, the San Siro, and all the dreams that come with. Arriving as one of Europe's most talented young midfielders (and NOT a raw one at that), the idea was that he would slot into the fluid, unpredictable Milan midfield - able to substitute for Seedorf, for Pirlo, and even for Kaka, with the eventual hope being that he might end up as consistently brilliant as the Brazilian.

But of course AC Milan being AC Milan, nothing went as planned.

After a promising start, Gourcuff found no playing time, and this season he has seen even less. The arrival of Emerson in the summer meant that central midfield was now more congested. Add to this the hype of Brazilian superkid Pato (who will arrive in January), and the odd return of Ibrahim Ba, and one wonders what Gourcuff is still doing there. The Pato situation is quite unfortunate, because in all the hype, people have forgotten that Gourcuff too is a "wonderkid" (albeit a slightly older one).

The French youngster has understandably become frustrated, and spoke out about how he wanted more playing time. This drew a reaction from the AC Milan supremo Adriano Galliani, and his quotes are quite ludicrous in places. I've higlighted a few of the choice bits:

"Gourcuff is partly right when he says that he hoped he would get more playing time, because that's what he agreed on with our coach last summer. But that was before we got the chance to sign Emerson, even though we had told Gourcuff we would buy no one in midfield to allow him more playing time.

However, Gourcuff has to understand he is lucky to be playing in the team that has won the most trophies in the world, and if he is really that good he should be able to break through into the side, even if now we have one more midfielder.

Nevertheless, I can understand his situation and I didn't get angry about what he said."

Well Adriano, you shouldn't get angry about what he said, he should be getting angry about what you and Ancelotti said! If it was agreed that he would get more playing time, and that no more midfielders would be signed, then why should he be content? What difference does it make to Gourcuff that Milan have won so many trophies if he's not getting any games, and unable to contribute to the team or improve as a player?

It's quite ridiculous stuff, and one would hope that Gourcuff just leaves. I'm sure Arsene Wenger would still be interested - he has a good record of rescuing talented French youngsters from their misery in Italy (see Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry). In fact, this situation is so similar to the Vieira one, it's uncanny. The Gunners legend arrived in much the same way as Gourcuff - one of the most talented young midfielders in France, who had only just had a season or two of establishing himself with his club (Cannes). When he arrived in Milan, chances were few, and he found his path to the first team blocked by expensive, more experienced players. Wenger rescued him from the reserves, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So don't rule out Arsenal making a move. Wenger is a keen admirer of his talents, and with Rosicky constantly injured, and a replacement for Robert Pires still to be found, it just might happen. And if not the Gunners, well previous suitors Lyon, as well as Ajax, Valencia, and many others are all still keeping an eye on him.

Well... ticket sales for this years Champions League Final (Athens 2007) seem to have ended up in a right old mess. I'm watching it on TV at the moment (as the poor and distant are wont to do), and things seem noisy enough so i'd hope that most of the loyal fans who tried their best to go have managed to, but there has been an unhappy sinister note to the way the whole thing has been handled.

* WHAT A ROULETTE FROM KAKA! *

Anyways, sorry... back to the business. The first big problem, is that forged tickets have flooded the market - there are said to be in excess of 1500 tickets, and arrests have already been made, although the number in circulation is thought to be huge. Many fans had bought tickets in advance, and some are concerned that these might now be fake , which is heartbreaking considering that the minimum paid was probably about €400.

* TYPICAL OPPORTUNISM FROM PIPP INZAGHI, MILAN 1-0 UP. STUPID HALF-TIME PANELISTS SAY HANDBALL, I SAY WATCH THE REPLAYS PROPERLY *

Fans have also been sadly let down by the system in this case. The Spiros Louis Stadium holds only 63,000, so the per club allocation of roughly 17,000 tickets was never that large to begin with. Fans have thus had to go around to all manner of touts and ticket agencies to try and find those golden tickets, and have these been very vulnerable to trouble. Many ticket agencies sold packages to clients without having the requisite number of tickets in hand, and they did so in anticipation of ticket prices falling, and subsequently making huge profits. Unfortunately that never happened, and so several hopeful fans have been left in the lurch. The majority of these agencies simply took the money and ran, and obviously since the deals were dodgy to begin with, the clients could do nothing.

Travel & sports travel companies weren't much better - most of them refunded the ticket cost (face values) to the fans, but kept the travel expenses portion of it - presumably under the argument that said fans could still have gone and had a holiday and stay in some hotel.

* SECOND HALF AND LIVERPOOL ARE 2-0 DOWN. PERFECT FINISHING FROM PIPPO INZAGHI AGAIN, AND MILAN HAVE SHOWN THEIR PEDIGREE *

Adriano Galliani didn't help things this with his statements saying that only season ticket holders should receive tickets to the final (not sure how much this affected things, especially because Italian fans are the most notorious sellers of their tickets). When you consider the fact that Liverpool and Milan are two of the world's biggest and most popular clubs, it becomes obvious that the ex-pat and international fans would probably be travelling in numbers rivalling those of the local fans.

There is also the great story of the one Italian tour operator who was selling close to 3,000 ticket packages for the final, but actually had 0 tickets. He had anticipated receiving these tickets directly from Milan, and that never materialised. I'm not sure whether the fans eventually received any money back, but I hope they did. So much for the beautiful game eh?

* MILAN WIN. 2-1 AT FULLTIME WITH A CONSOLATION GOAL FROM KUYT. HE WAS OFFSIDE WHEN CROUCH FLICKED IT ON, BUT IT TOUCHED MALDINI ON THE WAY THROUGH AND SO IT STANDS. IT WAS A SCARE FOR MILAN, BUT THEY COMFORTABLY WRAP THE GAME UP, AND IT WAS MEN vs BOYS REALLY *

You know how the saying goes.

Milan teased and tormented a pedestrian United side tonight. When it came down to the crunch, they basically lacked the requisite quality. United are back to where they were when they signed the Juan Sebastian Veron back in 2001, in an attempt to add some class and composure to their midfield because they were so often found wanting when faced up to the continent's best.

The hustle and bustle, and charge and energy of Rooneys and Ronaldos might be enough to storm the Premiership and the meeker of Europe's top contenders, but when faced by the true class of a possession game with high levels of technique, they can't contend. In 2000, Fernando Redondo pulled the strings and bewitched United's midfield into submission as Real Madrid marched on to win the cup. Three years later Zidane and Figo were also present as Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to knock them out. And in between there was their elimination by Deportivo La Coruna, when playmaker Juan Valeron was arguably the best in Europe.

Manchester United play swashbuckling, dynamic, entertaining, attacking football, but they most often pummell opponents into submission, as opposed to carving them open with guile and cunning. That's where they lose out -  they've never had that player in the middle of the park who can control games. Maybe Ferguson made the mistake of thinking that Carrick could/would be that player, but as fantastic of a passer as he is, he doesn't dominate teams with his movement of the ball.

And they were outclassed tonight. Gattuso ran and ran and ran and tackled and kicked everything and gave 100% to never let United's players rest. And in Kaka, Pirlo and Seedorf, Milan had three of Europe's most accomplished passers and thinkers.

Kaka has been a revelation this year with his finishing and general attacking play. He's been the best Brazilian for about a year and a half now, and hopefully he will receive his due credit and emerge from the shadow of Ronaldinho. Sometimes wide, sometimes central, he glides around the pitch, finding enormous amounts of space and plays the game with subtle endeavour using every possible angle to pass and move in. 

Pirlo was Italy's best player at the World Cup, and is one of the most consistent in Europe. He moves the ball perfectly at any distance to any player on the field, intelligently reads the game to fill in gaps, and most importantly he understands situations very well, and adapts to them.

As for Seedorf, he may be a bit older now, but he's won the European Cup thrice - with Ajax, Real Madrid and AC Milan. This will be his sixth final, and third with Milan. He can shoot, pass and run, and his movement and adaptability mean that he can take control when he needs to, or play the supporting role to either Kaka or Pirlo.

Don't forget Ambrosini as well - essentially a defensive midfielder, but with good all-round ability, he supported everyone in their efforts tonight, forming a central core with Pirlo and Gattuso, and allowing Seedorf and Kaka to run around and do their thing.

This was a top, top class midfield, with intelligence, experience, and class, and quite simply Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick are nearly men, who were not upto the task tonight. Ryan Giggs is rejuvenated in his roving role, but is still essentially a 33 year old left-winger with much diminished pace. Scholes is still bright, still classy, but he's always been a reflex player - one touch passes, hammered shots and volleys, and quick interplay.

There was no one to take charge today, no one to control things. In the first leg they escaped through an inspired performance from the team at home in front of a roaring Old Trafford. But at the San Siro, it was men versus boys.

And as for that whole best player in the world debate? Kaka showed today that Cristiano Ronaldo is a million miles away. Kaka is real, true class, a kid who arrived from Sao Paulo and immediately started to control games and make things happen. He can pass, he can move, he can finish. Ronaldo is a trickster who has after three unproductive seasons has hit great form. He is as good of a dribbler as anyone, and has improved his shooting and crossing, but he doesn't play with composure and intelligence in the way that a Kaka, Henry or Ronaldinho does. The Portuguese "kid" has failed to score against Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool this season, and I would say that all the celebrations over his talent are more than a little bit pre-mature. 

Good Luck Milan.