whew, as fan of both team I don’t know which team should I cheer really. But if it’s come to this I’ll cheer for Manchester United since they have Sir Alex Ferguson as their manager

Well anyways here are the opinions of each team’s manager about this match:

Leonardo excited
“Just like Milan, Manchester United have an important European tradition,” he said. “We share the same objectives and it will be a well-balanced fixture, we both have the same chance of going through. It’s too early to make a prediction. Milan and Manchester United are two teams that have Europe in their blood, and if we look back to the past games between these two clubs we can see how emotional and fascinating they have been.”

‘Fantastic setting’
Sir Alex Ferguson has managed United to three finals in this competition and overcome Italian opposition on the way each time, Milan the notable exception to their fine record against Serie A sides in knockout games in recent seasons. “We’ve come up against AC Milan many times so it’ll be a fantastic setting for two great clubs and we’re very much looking forward to it,” the manager said.

And here are the full match lists of the Champions League 2009 1st Knockout Round:

VfB Stuttgart vs Barcelona
Olympiakos Piraeus vs Girondins Bordeaux
Inter Milan vs Chelsea
Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina
CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla
Olympique Lyon vs Real Madrid
Porto vs Arsenal
AC Milan vs Manchester United

Phew, it’s been a long time since the last time i’ve updated my blog isn’t it? Well anyway, here is the big news i’ve got from the official website of Manchester United. Seems like because the transfer problem of Tevez, Sir Alex will after Nicolas Anelka, the French Striker. Here is the full news anyway:

Sir Alex Ferguson will wait up to a year to complete the £30million capture of Carlos Tevez – and is ready to make Nicolas Anelka a stop-gap signing. United have until August 31 to sign Tevez, whose dispute with West Ham over his contractual status will be determined by agent Kia Joorabchian’s High Court case, which Fergie hopes will settle the matter by the deadline date. But, such is his determination to sign Tevez, the United boss is prepared to wait until the January transfer window or even next summer to land the Argentina striker. The Mirror also reports that Middlesbrough are set to land United striker Alan Smith for £6million.

In The Sun, Sir Alex Ferguson tells Jose Mourinho to shut it. Well, not quite, but when asked whether Mourinho’s decision to try and be calmer next season is a good idea, he responded: “It’s probably a good thing for him he’s said he’ll be less outspoken. He was getting himself in all sorts of difficulties.”

I get this info from AC Milan’s website, seems like there will be a tournament in malaysia, and the participants is big clubs in europe, although they are only the young team. But i think it’s still a good idea isn’t it? Well, here is the full news anyway.

MILAN – The Youth Sector of Milan is proud and honoured, just like the entire club. The greatest world youth tournament for clubs will take place in August and Milan will be there. We’re talking about the “Champions Youth Cup – Malaysia 2007“. It is a great tournament which is born under the official consecration, under the sponsorship of the “G 14“, reserved to the players under 19.

12 out of 14 clubs Youth clubs from the organization will take part and a lot of attention and energy will be devoted to it. Milan, with Filippo Galli on the bench, will play one of the two opening matches aganst Flamengo. The other match, on the 8th of August at 18:45 (local time), will be between Malaysia Under 19 and Bayern Munich.

To prepare for a sort of summer “Champions League” for Youth teams, the games will be played in five cities, including Kuala Lumpur, where all the direct elimination matches will be played following the four groups stage of the first round. The second Rossoneri’s squad will gather at Milanello on the 21st of July and will observe the training camp of the start of the season in the same period of the first team, the European Champions.

The departure towards Malaysia is in program on the3rd of August, whereas Sebastiano Rossi, one of the elements of the technical staff of the Primavera squad, will remain at Milanello to work with the lads who are not Under 19, amongst which Willy Aubameyang (1987). The other teams of the Youth Sector of Milan will gather around the 17th of august, at the sports centre ‘Vismara’ of Milan. Then some formations will go to work in an important sports centre of Vittorio Veneto, the other group will then reach the mountain training camp of Cles, in Val di Non.

Today (June 26 2007) is the birthday of AC Milan Captain, Paolo Maldini. In this day, many fans sent their birthday greetings from all over the world. Here is the examples of it, taken from Milan’s official web:

Hey Paolo,
Happy Birthday mate – you’re my favourite player. I have been watching you since I was 10 years old. I am a season ticket holder from Hitchin, Londra, England and can’t wait to come up and see you guys in action again!
Forza Milano……FORZA MALDINI – Give us one more Champions League!!!!
Bini Nandra

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR PAOLO!!!!!!!!!!
I’am a big Milan fan from city of Nish (Serbia). My whole room is paint in red-black!!!          I gat best wishes for you, and my biggest is that Cristian Maldini one day wear a red-black number 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!All the best to you and to all Milan fans,players,Galliani,Berlusconi…………………..

Hi Paolo
i wish you happy birthday a good luck in your next  life and I hope you stay one more season. I m big fan for AC a I been so happy when you won Champion league.
Peter form Slovakia

Happy birthday Paolo ! and thanks for the past season. It’s great that we can still enjoy your superb performance next season.
Enjoy the summer,
Mikko, Finland.

Happy Birthday from Belgium, Paolo!!!
I was born the year you first wore the ‘maglia rossoneri’ and ever since I
was five years old you were the reason why I started playing football. Now
my respect for you as a player and as a man has only got bigger, even beyond
words.
I wanted to visit you when you were in Antwerp for your operation but it
didn’t work out, but I’m looking forward to your ultimate season (hopefully
with you winning the Golden Ball, finally!) and I will be there when you
play your last match at the San Siro.
You mean so much to me and thousands of Rossoneri (and football) fans all
over the world!
Seppe

I live in France and i will to tell that Paolo Maldini is a legend in France, i support Milan with my family since 15 years and Paolo Maldini represents Milan!! He still keep in your heart until the end of time! Paolo Maldini, We love You! and Happy Birthday To YOU!! FORZA MILAN!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday magico paolo maldini!!! you are a legend and i feel onored that im living at the same time with you !!!! im a big ac milan fan since you beat steaua bucharest 4-0 and the time is passing away but you still there “alzando cope”..If i was the boss of l’equipe ill give the golden ball to kaka and paolo maldini…And paolo if they will not give you the golden ball i will send you one!!! because you deserve 11 golden balls!! great player great human!! a living legend!!!
Milan tu sei tutta la mia vita!!!
Stefano from Romania!!!!
Ps: C’è solo un capitano!!!

Well, i thought i’d share some information i’ve gained about MU’s new signing, Anderson. With a deal in place to bring Anderson to Old Trafford from FC Porto, here’s 10 things you need to know about the Brazilian midfielder…
1 His full name is Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira.
2 He signed for Brazilian Club Gremio in 1993. When he was just five years old.
3 Made his first team debut for Gremio when he was 18 years old.
4 He appeared at the FIFA U17 World Cup and won the Adidas Golden Ball for the most valuable player of the tournament. Previous winners include Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal.
5 During his time at Gremio, he helped them to win promotion to Brazil’s top division, scoring the crucial goal in a game against Nautico.
6 Anderson made only five first team appearances for Gremio before joining FC Porto.
7 This season for FC Porto, he appeared in 15 games, nine of them from the start and grabbed two goals. But he would have played more frequently were it not for a broken leg suffered in October.
8 In eighteen months at FC Porto, he won two Portuguese titles including a domestic double in 2005/2006.
9 Brazil’s World Cup winning coach Mario Zagallo said of Anderson “everything suggests that he is going to be a superstar, a prodigy as he has undisputable quality.”
10 Despite having never appeared for Brazil at full international level, he has been called up by Brazil coach Dunga for the Copa America in Venezuela next month.

I’ve just read the news from www.acmilan.com which is about milan won’t sell kaka. That’s very good news for all milanista in the world. Here is the news anyway, enjoy.

MILAN – The news that there has been a meeting between Real Madrid officials and Ricky Kakà’s father, engineer Bosco Leite has not caught the Rossoneri officials out. Chief executive Adriano Galliani told the club’s official site: ‘We can confirm we will not sell Kakà, but we knew about this meeting because we were already informed of it by Kakà’s father and Gaetano Paolillo. So Milan can confirm that Kakà is certainly not for sale but this offer is born out of the different fiscal constraints between Italy and Spain which advantage the top Spanish sides compared to the top Italian clubs. Practically, the gross sum offered to a top player by an Italian club is 50% of the figure while in Spain it is 75%.

Paolo Maldini is my favourite player in football since i was little. So i want to give a little information about him. Enjoy, and give some comment too if you can.

Paolo Maldini (born June 26, 1968 in Milan) is an Italian footballer who currently plays for A.C. Milan. He is also a former Italian national team captain and the most capped player for Italy with 126 caps. Maldini has played in 8 Champions League finals (6 under its current format) since the inception of the tournament – equalling Francisco Gento’s record and more than any other active player.

He is the son of Cesare Maldini and one of the most famous members of the Italian national football team. Maldini is a a defender who now predominantly plays the position of centre back although he sometimes plays at left back which is his original position in the team. Throughout his long career, he has remained a one club man with A.C. Milan, where he holds the current captaincy, and has currently made the most appearances for the club (as well as any player in Serie A) after having passed Franco Baresi’s record of 512. He made his Serie A debut on January 20, 1985 in a 1-1 away tie to Udinese, under Nils Liedholm’s spell as AC Milan boss, and reached his 600th Serie A appearance (not including playoff matches) on May 13, 2007, in another 1-1 away tie, this time to Catania.

Maldini is widely regarded as the best defender of his era and one of the greatest defenders of all time. Approaching 40 years of age, he is still playing at the very highest level, which is confirmed by his inclusion in the FIFPro World XI in 2005, his nomination to the UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 most valuable defender title, second place in Golden Foot nominations in 2005, a top-ten finish in the voting for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year, and a UEFA Champions League victory in 2007.