AC Milan: The Italian Daily

I should call this article AC Milan Daily, however, since I'm new to this "open source sports report" site, I think I'll allow myself to slide.

AC Milan. What can I say? Fifth place in the table last year; not too illustrious of a season, as opposed to what they have shown in seasons past.

In fact, this (past) year marks the first season that AC Milan will not be given an automatic bid into the Champions League in several years, something that is more than expected for a club as hallowed as Milan.

However, it seems that Milan has made several strides in the right direction. Last season didn't see too much besides barely scratching the surface of mediocrity, yet one player stood out in my mind.

Alexandre Pato, the 18, soon to be 19-year-old Brazilian rising star made an impact in his first game for the club, scoring the club's sole two goals against Genoa, and is showing himself to be nothing less than magical in potential.

Pato's ability to sneak through defenders coupled with Kaka's brilliant passing skill, his pitch awareness, and his knowledge of football tactics allied with seasoned midfielders Ambrosini and Pirlo, and the likes of the steal wall Dida at the 18-yard helm. 

Milan promises to be a table topping, Coppa Italia winning team once again. As long as this chemistry expounded team can continue being healthy, they would challenge any team Euro/World-wide.

But the front office made two new acquirements (amongst rumors of debt) from my Spanish Conquestador, Barca. Gianlucca Zombrotta was traded out of Barca as soon as he could after Barca's heart crushing loss to cross-culture rival, Real Madrid, and hasn't seemed to look back.

He will add major depth to the seemingly lacking midfielder position but can also double as a defender and a supporting flanker—a position Milan hasn't had since Shevchenko left for Chelsea three years ago.

In addition to his depth, he can offer a lifetime of experience to the team playing along the Rossoneri's favorite trio, Pirlo, Ambrosini, and Gattuso (and maybe will be able to replace Emerson, whom I am not a fan of).

That wasn't the only buy from Barcelona, though. Ronaldinho is widely known as one of the greatest footballers to ever come out of Brazil—of course, among Kaka, Dida, and Pato (insert winking emoticon here).

If he can remain healthy—getting away from that muscle tear that ended his season (and career) in Barcelona—he may be in contention by the end of the season with Del Piero for the league's most goals scored.

He will also add a new attack for Milan that I have never seen in all of my years in rooting for the team.

Ronaldinho has an amazing talent of being able to sway himself past defenders in a breeze. If one were to give him a supporting flanker (Kaka), a full time striker (Pato), and a ring of defending midfielders (Zambrotta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Ambrosini), then he with his teammates can do a number of great things.

As aforementioned, Milan can return to competing for winning the league, winning the Italian cup and bringing another Champions League cup back to the city, an honor never bestowed on the team in the same season.

From everything I can see, lightning will strike more than once this year at the San Siro (and all over Italy, for that matter). The only danger Milan has is over confidence and having several players being injury prone.

If they can avoid these facets, they can take on Inter, Juve, and likely the rest of Serie A with a swagger not seen in the Rossoneri’s home stadium in quite a while.