AC Milan Begin Preseason with 12-0 Massacre of Solbiatese

AC Milan got off to a hot start this preseason by dominating their opening friendly with a 12-0 win over Solbiatese, a club in the Eccellenza Lombardy, the Lombardy region of the sixth division in Italian football.

Of course, if Milan had not won by such a scoreline today at the Felice Chinetti it would be more surprising than the fact that they did win by 12.

The game was played mostly by regulars on the first team, with a couple of the young Primavera squad players seeing time on the pitch as well. Alexandre Pato, Thiago Silva, Robinho, and Mario Yepes have yet to report to training. The four have been given extra time to rest after Brazil and Colombia were eliminated from Copa America in the Quarterfinals.

Massimilliano Allegri used only 12 players in the first half, with the only change being Marco Amelia being subbed in for Christian Abbiati in the 30th minute. The starting lineup was made up of Abbiati, Luca Antonini, Alessandro Nesta, Massimo Oddo, Taye Taiwo, Mathieu Flamini, Mark Van Bommel, Clarence Seedorf, Antonio Cassano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and 17-year-old Mattia Valoti who played for Albinoleffe last season.

The scoring was quick for the Serie A champions. Seedorf, the captain to start the match, opened the account in the third minute. This sparked three goals in three minutes. Following his goal, Solbiatese netted an own goal in the fourth minute and Antonio Cassano found the net moments later in the fifth minute.

The halftime score was 7-0 with the three quick goals being followed up by goals from Valoti in the 11th, Flamini in the 13th, and Ibrahimovic in the 29th and 40th.

At the half, Allegri took out all 10 outfield players after great performances and replaced them with Ignazio Abate, Daniele Bonera, Ricardo Ferreira, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini, Urby Emanuelson, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Alberto Paloschi, Filippo Inzaghi. Ferreira was making his first appearance with Milan. The youngster joined from FC Porto's youth program this summer.

Milan continued to dominate possession, overpower Solbia on defense, and just pepper the goal throughout the second half. Flavio Roma replaced Amelia at the hour mark, but none of the three keepers had much work during the match.

Paloschi and Zambrotta opened the second half scoring with goals the same way they came in the first half. Milan were able to penetrate and get within a couple yards of the goal and simply slide the ball through or volley in a rebound. Emanuelson's free kick made it 10 and that is when the youth players started to come in.

Three youngsters: Mattia de Sciglio, Marco Ezio Fossatti, and Gianmario Comi all had the opportunity to represent the red and black in this match. Following a simple goal by Inzaghi's standard to make it 11, Comi put the finishing touches on the slaughter by scoring his first goal (albeit unofficial) for Milan.

It was a successful match for Milan as they surely walked out of it with plenty of confidence and they had the chance to work on any issues they may have before games get more serious.

Milan are certainly happier with the way they started this preseason than in the past. Milan lost their opener last season to Varese and only won penalty shootouts with Panathanaikos and Juventus (a 45 minute match). In 2009, Milan's only wins were against Varese and in a shootout with Juventus in the Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi.

Next up for Milan is a trip to the Allianz Arena, where they hope to be playing on May 19th in the Champions League Final. This time around, they will be playing in the Audi Cup, an annual preseason tournament which they also took part in in 2009. The Rossoneri open with hosts Bayern Munich next Tuesday and will face either Internacional or Barcelona next Thursday. Next Thursday will be Milan's last warm up for the Italian Super Cup, set to take place on August 6th in Beijing against arch rivals and Coppa Italia champions Inter Milan.