Will AC Milan Get Lucky Again?

Lady luck seems to favour AC Milan a lot nowadays. At the height of the Calciopoli scandal in 2006, Milan and Juventus were charged with bribing the referees to win league matches. Reggina, Fiorentina, and Lazio were also charged.

What looked like straight relegation for both Italian giants, it turned out to be a few points' deduction for Milan, while Juventus was downsized to Serie B, although charges that were levelled against Juventus were same as those of Milan.

Juventus' appeals fell on deaf ears. Even the points deducted against Milan were the least although no charges were dropped.

What's more? They were also allowed to play in the Champions League.

The Italian media criticised the decision making of the Italian FA, and many experts thought that Milan did not deserve to be in Europe's best league. But, Milan won that year's Champions League against all odds, after having a woeful season in Serie A. Kaka was praised for his playmaking skills, and was heaped with awards.

Now, in 2008, the situation is pretty much the same. CSKA Sofia, a side that has qualified for the Champions League, was asked by the Bulgarian FA to quit this year's tournament participation due to financial problems.

What this does to the Champions League is that Milan is now qualified to get a back door entry. This is quite similar to when Denmark got entry in Euro 1992, and won it.

According to the UEFA coefficient, Milan is the highest ranked unqualified team. And if CSKA Sofia doesn't come up with a solution soon, then Milan will be gifted a spot in next year's Champions League.

The other team that could get an entry if Milan doesn't is RC Lens from the French Ligue 1.

So, it remains to be seen if Milan gets lucky, and places in next year's UEFA Champions League. If they do, I expect them to at least make it to the last four.