AC Milan-Real Madrid: All's Square as Two Powerhouses Share Spoils

Expectations were sky-high as two of Europe’s powerhouses, AC Milan and Real Madrid, clashed swords for the second time within in a fortnight. Since the Italians won the first encounter by a 3-2 scoreline after a highly entertaining fixture, the pressure was on Manuel Pellegrini’s side to come up with the goods.

For obvious reasons a lot of the hype surrounding the match was centered on Ricardo Kaká, who returned to his former ground to face his old crowd for the first time since his summer switch to the Spanish capital.

After the weekend’s performance Pellegrini opted to go with match-winner Gonzalo Higuain up front along with Karim Benzema. Leonardo countered with the same, as Marco Borriello’s brace against Parma earned him a starting shirt next to Alexandre Pato and Ronaldinho in the trident attack.

First Half

The crowd was in full voice right from the get-go as it welcomed back former fan favorite Kaká. The game got off to a somewhat slow start as the teams built on possession. The home side took the early initiatives but the visiting side soon started to dictate the game in a confident manner.

Despite its recent crisis, Real pushed high up the field and fired off all the early warning shots. The home side was forced to rely on its defense, and luckily for Milan, goalkeeper Dida, who has showcased brilliant form since the last encounter between these two teams, was up to the task as he parried shots from Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain with ease.

On 20 minutes Benzema had the first real chance of the match, picking up Lassana Diarra’s pass just inside the area and rounding Alessandro Nesta before firing off a shot that whizzed just inches from the bottom right corner.

A few minutes later it was Milan’s turn to try its fortunes, and Clarence Seedorf went on a promising counter, feeding a through ball to Alexandre Pato on his right. The young Brazilian made a complete mockery of Alvaro Albeloa as Iker Casillas came off his line to cut off the angle for the forward.

Real had been nosing around and thirty minutes into the game Benzema finally broke the deadlock. Lass intercepted the ball in the middle of the park and headed it to Marcelo who passed it on to an onrushing Kaká. The midfield maestro then slalomed his way past three defenders before firing from 30 yards. Dida was unable to hold onto the ball, which trickled to the feet of Benzema, who coolly fired it in behind the Brazilian keeper, putting Real up 1-0.

On 34 minutes the home side was awarded a penalty after the ball accidentally touched on Pepe’s arm in a duel with Gianluca Zambrotta. There were heavy protests from the visitors but referee Felix Brych stood by his decision.

Ronaldinho stepped up to the take the spot kick and smashed the ball into the top corner to the wild joy of the home crowd, tying the game 1-1.

In the following minute Pato found the back of the net but looked on distraught as the referee controversially disallowed the goal. The reason for the decision is unclear considering there was very little to no contact between the forward and his marker Albeloa in the preceding moment. Either way, the teams went into the interval with all squares.

Second Half

Real continued to have most of the possession in the early stages of the second half and launched many counterattacks through Marcelo, who simply revelled in his new offensive role on the flank.

On 55 minutes a brilliant Ronaldinho found Pato with a long ball but the latter received the first booking of the evening as he accidentally controlled it with his arm.

By this time, the tempo had slowed down remarkably, which forced the visitors to repeatedly try their luck from distance while the home side tried to capitalize from the many set pieces.

On the hour mark, Marcelo gave away a free-kick in a dangerous area as he brought down Zambrotta and received a yellow card for his troubles. Andrea Pirlo stepped over the ball and swung it beautifully into the area where Massimo Ambrosini unfortunately headed it wide.

Kaká, who was the main offensive force for Pellegrini’s men, was shown no mercy by his former teammates who fouled him repeatedly. The home side was growing in confidence and showed it off as the evening's two brilliant players, Ronaldinho and Seedorf, showed off some fancy footwork, arousing applause from the crowd.

It wasn’t until the introduction of Raúl and Filippo Inzaghi in the latter stages that the game picked up in pace. The Milan veteran was given a golden opportunity to grab the winner towards the end as Pato’s lovely cross flew across the face of goal to a completely unmarked Inzaghi, who, very uncharacteristically, wasn’t able to control the ball in front of a wide open goal.

In the final minutes of the game Dida was called into action once more as he parried Marcelo’s long range effort and shortly after denied Raúl with some wonderful reflexes to keep his side in the game.

After the final whistle the 76,000 Milan fans applauded a visibly emotional Kaká, who thanked his former crowd for the warm reception.

AC Milan 1, Real Madrid 1

0-1   (29) Benzema, 1-1 (34) Ronaldinho (penalty)

Milan: Dida; Oddo, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta; Seedorf, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Pato, Borriello (Inzaghi 79), Ronaldinho

Real Madrid: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Pepe, Arbeloa; Xabi Alonso, L Diarra; Kaka, Benzema (Van Nistelrooy 82), Marcelo; Higuain (Raul 74)

Ref: Felix Brych (Ger)