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UEFA Champions League final, just like two years ago, will feature a showdown between "Liverpool" and "Milan" again. This became clear after Milan's club crushed "Man Utd" 3-0 at home in the second leg of the semi-finals.
11’ [1 – 0] Kaka 30’ [2 – 0] Clarence Seedorf 78’ [3 – 0] Alberto Gilardino
"Milan": Dida; M.Oddo, K.Kaladze, A.Nesta, M.Jankulovski; G.Gattuso (84‘ Cafu), A.Pirlo, M.Ambrosini, C.Seedorf; Kaka (86‘ G.Favalli), F.Inzaghi (67‘ A.Gilardino).
"Man Utd": E. Van der Sar; J.O‘Shea (77‘ L.Saha), N.Vidičius, W.Brownas, G.Heinze; C.Ronaldo, D.Fletcher, P.Scholes, M.Carrick. R.Giggs; W.Rooney.
As the rain poured heavily, the hosts started the match much more actively. In just 2 minutes, Kaka broke through on the right side, but no one could "close" his pass across the penalty area. Shortly after, Edwin van der Sar saved a dangerous long-range shot from Clarence Seedorf, as well as Kaka's attempt from the penalty area after a pass from Massimo Oddo.
11 minutes. "Milan" took the lead. Seedorf headed the ball to Kaka at the edge of the penalty area, and the Brazilian scored his 10th goal in the tournament with a precise shot into the bottom corner.
Soon after, the game slowed down, but "Milan" controlled the ball. Throughout the first half, the hosts successfully pressed the "Man Utd" players, who often lost their way and had no one to pass the ball to. The Milanese almost completely neutralized the dangerous full-backs Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs, who couldn't make a difference in the attacks. The first serious attack by the visitors came in the 20th minute, when R.Giggs broke through on the right side and took a long-range shot, but Dida caught it.
After 10 minutes, the Italians celebrated again. A mistake in defense by Nemanja Vidic gave the ball to Seedorf, and the Dutchman, after fooling Darren Fletcher, scored a similar long-range goal to Kaka's.
At the end of the first half, after another pass from M.Oddo, Filippo Inzaghi struck dangerously from close range, but the ball missed the goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Kaka once again fooled a hesitant N.Vidic after his injury, but "United" was saved by E. Van der Sar, who deflected the shot.
Later, the English managed to take the initiative, but they failed to create perfect scoring opportunities. The most dangerous moment was D.Fletcher's shot from outside the box after a pass from Wayne Rooney, but the ball missed the goal.
Meanwhile, in the 78th minute, the third goal fell, definitively sealing the deal. Alberto Gilardino, who came on as a substitute, received a superb pass from Massimo Ambrosini and managed to outwit E. Van der Sar - 3-0.
"Milan" calmly finished the match and secured a well-deserved victory. In the final on May 23, the Italian club will meet "Liverpool" in Athens, who eliminated London's "Chelsea" in the semi-finals.
Statistics: Goals 3 - 0 Yellow cards 2 - 1 Red cards 0 - 0 Shots on goal 7 - 2 Shots off target 5 - 6 Corner kicks 11 - 21 Offsides 4 - 5 Ball possession (%) 47 - 53
