Milan have more than what it takes to reach Athens, says Hasan Saiyid

Gennaro Gattuso, speaking to the press after a 2-0 Milan win over Bayern Munich, could not help but aggrandize his club’s progress into the Champions League semi-final as a triumph for Italian football.

“After yesterday’s 7-1 people were making fun of us,” said Gattuso.

“We are sorry for Roma, but I think Italian football has real value and we are World Champions.”

Roma’s grisly fate at the hands of Manchester United once again urged commentators all over Europe to sound the death knell for Italian football and Gattuso to leap to its defence with typical candour. That was Tuesday, mind you, and since Bayern had two away goals under their belt, you could forgive pundits for tentatively penciling in a semi-final between United and the German club.

Milan, however, had not read the script. In the space of four minutes, Italy’s flag-bearers scored twice through Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi, the former also providing a sumptuous back-heel through ball for the latter to slot home.

The tie was as good as over after that as Milan suffocated a floundering Bayern side, which looked as pedestrian as it did pathetic. Regardless of the ease with which they swept Bayern aside, the Rossoneri’s fourth semi-final in five seasons is no mean feat–it is an achievement that no other side in Europe has been able to match.

But that remarkable achievement barely registered as people chose to focus instead on the three Premiership giants in the semi-finals and that 7-1 win, which has already started to achieve distinct mythic status. Indeed, many are already beaming at the prospect of Manchester United playing one of Liverpool or Chelsea; the overriding feeling is that United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney will have too much for a doddering Milan defence. So on to Athens it is for United, then?

Not quite. Spare a thought for Milan. Spare a thought for calcio.

The six times European champions are not here to just make up the numbers, nor will they, in all likelihood, implode like Roma. After an inauspicious start to the season, Milan have sprung into life and now lie just a point behind the last Champions League spot. Fourth place would normally be the minimum objective for Milan, but after Calciopoli’s eight point penalty, it was not exactly a foregone conclusion.

In late December things looked very bleak as Carlo Ancelotti’s men were languishing in the bottom half of the table. However, since then, the Rossoneri have lost just once, drawn twice, and won all their other games to motor into fifth place. Couple that purple patch of form with incomparable experience in the competition, and United could be in for more than a leisurely stroll over the two legs.

Even player for player, Milan compare to their United counterparts handsomely. Cristiano Ronaldo may be playing the football of his life, but Milan have their very own weapon in Kaka. For Rio Ferdinand read Alessandro Nesta, and for Wayne Rooney meet, er, Filippo Inzaghi.

The last comparison may have elicited boisterous laughter on your part but humour me for a few moments. Inzaghi may not have the skill of Rooney outside the penalty area, nor his grit, but he remains a deadly striker and the fifth all-time leading scorer in the Champions League. The game against Bayern illustrated the point: despite being out for weeks and having played only a handful of games all season, Inzaghi took his chance–even if it was suspiciously offside–with characteristic aplomb.

Indeed, with the departure of Andriy Shevchenko, Ronaldo’s ineligibility for the Champions League and Gilardino’s inexperience on this stage, Milan will look to Inzaghi to do the job during both legs. Ancelotti will also be reveling in the fact that the speedy Serginho has returned from injury to give the Rossoneri considerable speed on the flank. The Brazilian may not have the vision of Giggs, but he can be devastatingly incisive.

There are other factors too. Milan have to achieve only fourth place domestically to count their season as satisfactory. United, however, are three points ahead of Chelsea at the summit of the Premiership and will have to wage a two-front war, assuming, of course, that the FA Cup is not a top priority.

So the English celebrations may have just started, and the police in Athens may be preparing for an all English final, but don’t be surprised if Milan crash the party.