Ancelotti: Win helps game's credibility
ATHENS: AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti hailed his side's 2-1 win over Liverpool in the Champions League final on Wednesday as a victory for Italian soccer.
The 47-year-old said it would go some way towards restoring faith in the Italian game after last year's match-fixing scandal that saw four Serie A clubs punished, including Milan who were only reinstated in the Champions League on appeal.
"Winning the Champions League is completely unexpected in a sense because we had to overcome so many difficulties," he said.
"I wouldn't call this revenge for the scandal but I do think that Italian football suffered from it, especially Milan, so I would say this is good for Italian football in general. It will help us to regain some of our credibility."
Ancelotti, who also led Milan to the Champions League title in 2003, stopped short of describing the win as revenge for Milan's defeat by Liverpool on penalties in the final two years ago in Istanbul but drew comparisons between the two games.
"Sometimes, tactically you want to play a game in a certain way but the actual game forces you to change. In Istanbul, the game was more open, more bubbly. This game was tighter, more controlled from the first minute.
"Against Manchester United in the semi-final we were able to play more the way we wanted but tonight we came under considerable pressure from Liverpool.
"And that meant we couldn't get the ball to players like Kaka and Clarence Seedorf who struggled to get into the game. But what we saw tonight was the other face of AC Milan. We saw that it is a tough team."
Ancelotti, who won the European Cup twice as a player for AC Milan, before becoming coach in 2001, declined, however, to be drawn on his future at the club.
"My market value has certainly increased with this victory but my relationship with Milan is very strong. I have worn the shirt of Milan on the field and that builds a strong relationship. What I have achieved depends a lot on my feeling of belonging."
AFP
(China Daily 05/25/2007 page24)
