Yes! AC Milan! These Are The Games You Live For…

A great Champions League draw for Arsenal!

On the 19th/20th February Arsenal will play AC Milan in the first round of the Champions League knockout stage.

These are the games you live for.

To play the reigning European Champions is something I find really exciting.

Many people may have wanted a ‘lesser’ team, but as they say you never get any easy games in this competition. And there’s no doubt Arsenal raise their game against the biggest names in European football, and funnily enough seem to struggle against the less fancied sides in Europe.

Arsenal’s best performances in Europe were when they weren’t favourites to get a result. We’ve seen Thierry score a hattrick at Roma, Arsenal demolish Inter Milan 5-1 in their own back yard, win at the Bernabeu and turnover Juventus over two legs.

And don’t forget, this current Arsenal team can beat anyone on their day.

We even managed to lead against one of the strongest sides in World Football in the Champions League Final with only 10 men for over an hour!

So no-one should be worried about this tie.

Bring it on!

But we should not underestimate this AC Milan side.

Yes, they are currently struggling in their domestic league – slumped in 11th position and a shocking 22 points behind league leaders Inter Milan.

But this is the side that won the European Cup last season, and have a simply awesome record in this competition over the last 5 years. Correct me if I’m wrong, but they were in the semi-finals against Deportivo (were they lost a 4-1 lead) and Barcelona (who went on to win it), and then met Liverpool in the final twice, losing one and winning one.

So they may be poor in Serie A at this moment in time but in Europe it’s safe to say they have a formula to get to the latter stages, and are arguably the best side equiped in European Football.

People will say this team is ageing, past their best, and all the other rubbish but their record speaks for itself.

And that should serve as great motivation for this young Arsenal side to beat one of Europe’s greats.

Below is the Champions League draw in full:

Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Manchester United
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Olympiakos v Chelsea
Fenerbahce v Sevilla

 

10 thoughts on “Yes! AC Milan! These Are The Games You Live For…

  1. I am VERRRRY happy we drew AC Milan. Do we want Porto (zzzzzz) or AC MILAN???

    If we are to lose early on because we are not good enough, fair play. Rather that than lose in the Semis and lose groung in the Premiership!

    Flamini has a job on his hands! KAKA!!!!

     
  2. in hindsight AC milan were absolutely the best team we could have drawn. they are not as good as they were and I just dont think Porto would have offered the glamour tie that our players would ahve savoured and been up for.
    whereas Real, inter and Barca are all stronger than Milan in my opinion. really happy with the draw.
    I am a bit disappointed with the days of the matches. it would have been better to play on the Tuesday at home because it follows an FA cup game which wenger would probably use his reserve team for anyway. But we play on the wenesday giving us one day less rest before birmingham away.
    then the second leg being on the Tuesday is close to Villa at home. Had it been on the wednesday we could have moved the Wigan game on the following saturday to the sunday and given ourselves at least 4 days between each game. ho hum. wenger must use the squad in the right way to give us every chance in everything.

     
  3. Yes, What a draw- exactly what the doctor ordered. I love it. At some point we had to meet them if we are to win it anyway. So, this is John, n where to hide but come out and let the skills talk. There are plenty quality in Milan but I think the kiddies will be up for this one with the pain of last time round when we were mugged.

    Surely, we aint gonna fall on the last hurdle, are we? The boys want to heal the pain inflicted last time and I cant wait. I remember last time we were to be cut into pieces by Juventus. Hmm

     
  4. If Arsenal play their normal, high-tempo game it will be too much for AC Milan. But we need to be quick and not give the Italians any time or space on the ball or they will punish us. Let’s not forget how good this team is in knockout competitions.

    And they won it last season without their main striker Ronaldo since he was cuptied!

    But Milan will fancy their chances too. They would love playing an attacking team like Arsenal so they can catch us on the break, like Inter did to us at Highbury a few seasons ago.

    Whatever happens, they will be great games.

     
  5. Great draw for Arsenal. I seriously fancy our chances of beating the current european & world club champions.

    I suspect that, if both teams are at full strength for the ties, then Hleb, rather than Fabregas or Kaka, will be the decisive player, and the one that Milan will struggle bigtime to deal with.

    Can’t wait!

     
  6. Absolutely marvellous.
    Lets now pray Kolo does not get injured in the ACN.
    The tackles over there are just bordering on violence.

    The preparation starts now. We need to wrap Cesc Hleb RvP Flamini Gallas Walcott Rosicky and Adebayor in cotton wool. If these players are fit and not recovering from any injuries between now and then, I will put my money on overcoming Milan. I’m confident we will. I like this quote:

    “And there’s no doubt Arsenal raise their game against the biggest names in European football, and funnily enough seem to struggle against the less fancied sides in Europe”

     
  7. Milan defense was stronger past season, but they’re letal when counter-attacking. I think they will try to slow the game down and wait a break play form Kaká. Exactly what they did againt South American Champion Boca Juniors last sunday.

    It will be very fun to watch.

     
  8. Milan will be tougher than everyone thinks, but hopefully their achievements in the last few seasons in Europe will guard Arsenal of any complacency.

    Kaka is phenomenal and single-handedly killed of United last season. Flamini and Cesc will have their work cut out!

     
  9. I wouldn’t have minded facing Barcelona to be honest. I caught them against Real Madrid last night and they were completely rubbish. Ronaldinho has lost it, looks overweight and did absolutely nothing all game.

    Barcelona are there for the taking and it would have been amazing to knock them out after the final a couple of years ago. It’s a pity they’ve drawn Celtic because if they played a decent team they would be out.

     

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