Milan 2 Lazio 2

Milan: Abbiati, Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Gattuso (Van Bommel 18'), Ambrosini, Aquilani (Nocerino 68'); Boateng (Pato 76'); Ibrahimovic, Cassano

Lazio: Bizzarri; Konko, Biava, Dias, Zauri; Ledesma, Brocchi; Cissè, Hernanes (Matuzalem 85'), Mauri (Lulic 81'); Klose (Gonzalez 68')

AC Milan selamat dari ketertinggalan dua gol saat menjamu Lazio pada laga pembuka Serie A Italia di San Siro, Jumat (9/9) malam waktu setempat. Miroslav Klose dan Djibril Cisse sama-sama mencetak gol debutnya untuk Lazio sebelum disamakan duet andalan tuan rumah, Zlatan Ibrahimovic dan Antonio Cassano.

Lazio kali terakhir memperoleh kemenangan di San Siro pada musim 1989/90 dan setelahnya 13 kali mengalami kekalahan serta delapan kali bermain imbang. Namun, sejak September 2008 Milan tak sanggup mengalahkan Lazio di markas sendiri.

Kemenangan berada di depan mata Lazio dalam 22 menit pertama pertandingan. Klose membuka keunggulan pada menit ke-12 ketika berhasil mengecoh pengawalan Alessandro Nesta. Tendangan mendatar kaki kiri Klose gagal dihalau kiper Christian Abbiati.

Sepuluh menit berselang, San Siro makin terbungkam ketika umpan silang Stefano Mauri disambut sundulan terarah Cisse. Abbiati tidak bisa berbuat banyak.

Sebelum gol ini terjadi, Milan kehilangan Gennaro Gattuso karena menderita cedera mata dalam perebutan bola dengan Nesta. Gelandang bandel itu pun digantikan dengan Mark van Bommel.

Milan tak berlama-lama terpuruk dalam ketertinggalan. Menit 29, Cassano terlepas di rusuk kiri pertahanan Lazio saat menerima umpan terobosan Alberto Aquilani. Tanpa pengawalan berarti, Cassano melepaskan umpan mendatar yang dituntaskan dengan mudah oleh Ibrahimovic.

Empat menit kemudian, Cassano sendiri yang melesakkan gol. Tendangan penjuru Kevin-Prince Boateng disambut Cassano dengan sundulan yang menaklukkan Albano Bizzarri.

Menyamakan kedudukan, Milan pun memegang kendali permainan. Di awal babak kedua, Cassano hampir melesakkan gol istimewa. Bola umpan Ibrahimovic ditahan menggunakan dada dan kemudian ditendang hingga menghantam tiang.

Lazio memperoleh peluang ketika Cisse mampu lolos dari sergapan bek Milan dan Abbiati. Dengan mulut gawang yang sudah terbuka, bola berhasil diselamatkan Nesta secara akrobatik.

Milan memasukkan Alexandre Pato pada menit ke-75 untuk memaksakan hasil kemenangan. Namun, Bizzarri terlalu tangguh untuk ditaklukkan lagi. Tendangan Pato meleset dari sudut menjanjikan, sementara Ibrahimovic tersandung saat berupaya menguasai sebuah umpan.

Hingga peluit akhir berbunyi, kedudukan tetap 2-2.



ENGLISH
THE ROSSONERI have started the new Serie A campaign with a draw against Lazio. Despite going 2-0 down early on, The Rossoneri came back well to tie it at 2-2 with goals from Ibrahimovic and Cassano, but were unable to find the necessary goal to take the win.

With some of the brazilians not fully up to speed and some other injuries, Massimiliano played Abbiati in goal, behind a back 4 of Abate, Nesta, Silva and Antonini. In midfield, an Italian trio of Gattuso, Ambrosini and Aquilani was deployed, whilst Boateng played behind Cassano and Ibrahimovic, meaning 8 of the 11 players were Italian.

The game initially started at a frantic pace, with Lazio fast out of the blocks to try and show their intent, but within 5 minutes the Rossoneri had taken control and were already looking the better side.

AC Milan-S.S. Lazio: Official line-ups
Milan, new premium sponsors: Taçi Oil

With just 7 minutes on the clock, Aquilani had a chance to score on his debut! Milan’s Mister X made a terrific run which was only seen by one Zlatan Ibrahimovic – however, the Swede most importantly had the ball, and with an ingenious flick, played Aquilani through! Unfortunately, Alberto overcooked his touch and unfortunately was unable to guide it into the back of the net.

Disaster struck less than 5 minutes later though, as a brilliant ball was played into the Milan box for Klose, who pulled off an amazing first touch to flick the ball to the other side of Nesta, before slotting it into the bottom corner with his left foot, a stunning goal but it meant Milan were behind just 11 minutes in to the match!

Approaching the 17 minute mark and Lazio should have been 2-0 up. Following a terrible mix up between Gattuso and Nesta, Djibril Cisse was allowed in, and blasted his shot at Abbiati. Abbiati was unable to hold it, and it fell out to Klose who should have tapped in his second, managed to put it wide.

Gattuso was taken off due to injury, and replaced by Mark van Bommel

The task became even more difficult shortly after the 20 minute mark, as Lazio took a 2-0 lead. As a brilliant ball was played into the Milan box, Djibril Cisse was the only one moving, and he ran on and headed it into the top corner with a well executed header, another quality goal, and Lazio were on fire now.

Around the half hour mark, and Milan were back in it! Following an excellent chipped pass from Alberto Aquilani, Antonio Cassano was unmarked in the box and played it square for Zlatan Ibrahimovic to pull one back!

Just 3 minutes later and Milan were level! The Rossoneri earned a corner through Kevin-Prince Boateng’s shot, and Alberto Aquilani played in a superb corner, for Antonio Cassano to header directly in to level the scorelines! A good goal in a great game, and Cassano made up for his disapoointing start!

In an action packed terrific game of end to end football, Lazio very nearly took the lead once more, this time through Hernanes, but the Brazilian pulled his shot wide, as Milan breathed a sigh of relief, the game was incredibly intense now.

Around the 40 minute mark, Kevin-Prince Boateng almost gave Milan the lead with a good shot from the edge of the area, but he just sliced across the ball and the shot pulled wide. The game was still fairly open and even, however Milan were definitely ending the half better.

Milan ended the half on top and came close to scoring with a Van Bommel drive from outside the box, but the scoreline remained 2-2. The Rossoneri had shown great character to come from behind after going 2-0 down due to poor defending, but at half time, the score was level.

Only a moment into the second half, and Antonio Cassano very nearly put Milan in front. Following a good tackle and pass from Van Bommel, Cassano found himself inside the box. The Italian cut back inside and fired hard and low aiming for the far post, but he narrowly put it wide of the post.

The next opportunity too score came for Kevin-Prince Boateng, who just missed the ball with a diving header following Ibrahimovic’s ball in from deep. Unfortunately, Boateng injured himself in the process, but received treatment and came back on after a few more minutes.

Milan almost took the lead again with 60 minutes on the clock, this time through Cassano. As Ibrahimovic held the ball up well, the Swede played a terrific ball into the box for Cassano, who controlled it and shot – but his effort blasted the post and went out! Within minutes Cassano was turning provider and played it across for Boateng, but Bizzarri saved well.

Lazio almost took the lead a few minute soon after, as Djibril Cisse took the ball around Christian Abbiati and looked set to score a certain goal, but Alessandro Nesta redeemed himself after a poor 60 minutes, with an excellent block to prevent a goal, excellent defending!

68 minutes had passed, when Nocerino was brought on for Alberto Aquilani.

With 15 minutes to go and Milan in need of a goal, Pato was brought on for Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Ibrahimovic forced a good save from Bizzarri with around 6 minutes left on the clock, as the Swede was put through into the box, he shot across goal on his weaker foot was saved well, and the scoreline reamined level, with just minutes on the clock.

In something of an anticlimactic ending, the game almost fizzled out. Whilst it became a case of Lazio wasting time and Milan pressing forward, there were no golden opportunities – Pato had a half-chance, a volley on the edge of the area, but he couldn’t do anything with it, and the referee became Mr.unpopular by blowing up exactly at the end of injury time as Milan were just about to take a corner

The Rossoneri did well to come from 2 goals behind however the second goal was poor defending, and there were quite a few opportunities to score throughout the game but the Rossoneri could not capitalise.

Best Moment: Cassano’s equaliser

Man of the Match: Aquilani did well, though he shouldn’t have been subbed off, and Cassano was infuriatingly inconsistent, but productive with a goal and assist

Profil Alberto Aquilani - Aqulani ke milan

Alberto Aquilani
Nama lengkap Alberto Aquilani
Tanggal kelahiran 7 Juli 1984
Tempat kelahiran Roma, Italia
Tinggi 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Posisi bermain Gelandang tengah

Aqulani ke milan
Raksasa Italia AC Milan hampir pasti mendapatkan Alberto Aquilani dari Liverpool dengan status pemain pinjaman untuk satu musim. Demikian dilaporkan media terkemuka Italia, Gazzetta dello Sport. Milan berharap, mendapatkan pemain internasional Italia itu untuk memperkuat lini tengahnya sebelum memulai musim 2011-2012.

Agen Aquilani, Franco Zavaglia pada Rabu (24/8) berada di Liverpool untuk berbicara dengan eksekutif klub Liga Utama Inggris itu terkait peminjaman Aqulani ke AC Milan.

Sementara Wakil Presiden Milan Adriano Galliani kepada Gazzetta dello Sport, saat ditanya tentang Aquilani mengatakan, "Kami mendapatkan seorang pemain besar untuk Milan, dan tepat untuk Milan. Sekarang pasar kami sudah hampir tutup."

Aquilani yang menghabiskan musim lalu dengan dipinjamkan ke Juventus sebelum akhirnya kemblai ke Anfield awal musim panas ini masih terikat kontrak dengan Liverpool sampai 2014.

Gazzetta dello Sport mengklaim, Aquilani akan berada di Milan pada Kamis (25/8) ini untuk menjalani tes kesehatan. AC Milan akan mengawali musim ini dengan melawan Cagliari pada Sabtu mendatang. (Belfasttelegraph.co.uk/A-21]

In 2001, at the age of 16, Chelsea and Arsenal offered him contracts, but he declined the offers to continue playing for his youth club Roma.

He made his debut in Serie A at the age of eighteen on 10 May 2002 under then manager Fabio Capello against Torino. Roma won that game 3-1. He was loaned to Serie B club Triestina for the 2003–04 season to gain first team experience.

Returning to Roma in the 2004–05 season, he broke into the starting XI. In the 2005–06 season, he scored the second goal in the derby victory on 26 February 2006, a victory in which Roma broke the record for the most consecutive wins in Serie A, a record later broken by Internazionale in the 2006–07 season.

In the following season, Aquilani was expected to be one of Roma's best players. He was given the number 8 shirt previously worn by Matteo Ferrari. Unfortunately, an injury forced him out of the game for several months. Aquilani returned to the field in May 2007 and featured in three games towards the end of the season, including the last two.

He also played in the Champions League against Real Madrid, where he had an excellent game. He scored two long range goals in the first two matches of the 2007–08 season against Palermo and Siena. Although he was injured in October 2007, he returned to squad in January 2008.

Aquilani was injured again on 22 October 2008 against Chelsea. He returned to action on 11 January 2009 against Milan but picked up another injury in February.] Although he played against Arsenal as a last minute substitute on 11 March 2009, he did not play in the rest of the season.

On 26 May 2009, Aquilani signed a new contract with Roma until 2013, adding three more years to previous deal.

On 5 August 2009, Liverpool announced that they had agreed a deal with Roma for the transfer of Aquilani, subject to a medical. The club subsequently announced that the player had passed the medical and signed a 5 year contract on 7 August 2009. Roma revealed that the fee was €20 million (£17 million) plus sporting bonus. Aquilani was handed the number 4 shirt, last worn by Sami Hyypiä, who joined Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 2008–09 season. Although it was initially thought that he was recruited as a replacement for deep-lying playmaker Xabi Alonso who had left the same summer to join Real Madrid, Aquilani actually prefers to play further up the pitch and is considered to be more of a dynamic attacking midfielder than a holding playmaker.

Aquilani made his Liverpool reserves debut with a 15 minutes substitute appearance in a 2–0 win against Sunderland reserves on 21 October 2009.

Aquilani's first game for Liverpool was a 2–1 4th round Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal, coming on in the 77th minute for Damien Plessis. He made his long awaited Premier league debut on 9 November 2009, as a late substitute against Birmingham City in a 2–2 draw. He then made a 30 second appearance against Hungarian club Debrecen on 24 November which Liverpool won 1–0 courtesy of a goal from David Ngog. Aquilani made his first start against Fiorentina in a Champions League match on 9 December 2009, where Liverpool lost 2–1. Aquilani made his first Premier League start against Wolves on 26 December 2009 and received a standing ovation from the Kop when he was substituted in the 84th minute for Daniel Pacheco.

Aquilani next started for Liverpool in their 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers, where he got his second assist for Liverpool, again setting up Dirk Kuyt. He scored his first goal for Liverpool on 15 March 2010 against Portsmouth and he also assisted Fernando Torres for the fourth Liverpool goal. He was voted man of the match by the fans on Liverpool's official website. Aquilani also gained the man of the match award in his next Liverpool league start, against Fulham in a goalless draw at Anfield. In his next start for Liverpool he finished the match with three assists during a 4–0 away win against Burnley On 29 April 2010 he scored a goal against Atlético Madrid in the Europa League, cancelling out Atlético's first leg goal from Diego Forlán by scoring moments before half-time. Despite a great performance from Aquilani on the night, Liverpool eventually went out of the semi-finals on the away goal rule after Yossi Benayoun had put Liverpool 2–0 up, as Forlán scored his second of the tie in exta-time to take the aggregate score to 2–2. Aquilani won the LFC Man Of The Match award again after his performance. Aquilani also played in Liverpool's last 2 games of the season, a 2–0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea at Anfield and a goalless draw away to Hull City at the KC Stadium. In total, Aquilani played 26 times in his debut season for the reds, scoring twice but rarely playing the full 90 minutes.

With the departure of Rafael Benítez to Internazionale in June 2010, new manager Roy Hodgson played him in some pre-season games, but stated publicly in mid-August that Aquilani may go back to his native Italy on loan for a full season, where playing regularly he could gain match fitness.

Juventus (loan)

On 21 August 2010, a deal between Liverpool and Juventus was agreed, to allow Aquilani to go on a one season loan deal to Juventus with an option of a permanent move. He made his debut for the bianconeri on 12 September in a 3–3 draw with Sampdoria from coming on as a substitute for Simone Pepe. He came on as a sub again on 23 September in a 3-1 home defeat to Sicilian club Palermo. His first start for the club came on 26 September in a 4-2 win against Cagliari. After that Aquilani played 80 minutes against reigning champions Internazionale in a goalless draw before he scored his first goal for the club on 17 October in a 4–0 home win against Lecce two weeks later. He played his first full 90 minutes away to Bologna in another 0-0 draw. On 5 February he played the full 90 minutes in a 3-1 away win over Cagliari with his next match being against Inter in a 1-0 win. On 21 April, Kenny Dalglish claimed Aquilani still had a future at Liverpool, despite claims that he wanted to remain in Italy. Aquilani has travelled back to Liverpool after Juventus decided against making his transfer permanent, due to the owners of Juventus failing to meet the previously agreed £14,000,000 transfer fee. While on loan at the Italian side, he managed an 80% passing accuracy.[citation needed]
Return to Liverpool

On 4 July 2011, Aquilani started pre-season training with Liverpool, though his agent later confirmed that his wish was to stay at Juventus in Serie A. He was included in the squad's pre-season tour of Asia and marked his return to the team in a friendly against Guangdong Sunray Cave on 13 July. He subsequently impressed against a Malaysian XI on the 16 July 2011. Aquilani's performance in the game pleased Liverpool's owner John W. Henry, who on twitter dismissed rumors of Alberto leaving the club, saying "One missing link last year: Aquilani. Put the ball near Ngog and the goal and it's going in. Too much talk of them somewhere else." Aquilani's agent also confirmed that the Italian international would remain at Anfield for the upcoming season dismissing rumors of a return to Italy although he has been strongly linked with Milan and Fiorentina.
International career

At youth level, Aquilani was capped for Italy at 2001 European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying. He won 2003 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship with Italy and scored one goal. He was then promoted to the U21 team and took part in 2006 European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying, but missed out on the final tournament due to injury.

Aquilani made his senior debut on 15 November 2006 in a 1–1 friendly against Turkey. He played as a regular during the 2007 U-21 Championship held in the Netherlands, scoring two goals, and being named in the "UEFA Team of the Tournament". Italy finished 5th and qualified for the 2008 Olympics. He was named to the 23-man roster for Euro 2008, his first major international tournament. He came on as a sub in Italy's third game of the tournament, which was a 2–0 victory over France. He started Italy's quarter-final match against Spain due to the suspensions to Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso. Italy lost 4–2 in a shootout after a 0–0 tie through 120 minutes.

Aquilani scored his first goal for Italy during the 2010 World Cup qualification match against Montenegro on 15 October 2008, a tally he doubled later in the same match. In spite of this, the national team manager Marcelo Lippi opted not to include him in the 23-man Italian squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

After the 2010 World Cup it was the UEFA Euro 2012 qualification, Aquilani played his first qualifying game against Slovenia playing the full 90 minutes. He started the next match against Estonia but came off in the first half through a head injury. On 10 August 2011, he scored his third international goal with the late winner in a friendly against world champions Spain.
Playing Style

Aquilani is a modern playmaker who is well known for his "point-blanc" passes. He also incorporates good vision, and plays with flair. He has many passing techniques which allow him to succeed in the midfield position. His preferred position is in the "hole" behind the strikers.