Gamper Trophy : Ac Milan 1 Barcelona 1 ( pen. 2-4)

Milan played out an exciting Gamper Trophy game against Barcelona in what was their last test before facing Lecce on Sunday on the opening day of the season.

It was a special evening for Ronaldinho, who was greeted by a standing ovation before kick-off. Allegri played the Brazilian upfront with Borriello and Huntelaar while Boateng was given his debut in midfield alongside Pirlo and Ambrosini. Alessandro Nesta returned in defence after his hand surgery.

Guardiola fielded a trident with Iniesta, Villa and Ibrahimovic.

The home side started well and Ibrahimovic had a goal disallowed for offside while just before the half-hour mark Iniesta saw a shot well saved by Amelia and at the other end Ambrosini volleyed wide.

Allegri made a raft of changes at half-time but it was Barca who took the lead two minutes after the restart, when David Silva toe-poked the ball beyond Amelia after reaching Adriano’s cross from the left.

Andres Iniesta and Bojan’s header then went close but the Rossoneri got their just reward as Pippo Inzaghi hit a stunning left-footed volley into the top corner on 67 minutes.

Leo Messi tested substitute goalkeeper Flavio Roma with a header and a curling free-kick but Milan were the equal of any further pressure and game finished 1-1 which lead to penalties to decide the outcome.

The first from the spot was Leo Messi who put Roma the wrong way. However, Clarence Seedorf saw his shot saved. Same fate for Busquets, well blocked by the excellent Roma. The second penalty taker for Milan, Pirlo, missed. Bojan scored, despite the Milan goalkeeper guessing right. Yepes got the Rossoneri off the mark. Barca's Thiag scored but Jankulovski: missed and Barcelona won 4-2.

MILAN - Barcellona-Milan 4-2, penalties. Statistics:
Barcellona: Pinto, Adriano, Milito (18'sh Fontas), Puyol (18'sh Pique), Abidal (1'sh Dani Alves); Maxwell (1'sh Thiago), Jeffren (18'sh Pedro), Jonathan (18'sh Busquets); Iniesta (18'sh Keita), Ibrahimovic (1'sh Bojan), Villa (18'sh Messi).
Coach: Guardiola.
Milan: Amelia (15'sh Roma); Bonera (1'sh Abate), Nesta (1'sh Papastathopoulos), Thiago Silva (15'sh Yepes), Antonini (1'sh Jankulovski); Ambrosini (1'sh Seedorf), Pirlo, Boateng (37'sh Strasser); Huntelaar (10'sh Oduamadi), Borriello (10'sh Inzaghi), Ronaldinho (31'sh Merkel).
Coach: Allegri.
Goalscorers: 47' Villa (B), 67' Inzaghi (M)
Referee: Borbalan (Spa)
Penalties:
Messi goal; Busquets saved; Bojan goal; Thiago goal;
Seedorf saved; Pirlo saved; Yepes goal; Jankulovski saved.

BERLUSCONI TROPHY : milan 4 Juventus 5

OFFICIAL LINE-UPS FOR BERLUSCONI TROPHY

MILAN: Abbiati; Bonera, Papastathopoulos, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Ambrosini, Pirlo, Seedorf, Oduamadi, Borriello, Ronaldinho.

JUVENTUS: Manninger; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, De Ceglie; Pepe, Marchisio, Felipe Melo, Martinez; Trezeguet, Del Piero

After a goalless ninety minutes, Milan went down 5-4 on penalties to Juventus in the 20th Berlusconi Trophy.

Massimiliano Allegri sent this line-up out: Christian Abbiati in goal; a defence of Daniele Bonera and Luca Antonini at full-back, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Thiago Silva in the central. In midfield the coach went for Massimo Ambrosini, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf. The attack was lead by Oduamadi, Borriello and Ronaldinho.

On the bench: Amelia, Yepes, Abate, Flamini, Gattuso, Strasser, Huntelaar e Inzaghi.

Bianconeri coach Gigi Del Neri: Manninger; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, De Ceglie; Pepe, Marchisio, Felipe Melo, Martinez; Trezeguet, Del Piero.

Milan started brightly and dominated the opening stages with Juventus playing on the break although the Rossoneri defence moved quickly to close down the visiting attack.

Ronaldinho started to create space drifting in from the left and it was a low ball that Oduamadi just failed to control that almost opened the scoring.

Five minutes from the break Bonera hit a powerful left-footed shot which Manninger kept out and then Seedorf hit a stunning volley just wide.

On 76 minutes Flamini turned sharply in the area on the end of a Ronaldinho pass but Manninger pushed the effort away. At the other end Abbiati was across his line to punch a Motta angled shot behind for a corner.

An Ambrosini cross was just too high for Inzaghi and then Flamini almost got on the end of Ronaldinho's through-ball but no breakthrough could be found even with four minutes added.

This was the sequence of penalties:
Ronaldinho (M): GOAL (1-0); Pepe (J): GOAL (1-1); Thiago Silva (M): missed (1-1); Bonucci (J): GOAL (1-2); Bonera (M): GOAL (2-2); Lanzafame (J): GOAL (3-2), Inzaghi: GOAL (3-3); Diego (J): GOAL (4-3); Huntelaar (M): GOAL (4-4); Motta (J): GOAL (5-4).

STATISTICS
MILAN-JUVENTUS 4-5 pens (0-0)
Milan (4-3-3): Abbiati; Antonini, Thiago Silva, Papastathopoulos, Bonera; Seedorf (32' sh Huntelaar), Pirlo (27' sh Gattuso), Ambrosini; Ronaldinho, Borriello (15' sh Inzaghi), Oduamadi (21' sh Flamini). On the bench: Amelia, Yepes, Abate. Coach. Allegri.
Juventus (4-4-2): Manninger; Grygera (34' sh Motta), Legrottaglie (27' sh Bonucci), Chiellini, De Ceglie; Martinez (27' sh Lanzafame), Melo, Marchisio (13' sh Sissoko), Pepe; Trezeguet (13' sh Amauri), Del Piero (13' sh Diego). On the bench: Storari. All. Delneri
Referee: Romeo
Goalscorers: -
Yellow cards: Flamini (M)
Red cards: -

PENALTIES: Ronaldinho (M) goal, Pepe (J) goal, Thiago Silva (M) missed, Bonucci (J) goal, Bonera (M) goal, Lanzafame (J) goal, Inzaghi (M) goal, Diego (J) goal, Huntelaar (M) goal, Motta (J) goal

KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG is a Milan player!

AC Milan have announced today on the signing of Boateng on loan from Genoa, as Milan will have an option to buy his entire card at the end of the season.

Profile :
Kevin-Prince Boateng (born 6 March 1987 in Berlin-Wedding) is a German-born Ghanaian international footballer who currently plays as a central midfielder for Milan, on loan from Genoa. Boateng is also a member of the Ghanaian national team, having earned six caps and scoring one goal. A player with dual German-Ghanaian nationality, Boateng is a central midfielder. He has been described as having "skill and pace complemented by advanced tactical awareness and a powerful physique."He started his career with the youth club Reinickendorfer Füchse, and then signed for Hertha BSC.

Hertha BSC
Boateng was with Hertha from 1 July 1994 when he was just seven years old to 31 July 2007. After emerging from the youth team set-up, he played for the reserves for two seasons. He was twice sent off, but he won a call-up to the first team squad in the 2005–06 season. He made his debut against Eintracht Frankfurt in the second round of the 2005–06 Bundesliga season, being brought on at the start of the second half. He impressed during that game, and was on the fringe of the first team from then on, despite barely being 18 years old. Boateng continued his rise, and started his first Bundesliga game in the 2–2 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 14th round of the Bundesliga season. Boateng identifies Pelé and Rivaldo as his role models, occasionally imitating the Brazilian duo with crowd-pleasing moments. His love of playing to the gallery draws applause, but has also attracted a fair share of criticism too. The Germany Under-19 coach, Uli Stielike, said about him, "At senior level, Kevin will need to wean himself off the world of fantasy football." He has since cut down on those antics. On 27 July 2006, Boateng was awarded the Fritz Walter Gold Medal in the Under-19 category. The medal is awarded on the basis of performances for the German Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19 national teams. A jury consisting of German Football Association (DFB), youth coaches, and members of the DFB Board, put Boateng top of the poll. Sport director Matthias Sammer and DFB coach Horst Hrubesch honored the talented player with the gold prize winner award and the 20,000 Euro prize-money at the Stadtbauraum, Gelsenkirchen in Germany on 16 August 2006. Boateng also won the Bronze Medal Award in the Under-18 category in 2005.

Tottenham Hotspur
Boateng signed for Tottenham Hotspur in July 2007, for a reported fee of £5.4million.He had his first start in the Premier League on 3 November against Middlesbrough, after which a series of further first team performances followed. With the departure of Tottenham manager Martin Jol, and the arrival of Juande Ramos and several high profile players, Boateng was pushed out of the team and into the reserves. Boateng made his appearance under new manager Harry Redknapp in Spurs' 4–2 home win against Liverpool in the fourth round of the League Cup and his first league appearance of the 2008–09 season in Tottenham's 1–0 home defeat to Everton in November 2008. Boateng was loaned out during the January transfer window of 2009 to Borussia Dortmund for the remainder of the season.Boateng returned to Tottenham at the end of the 2008–09 season. His last game for Spurs came as a substitute in the clubs 5–1 Football League Cup win over Doncaster Rovers in August 2009.

Portsmouth
Boateng joined Portsmouth for the 2009–10 season, signing a three-year deal with Pompey in August 2009 for a fee believed to be in the region of £4 million.He scored his first Portsmouth goal in a 3–2 loss against Bolton Wanderers. He continued his good form over the next few games, playing at the peak of Paul Hart's midfield diamond and winning Portsmouth's Player of the Month competition, in September. On 15 May 2010, Boateng was the subject of much controversy in the 1–0 defeat to Chelsea in the 2010 FA Cup Final. In the first half, he committed a foul on Chelsea player Michael Ballack, causing partially torn right ankle ligamentswhich ruled the German captain out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.Boateng then had a penalty saved by Petr Čech in the 54th minute of the game. Boateng later apologised for the tackle on Ballack saying, "I am sorry, it was not intentional. I just came in too late and made full contact."

Genoa CFC/AC Milan
Boateng transferred from Portsmouth FC to Genoa C.F.C. on 17 August 2010, and immediately joined another Italian club, Milan on loan. The details of the loan were not disclosed at the time.

International career
The midfielder played 41 times for the German Under-15, Under-16, Under-19 and Under-21 national teams, scoring eight goals. He hit the headlines on 20 July 2005 after netting a 47th minute goal from inside the centre circle over 45 yards in a 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship game against Greece, which Germany won 3–0.This impressive strike was voted Goal of the Month by viewers of a renowned German TV sports show.Boateng was offered the chance to play for Ghana in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but declined. The Hertha BSC manager, Dieter Hoeneß, praised Boateng for turning down Ghana and opting to play for Germany. On 27 March 2007, it was reported in the German media that Boateng had told German coach Joachim Löw that he would play for Ghana. On 9 September, Berliner Morgenpost reported that German National Under-21 Coach Dieter Eilts did not select Boateng anymore because of negative incidents that happened in the team's camp during the June 2007 Toulon Tournament in France. On 24 June 2009, he announced, due to the lack of future chances to earn a call up for his home country, that he will play for Ghana in the future and that he had hoped to be part of the Ghana national team squad at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On 7 May 2010, Ghana's head coach Milovan Rajevac named Boateng in his 30-man squad in preparation for the World Cup in 2010.On 12 May 2010, FIFA finally approved Boateng's nationality switch application, clearing the way for him to play for Ghana at the World Cup.On 5 June 2010, Kevin-Prince, whose birthday coincides with Ghana's Independence Day, made his debut for Ghana in the 1–0 win over Latvia.He wears Prince as his shirt name, based on his first names Kevin-Prince. This could be to distinguish himself from his brother Jérôme Boateng and Ghana teammate Derek Boateng. He also chose to wear number 23, the same number he wore at Portsmouth. On 23 June 2010, at the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg, Boateng played for Ghana against his brother Jérôme, who was representing Germany; the game ending 1–0 to Germany. This was the first time that two brothers have played for opposing teams in an international match and been on the pitch at the same time. Boateng scored his first goal in a 2–1 win over the United States in the Round of 16 in Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on 26 June.

The Ghanaian arrived in Milano on Monday night and started training alone in Milanello on Tuesday morning, as he will be available for the Trofeo Berlusconi on August 22.

Boateng, 23, would be a great addition to the midfield of Coach Massimiliano Allegri and the player combines good speed, great technique and shot from distance in his game.

The official statement on acmilan.com reads: “A.C. MILAN announce that the club has signed Kevin Prince Boateng on loan from Genoa Cfc. ”

He is the fourth reinforcements of the Rossoneri after Mario Yepes, Marco Amelia and Sokratis Papastathopoulos…

Trofeo TIM 2010 : Milan ,Inter and Juve squads

TROFEO TIM 2010 :
The annual competition continues this year. The teams will play on Friday in Bari, in Stadio San Nicola – kick off at 20:45 Italy time/CET.

As always, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus F.C. will be featuring and will play short games (45 minutes) against each other (Juventus versus Inter, Inter versus Milan, and Milan versus Juventus).
the squads of AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus F.C for the Trofeo TIM.

Milan
Goalkeepers: Cristian Abbiati, Marco Amelia, Flavio Roma;

Defenders: Luca Antonini, Daniele Bonera, Alessandro Nesta, Massimo Oddo, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Mario Yepes, Gianluca Zambrotta;

Midfielders: Ignazio Abate, Massimo Ambrosini, Mathieu Flamini, Gennaro Gattuso, Alexander Merkel, Mitja Novinic, Andrea Pirlo, Rodney Strasser;

Forwards: Giacomo Beretta, Filippo Inzaghi, Nnamdi Oduamadi, Ronaldinho, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri will line up 4-3-3 with Amelia; Abate, Nesta, Bonera, Antonini; Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Ronaldinho, Borriello, Oduamadi.

Juventus:

Goalkeepers: Marco Storari, Alexander Manninger, Marco Costantino;

Defenders: Marco Motta, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Zdeněk Grygera, Paolo De Ceglie, Nicola Legrottaglie, Vittorio Ferrero;

Midfielders: Felipe Melo, Mohamed Sissoko, Claudio Marchisio, Davide Lanzafame, Simone Pepe, Jorge Andrés Martínez;

Forwards: Alessandro Del Piero, Amauri, David Trezeguet, Diego.

Inter Milan:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Luca Castellazzi, Paolo Orlandoni.

Defenders: Ivan Cordoba, Lucio, Maicon, Marco Materazzi, Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu, Cristiano Biraghi, Simone Benedetti, Felice Natalino;

Midfielders: Dejan Stankovic, Wesley Sneijder, Esteban Cambiasso, Joel Obi, Coutinho, Amantino Mancini, Nwankwo Obiora;

Forwards: Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev, Victor Obinna, Ludovic Biabiany.


The Rossoneri lost both matches last year in the Trofeo TIM, and this time they will look to win the title again after claimed it in 2008. Milan won the Cup also in 2001 and in 2006.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side is coming off a victory but was not very impressive against Panathinaikos FC last Friday. Now they will get a major boost as Ronaldinho and Andrea Pirlo declared fit.

The 43-year-old coach will probably use a 4-3-3, with Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato on the flanks and Marco Borriello or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the middle. The midfield will probably include at least one Primavera player.

Although it is not an official tournament, the teams take it seriously, as Milan, Inter and Juventus are along with A.S. Roma, the main contenders for the title this season. Lifting the trophy would be a great moral boost.

Marco Borriello celebrates after scoring in the Emirates Cup against Lyon with teammates Simone Verdi and Alexander Merkel.

The Nerazzurri drew once and won once last year. They won the Trofeo TIM five times before but failed to achieve it since 2007.

Rafa Benitez’s boys were not very impressive in the pre-season, despite the 3-0 victory over Manchester City. However, that draw was followed by a 3-2 defeat to Greek side Panathinaikos and 2-2 draw against FC Dallas.

Inter are expected to line-up 4-2-1-3 with Wesley Sneijder playing behind Goran Pandev/Mario Balotelli, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o. The impressive young Coutinho will probably start in the midfield.

Diego Milito of Inter Milan celebrates with Esteban Cambiasso (L) after scoring the second goal during the UEFA Champions League Final match between FC Bayern Muenchen and Inter Milan at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on May 22, 2010 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe)

The Old Lady drew with Inter and beat Milan in the previous edition, and they are the current holders of the title after winning it for the first time last year.

Luigi Del Neri’s side has already started the season as they played in the Europa League, recording two victories over Shamrock Rovers. Prior to the two matches, they also beat Lyon 2-1.

Juventus spent a lot of money during this transfer window and they want to come back to the top after a disastrous season last year in which they finished in the seventh spot of the Serie A.

Former Milan man Marco Storari will be between the sticks tomorrow night, while Diego, who seems on his way out of the club, could play behind Alessandro Del Piero and Italy international Amauri.

AC Milan will face Inter Milan and Juventus on Friday night in Stadio San Nicola in Bari and they will miss important players like Alexandre Pato and Thiago Silva, who are tired after the match of Brazil.

Clarence Seedorf is suffering from fatigue while Dominic Adiyiah is unavailable for a sickness. Oguchi Onyewu, Marek Jankulovski Kakha Kaladze and Simone Verdi are out too. This is the squad:

AC Milan Primavera squad 2010/2011

Official AC Milan Primavera squad 2010/2011

Goalkeepers: Davide Di Fabio, Alberto Andrea Paleari, Riccardo Piscitelli;

Defenders: Michelangelo Albertazzi, Marco Baldan, Mattia De Sciglio, Mattia Desloe, Andrea De Vito, Luca Ghiringhelli, Nicola Pasini, Mario Sampirisi, Luca Santonocito.

Midfielders: Luca Bertoni, Simone Calvano, Marco Ezio Fossati, Edmund Etsè Hottor, Filippo Lora, Alexander Merkel, Mitja Novinic, Valerio Pirovano;

Forwards: Giacomo Beretta, Pietro Maria Cogliati, Marco Gaeta, Simone Andrea Ganz, Leonardo Mancuso, Uros Palibrk.

Milan (5) 0-0 (3) Panathinaikos

Milan: Abbiati (46′ Amelia); Zambrotta, Nesta (61′ Sokratis), Thiago Silva (46′ Bonera), Antonini; Gattuso (75′ Abate), Seedorf (61′ Strasser), Flamini; Merkel (78′ Novinic), Borriello (67′ Beretta), Oduamadi (78′ Oddo) .

Panathinaikos: Tzorvas (46′ Karnezis); Seitaridis (61′ Karagounis), Boumsong (85′ Dimoutstos), Kante (85′ Mavrias), Spyropoulos (67′ Bjarsmir); Simao (85′ Ioannidis), Katsouranis (61′ Marinos), Govou (61′ Vyntra), Ninis (61′ Da Silva); Leto (85′ Seeriegi), Cisse (Petropoulas).


Last weekend, Milan failed to win against Arsenal and Lyon in the Emirates Cup, and prior to that lost to A.S. Varese on friendly, the boys of Massimiliano Allegri have finally won.

Allegri played 4-3-3 with youngsters Nnamdi Oduamadi and Alexander Merkel on the wings, while Marco Borriello in the middle. Also the defense was good with Alessandro Nesta-Thiago Silva playing.

With Ronaldinho and Andrea Pirlo staying at home, Milan couldn’t create many shoots on target during the first half and despite the ball-possession was almost equal, Pao were much more dangerous.

Already in the first minute Christian Abbiati had to work as Djibril Cissé tried to chip the ball over the Italian ‘keeper, but couldn’t find the net. It was Cisse again in the 25th minute, but Abbiati denied him.

Milan had some attempts too but none of them was very dangerous. The only ball that got into the net during the first half of Cisse’s just before the break, but the official called an offside, and saved the Rossoneri.

The Greek side found the net again through Sidney Govou ten minutes into the break but again the Italian giants were saved, as the referee didn’t think the ball got in even though you could clearly see it did.

No confirmed goals in total of 90 minutes, and the match went through to penalties shootout.

Milan: Mathieu Flamini took the first penalty and scored.

Pao: Gilberto Silva made it 1-1.

Milan: Gianluca Zambrotta netted too.

Pao: Giorgos Karagounis scored.

Milan: Ignazio Abate took it and scored it. 3-2.

Pao: Equalized again. 3-3.

Milan: Massimo Oddo found the net.

Pao: Antonis Petropoulos took it, and missed it! 4-3

Milan: Daniele Bonera took the last penalty… and scored! 5-3.

Milan win after penalty shootout thanks to Bonera, as the Rossoneri grab first-ever victory under Max Allegri.

COMMENT AFTER MATCH

Coach Allegri , after the match: “After London and the USA I can go home satisfied. Also this evening we gave our all and created a lot while the energy lasted. To keep on working in a happy and relaxed manner is fundamental. I together with the team are getting to know each other, so they is plenty of room for improvement. Here there are quality players, which helps a lot. Antonini? It was he who gave me the opportunity to play him in midfield, because in football only skill is never enough. Merkel? He is skillful, knows his whereabouts on the pitch and has the right timing for his passing. He needs to grow, like the other youngsters, who all can comfortably hold their own in the first-team squad.”

Marco Amelia said: “I am satisfied about this evening’s match. I believe it was a good entertaining match despite uncertain conditions underfoot. I made a number of saves, but also Abbiati played a good first half. The fact we are taking steps match after match means there is a lot of hard work being done. As far as I am concerned, playing with different defenders gives me the chance to get to know my team-mates more and to create a feeling with all of them. What’s more, the coach can evaluate everybody. What’s certain is that we gave them a number of scoring chances, which is normal at this stage of the pre-season. As their goal goes, perhaps it was in, but I haven’t seen a replay of what happened. It can happen in football, though. This evening, anyway, the result wasn’t as important as what we showed the coach on the pitch.

Daniele Bonera told: “At the final whistle we thought the match had ended a draw; instead, there were penalties. We won and it worked out that my penalty was the winner. This is the first time that something like this has happened to me and it is a great feeling. I am happy especially about the spirit we showed. The match could have been more difficult than it was, seeing the state of the pitch, the opponents, the weather; however, we showed the necessary group spirit. Fitness level is improving and it is good to see that in the middle of different problems, we are working hard to improve. And it is the united spirit that gives us reason to hope. We haven’t had much time these past few days, so we have intensified our work rate in training. This will continue when we return to Milan and after resting a couple of days, we’ll get back training again.”

Alexander Merkel had to say: “I feel fine and I am happy. It is a magical moment because I am enjoying playing so much, between here and London I have played a lot. I feel the coach’s trust in me and this is important. During the match, I touch the ball often, I link up a lot with the team. I am just as happy with the players closer to me, Borriello and Pato, than with those who play deeper. I am in the middle of so many champions, and I hope I can learn a lot from them and become a champion too.

Emirates Cup 2010 : AC milan 1 Lyon 1

MILAN: Amelia; Oddo, Papstathopoulos (62' Yepes), Bonera, Zambrotta (68' Antonini); Strasser, Seedorf, Flamini (46' Gattuso); Merkel (80' Novinic), Borriello (77' Beretta), Verdi (58' Pato)

LYON: Loris; Gassama (60' Reveiller), Cris, Cissokho; Gonalons, Pjanic, Bastos (46' Pied), Toulalan, Ederson (80' Kallstrom); Briand (90' Tafer), Gomis (64' Lacazette, 85' Novillo)

SCORERS: 55' Borriello (M); 79' Briand (L)

CAUTIONED: 39' Sokratis (M)

Milan's second match in the Emirates Cup finished 1-1 against Olympique Lyon. The Rossoneri went ahead on 55 minutes through Borriello, set up by Verdi, and on 79 minutes Briand equalised with a header.