Wenger reflects on San Siro glory

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has pinpointed the UEFA Champions League victory over Milan as the moment when other clubs began to target his players.

The Gunners upset the odds to eliminate then European champions Milan with a 2-0 last 16 victory at the San Siro in March.

And Wenger, who saw Arsenal go on to stretch a three-year run without silverware, believes the victory in Italy was to blame for his side's downturn in fortunes as other clubs began to eye his Emirates Stadium stars.

Mathieu Flamini will play for Milan next season after agreeing a free transfer, while the same club are also interested in striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb is understood to be unsettled.

And Wenger is in doubt as to the cause, telling the official Arsenal magazine: "That game in Milan did us a lot of good, but also some bad.

"Overall it was a convincing team performance and we gained a lot of credit all over the world through that game - but also maybe at that time a lot of clubs became interested in our players. This game for me unsettled our season.

"Many clubs do not work as well as we do, and do not give a chance to young players so they looked at the quality of the team display in that game, and it attracted a lot of keen clubs.

"Others teams and agents started to look at our players, releasing stories into the press, and it had a disturbing influence on us.

"From then on there were always stories about better contracts on offer elsewhere and it could be said that it really disturbed us inside the dressing room, but I think the team has learned to cope with it."

But Wenger feels his young squad will benefit from the experiences of last season.

"The psychological side is part of the learning process," Wenger added.

"This is a young side, at the start of a cycle, and they have had to learn from all types of pressures - from the environment, from the press, from the games, and they will be stronger next year."

Milan desperately want Adebayor

Milan will intensify their efforts to prise Emmanuel Adebayor away from Arsenal this summer, after the Italian side's vice- president Adriano Galliani said yesterday that the Togolese striker was the club's only transfer target.

Galliani had previously stated that Chelsea's Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona and Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov, together with Adebayor, were on Milan's radar as they looked for fresh blood up front after Alberto Gilardino's departure to Fiorentina and the serious injury to Ronaldo. But Galliani's determination to land Adebayor, who scored 30 goals for Arsenal this past season including one against Milan in the Champions League last-16 tie, has hardened.

"One single player interests us and that is Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor," said Galliani. "If he doesn't come, then nobody will come and we will keep the team as it is in attack."

Adebayor has sent mixed messages since the end of the Premier League season. He said that he was "flattered" at the interest from Milan and was also quoted in the Barcelona-based newspaper El Mundo Deportivo as stating that he would be "delighted" to play for the Catalan club if they can ever reach an agreement with Arsenal. "I don't know whether it would happen now or in two years or in 10 but I would love to play there," he said.

However, he has also maintained with vehemence that he is happy at Arsenal and wants to stay, leading to suspicions that the links to top European clubs are an attempt for leverage in the pursuit of a pay rise. Milan, though, who have already taken the midfielder Mathieu Flamini from the Emirates Stadium on a Bosman free transfer, insist that they are in talks over Adebayor, who Arsenal say is not for sale. "We are in negotiations with Arsenal, who are not willing to sell at the moment," said Galliani. "We'll see how far we can get with our offer. If the English club still don't want to sell, then too bad."

Flamini - There are no limits for this side now

"I'm going to say there's no limit [to how far we can go]," said the midfielder, 24 on Friday. "There are no limits because we are playing the Champions League to win it. We are playing the Premier League to win it too. So we are going to concentrate now. As you saw in the last two games to concentrate is very important at a very high level.

"Before this game everybody said that Arsenal was a young side with less experience. It's true we have less experience than Milan but we proved to everyone we have more experience [than people think].

"Two years ago we went to the Champions League Final. A lot of our players were in that team and we have added quality to that. We are stronger, we have more experience so I'm sure we will do a good job in the Champions League from now on."

There was a sense that Arsenal's entire season was in the balance on Tuesday night. They had seen their lead in the Premier League cut to one point and were facing a side that had reached the Final in three of the last five years.

"Of course to come here and beat the Champions League holders [is a boost]," said Flamini. "It was a great team performance. The spirit was fantastic especially in difficult moments. It made a difference. Everyone did a great job. We were all working for each other.

"I think we could have won the game in the first half because we had a lot of opportunities to score a goal and were a bit unlucky. But we pushed and pushed and pushed and finally we scored in the last 10 minutes. I think we deserved our victory.

"We were not especially nervous going into the game. It's true it was a little bit frustrating because on a big occasion like that if you cannot score then, at the end, you are under a little bit of pressure.

"But we knew we had the quality to score. In the first leg we had a lot of opportunities but didn't score. Tonight we did it, we pushed until the last minute and even scored a second one so overall it is a great victory, especially to come here in the San Siro. We are the first English team to win here at AC Milan. Now we are just going to enjoy this victory."

Fabregas - That goal was the best moment of my career

"It was one of the best moments of my career and I went straight to the boss because without him I would never have had the chance to play in a game like this," he said.

"Maybe I have not been at my best since my injury, but now I feel great once again. This performance has been very important for my confidence. After I had started the season so well and then had an injury, I was not playing the way I used to and I was a bit upset. I needed a performance like this.

"When you look back on your career, these are the nights you are going to remember.

"We have to be very proud of what we have done. We went over to our fans, and you could also see some of the Milan fans clapping. You could see they like this kind of football and that we played well.

"The Milan players all said: 'well done, we hope you win it now'. In Italy, they have a lot of respect."

But respect is not enough, Arsenal need to display the trophies their consistency deserves. Fabregas feel they are 'on order'.

"We only have a small squad and have had lots of injuries," he said. "However, now we have important players coming back, like Robin [van Persie] and maybe next week Tomas [Rosicky] and Kolo Toure. So it is all positive.

"Other teams now know if they let us play, we can be very dangerous. They close us down and defend, we have to try not to make mistakes and just play our own football.

"The spirit of the team is amazing, and we have to keep going. Now, though, we just have to be focussed on Sunday's game - we have to go to Wigan and win there."

Source:arsenal.com

AC Milan V Arsenal

AC Milan 0 - 2 Arsenal 4th March

Fabregas 84'

Adebayor 90+2' and here

Full Match

First Half

Second Half

Match Extras

Adebayor Shot

Diaby Shot

Fabregas hitting the post

Maldini Header

Pato Dribble

Pato Shot

Eboue Chance

Pirlo Freekick



Arsenal scored two late goals to become the first English side to beat Milan on home soil and knock the UEFA Champions League holders out of this season's competition.



Match Report here

Wengers Comments here and here

Wenger - We must force mistakes from Milan

According to Arsène Wenger, his side must be "dynamic, mobile and technical" if they are going to be the first English team to beat the Rossoneri at the San Siro.

"Experience will play a big part," said Wenger. " You do not expect Maldini to make beginner mistakes. But, on the other hand, you have to force him into mistakes by coming out with the attributes we have - that means being dynamic, mobile and technically very good.

"We are a young side but remember the life of this team started two years ago. In that time we have been to the Bernabeu, Juventus, and the Final against Barcelona. We are used to playing in big pressure and in big atmosphere."

Milan's home form has been patchy in domestic football this term. It took them until their ninth game, on January 13, to register a win and they could only draw with struggling Lazio at the weekend. At his pre-match press conference, Wenger sensed a weakness.

"Many teams have given them problems at the San Siro," he said. "But we are conscious they will raise their level for the game, because that is the quality of this team.

"Maybe they cannot compete now for the Italian championship and are now in trouble to get fourth place. They will struggle. It is a team who can choose this competition to raise themselves and on the day.

"But also we should be encouraged by the fact other teams have done reasonably well at the San Siro."

Fabregas - We will be stronger in the San Siro

“We are playing against a big team with a lot of medals in their pockets and it will be interesting to see how we respond to that,” he said. “We played quite well in the first leg at home and were a bit disappointed because we had occasions where we could have scored one or two.

“But that is football. Sometimes you have to come back stronger from these type of things.”

“We will play at the San Siro for the first time, and think we can do well if we play 100 per cent and maybe we can cause a surprise.”

And how exactly does Fabregas see Arsenal approaching the match?

“We will not change the way we play, because we always play offensive,” he continued. “So we do not mind what way they will play. We are young, but we are not scared of anything and we will play our game. You have always seen if we are winning or losing, we will never go to defend.

“We will always want to attack, because it is the way we like to play and enjoy playing. You take the risk that sometimes you will draw or lose, of course, but we enjoy it and any football fans should be proud there are teams like Arsenal who want to play football always, not to defend.

“We have experience in Europe and now we have to use it against a big team like Milan, which I am really looking forward to playing.”

Wenger names 18-man squad for Milan

Arsène Wenger has named the following 18-man squad for the UEFA Champions League clash with AC Milan.

The most notable absentee is Kolo Toure but Robin van Persie returns the the squad.

Jens LEHMANN (GK)
Abou DIABY
Bacary SAGNA
Cesc FABREGAS
Philippe SENDEROS
William GALLAS
Robin VAN PERSIE
Alexander HLEB
DENILSON
Mathieu FLAMINI
GILBERTO
Gael CLICHY
Manuel ALMUNIA (GK)
Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
Nicklas BENDTNER
Emmanuel EBOUE
Justin HOYTE
Theo WALCOTT

Source:arsenal.com

Kaka faces fitness race

The Brazilian playmaker has suffered a recurrence of the troublesome knee injury which saw him spend a recent spell on the sidelines.

However, Kaka - who will miss Milan's domestic meeting with Catania on Wednesday - has admitted his injury is worse than he first feared and that he faces a race against time to be fit in time to face the Gunners.

"It hurts a lot," Kaka told

"I hope to be fit for the Champions League match with Arsenal. I definitely won't be there against Catania."

source:skysports

Hleb - We can Gun down Milan

"Of course, it is not impossible," said Hleb. "In football you never know what will happen.

"We want to win and go through to the next round. Everybody was angry afterwards because we had a lot of chances.

"We played well, but we need to score. I think we can do this in Milan.

"We are confident. We have two games before Milan in the Premier League, and we need to win these games and afterwards go to Milan with good motivation."

Fabregas - We proved we can cope with Milan's qualities

"Definitely we can go there and do it," he said. "We are a positive side, we are young but, having seen what we have seen tonight, we can cope with their pace, their experience and we can create chances.

"If we can score a goal I think we have a good opportunity to go through. It's very difficult. They have a lot of experience, they know how to play. They defend very well, they are very intelligent and they never play around. If they have to kick it out, they will. It's very difficult but we have to be happy with the way we played tonight.

"We were maybe a little bit [nervous in the final third] but I think overall we played a very good game against a good team.

"We can't forget that we didn't play against an average team. We played against a top side like Milan and even then we played well. We had more opportunities, we played better and had more possession. We did everything right. Unfortunately sometimes in football the difference is you don't put the ball into the back of the net and we didn't do that."

Source:arsenal.com

Arsenal V AC Milan

Arsenal 0-0 Milan 20th Feb

Download the highlights here

U can watch the highlights here.

Match Report here.

Wenger - Milan are the favourites to go through

"We are underdogs, by a little bit," said the Arsenal manager. "They have the experience and won it last year. We are an upcoming team, so it is a big challenge against the holders of the trophy.

"For me we have the toughest draw of the English teams. And this game will define whether or not we can win the Champions League.

"On the other hand two years ago we played Real Madrid and went through. Last year we played Eindhoven but went out. It's very difficult to predict what's going to happen.

"The only thing we do know is that, if you don't play at your best against Milan, you're out."

Source:arsenal.com

Gattuso boost for Milan

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters: "Gattuso is fine.

"He has recovered very quickly thanks to the great dedication he has shown in his rehabilitation.

"He is a peculiar player in that respect - he's a great professional."

The holders, however, are sweating on the fitness of Kaka, Ronaldo and Alexandre Pato for the trip to the Premier League leaders.

Source:skysports

Hleb hails hot-shot Adebayor

"He's in fantastic form. It's great for him and great for the team," Hleb said.

"Now with important games such as Manchester United and AC Milan and others coming up, it's ideal to have a striker who is taking his chances whichever way they come and showing such all-round ability.

"Everything is coming off for him at the moment."

Source:Setanta

Fabregas: We Don’t Fear Milan

"No I don’t think so. If you want to win the Champions these are the opponents you have to play,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

“We are young, impudent and in the past have knocked out Real Madrid and Juve. We like to attack, we will play without fear.”

Fabregas has no doubts that the success of this Arsenal team, who are currently top of the English Premiership, is down to manager Arsene Wenger.

“Much of the credit goes to Arsene Wenger,” said the Spaniard.

“No one in the world can discover talents like he can, make them grow, let them play, and bring out the best in them. He has superior intelligence, we trust him, but he also trusts us."

Source:Goal

Arsenal V AC Milan Trailer

Arsenal V AC Milan Trailer by NIKESHOW

This is a trailer about the upcoming match against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League Knockout Stage.

This video is from nikeshow

You can download it from here.

Milan confident over Brazilians

Milan are confident that both Kaka and Alexandre Pato will be fit to start their UEFA Champions League clash with Arsenal.

Neither are expected to be risked in upcoming Serie A matches - but they should be available for the opening leg of the clash against Arsenal at the Emirates.

But Milan have now insisted Pato will be okay for the trip to North London.

"Pato is much better. Up until Tuesday he was walking with the aid of crutches, but now he can walk without feeling any pain," Milan head of medicine Jean Pierre Meersseman told the club's website.

Milan are confident that both Kaka and Alexandre Pato will be fit to start their UEFA Champions League clash with Arsenal.

Neither are expected to be risked in upcoming Serie A matches - but they should be available for the opening leg of the clash against Arsenal at the Emirates.

"We are confident of his recovery time. We thought it would take two or three weeks, but now I think within a fortnight he can be recovered and ready for the match with Arsenal.

"Kaka will certainly be available against Arsenal, but he won't be there with Siena," confirmed Meersseman.

"This knee injury has been going on for almost two years and he always feels a little pain the day after a match. This is why we decided to take action so he can recover quicker in future."

Meersseman also revealed that midfield anchorman Rino Gattuso could also be back.

"We need to protect Rino from himself, as he feels no pain and so pushed forward through everything. We need in-depth tests to see if there really is any damage or not," he added.

Source:skysports

Milan expect Pato to face Gunners

Milan are optimistic that Brazilian wonderkid Alexandre Pato will recover from an injury in time to make the trip to London to face Arsenal in the Champions League on February 20.

At just 18 years of age and with just six Serie A appearances under his belt, Pato is already a central figure for coach Carlo Ancelotti and has scored four goals in a prodigious start to his Milan career.

His first injury concern came on Sunday though as he picked up an ankle problem after scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Fiorentina.

There had been fears that the problem could prevent him from appearing in the first leg of the last 16 clash at Emirates Stadium, but Rossoneri vice-president Adriano Galliani expects the exciting teenager to return.

"I have heard from the doctors. The hope is that we will have him for London," Galliani told reporters.

Players such as Ronaldo, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi are all currently injured, but they should return along with midfield enforcer Gennaro Gattuso who is progressing well from a thigh injury.

"He has a muscle problem," Galliani added. “We need to speak to the doctors but we hope to have him available next week.”

Source:setanta.com