Eℓvin;2309097 said:
And that "No Country for Old Men" banner in the stadium
Yeah, we've fucked up, and they're not as old anymore. Marchisio is still gonna own Ronaldinho tho...
The difference, compared to last year, is in midfield. Not that Milan are any younger or faster there, but we're much less mobile. When Nedved got injured at 0:0 and De Ceglie replaced him, we had a midfield consisted of Marchionni, Marchisio, Sissoko, De Ceglie. These guys ran over Milan's Ambrosini, Emerson, Pirlo, Seedorf midfield.
Not only that the oldest one of our midfielders was younger than the youngest one of Milan's midfielders, but we were much faster than them.
Now Milan's midfield won't be any younger (Pirlo 30, Gattuso 31, Ambrosini 32, Beckham 34) or any faster, but with Melo and Poulsen we're slower, while our "wingers" Brazzo and Marchisio aren't typical wingers as Marchionni and De Ceglie are.
Also, Amauri and Del Piero were in great form and they were against Maldini-Kaladze, while tonight Milan will have Silva-Nesta in defense and Amauri isn't in the same form he was last year.
Last year Dinho (in bad form) and Pato were the only ones in Milan younger than 30 and their defense was consisted of oldies (Zambrotta 32, Maldini 39, Kaladze 31, Jankulovski 32). This time Dinho is in great form, Borriello is there while they rejuvenated the defense and 3 of the 4 defenders are in their mid 20's.
Add the form of both teams and you can see why there isn't the same enthusiasm as last year.