P W D L F A PTS GD
Milan 6 3 1 2 4 3 10 1
Celta Vigo 6 2 3 1 7 6 9 1
Brugge 6 2 2 2 5 6 8 -1
Ajax 6 2 0 4 6 7 6 -1
Qualify for knockout stages
UEFA Cup
9 December 2003
BRUGGE 2-1 AJAX
Lange 27 Sonck 42 (pen)
Saeternes 84
Brugge attacked from the onset. Lange headed wide when unmarked in the box and Lobont
produced a spectacularly athletic save from Simons' half volley. An extremely lucky bounce
gave the Belgians a deserved lead. De Cock's hopeful long ball bounced off Lange's head past
Lobont though his positioning has to be questioned. Sonck converted a penalty awarded for
handball but Ajax fell victim to another fortuitous goal. Escude inadvertently helped Smolder's
pass into the path of Saeternes and as he turned and shot the ball squired in off Lobont's hands.
Assist : De Cock
MILAN 1-2 CELTA VIGO
Kaka 40 Jesuli 42
Ignacio 71
Two brilliant long range strikes sent the teams in level at half time. Ignacio scored the winner
after initially miss-hitting a cross.
Assists : Redondo, G Lopez, Luccin
26 November 2003
AJAX 0-1 MILAN
Shevchenko 52
A bad night for Inzaghi. He missed two early chances and was booked for
protesting after Shevchenko had a goal harshly ruled out. Once Ibrahimovic went
off in the 40th minute Ajax were even less of a threat.
A Milan counter attack started with Cafu knocking the ball into Inzaghi, he
turned his marker before returning Cafu's pass, Cafu chipped the ball into the
box, Shevchenko controlled it on his chest before shooting under Lobont. Seedorf
headed over with the goal at his mercy and Obodai injured himself when he
blocked a cross by Cafu. A fantastic piece of skill by Pirlo on the edge of his
penalty area preceded an excellent long ball but, despite having a few yards on
Heitinga, Inzaghi was forced wide and tackled by the defender. Clearly lacking
fitness, Ancelotti substituted him 3 minutes later. Despite Rui Costa
continually giving away possession after coming on for Kaka, the European
Champions comfortably held on to secure a place in the knockout stages.
Assist : Cafu
CELTA VIGO 1-1 BRUGGE
Mostovoi 74 Lange 92
Celta were finally rewarded for their dominance when Mostovoi finished off a nice passing
move with a tap in at the back post. It started pissing down and Mostovoi went off with an
injury. In injury time Lange leapt above the Celta defence to head in Roelandts cross.
Assists : Berizzo, Roelandts
Milan's #1 priority next month is the Intercontinental Cup so Ancelotti is bound to field a weakened
side giving Celta a very good chance of claiming victory. Ajax need to avoid defeat against Brugge
and match whatever result Celta manage.
4 November 2003
CELTA VIGO 3-2 AJAX
Luccin 26 (Pen) Sonck 52
Milosevic 39 Van der Vaart 82
Vagner 60
Luccin converted a penalty expertly won by big cheater Milosevic. Having scored the goal their
play so richly deserved, Celta went 2-0 up before half time, Milosevic with a bullet header from
Sylvinho's superb cross. Ajax got back into the match following brilliant play by Maxwell. He
swapped passed on the edge of the box, Angel tried to chop him in half, he rode the tackle
then floated the ball to the back post and Sonck headed home. Vagner pushed aside the challenge
of Yakubu before screwing the ball under Lobont. Van der Vaart's fantastic late strike wasn't enough
to deny Celta their first win in the competition.
Assists : Milosevic (won pen), Sylvinho, Maxwell, Jesuli, ?
Red Card : Grygera 89 (Ajax)
BRUGGE 0-1 MILAN
Kaka 86
Maldini went off injured when sliding to clear the ball, ironic when you consider he makes
similar clearances all the time on the merciless San Siro pitch. The ref, Fandel, dished out two
yellow cards to Nesta for absolutely nothing. I will be amazed if he gets another game in this
competition. With their man advantage Brugge took control. Mendoza headed Verheyen's cross
against the bar. Another of Dida's best goalkeeper in the World type saves denied Stoica in the
second half. A counter attack started by Pirlo gave Milan their winning goal. He cut out a cross inside
his own penalty area, Gattuso took possession and sent Cafu racing down the right. He played
a one-two with Kaka and waited for the midfielder to arrive before lobbing the ball into the box,
Kaka, who was waiting to be substituted, smashed a right foot volley into the top corner. After
almost 3 hours of football Milan had finally scored against the stubborn Belgians. The European
Champions should have added a second goal but Rozehnal forced Shevchenko wide after his
initial mistake gifted possession to the visitors, Verlinden parried and even with the goal at his
mercy Seedorf shot straight at the 'keeper.
Assist : Cafu
Red Card : Nesta 37 (Milan)
22 October 2003
AJAX 1-0 CELTA VIGO
Ibrahimovic 53
Ibrahimovic received a pass and as he turned was standing in front of Celta Vigo's back four.
He took the first two out with a brilliant dummy, he feigned to right, before rapidly changing
direction, poked the ball between two defenders, ran on their blindside and shot into the
corner. An early candidate for goal of the season, absolutely magnificent. I know he's not liked
but as far as I'm concerned he's ******* brilliant.
Assist : Sneijder?
MILAN 0-1 BRUGGE
Mendoza 33
Milan were camped inside the Brugge half for the majority of the match but a combination
of poor finishing and inspired goalkeeping by Verlinden denied them a goal. Brugge scored
on the break, with 6 Milan players attacking, Gvozdenovic ran onto Rozehnal's clearance and
through a huge gap in the Milan midfield before passing the ball out wide to Mendoza, his
devastating left foot shoot leaving Dida no chance. Verlinden pulled off great saves to deny,
Pirlo, Seedorf and Rui Costa while Shevchenko and Inzaghi were guilty of some criminal
misses. Shevchenko was so poor Ancelotti substituted him for Tomasson. Frustrated by their
inability to score, Milan seemed to give up and almost fell behind to a second goal when Saterns
shot wide on the break. 25 shots to 7, 11 corners to 2 but most important of all, 0 goals to 1.
As Quinton Jackson once said "Shit happens and shit."
Assist : Gvozdenovic
1 October 2003
AJAX 2-0 BRUGGE
Sonck 11, 54
A superb back heel by Ibrahimovic and expertly timed run by Sonck gave Ajax an
early lead. Escude made a brilliant goal line clearance to deny Saeternes. Sonck
looked miles offside when he ran onto Sneijder's through pass to score his
second. Replay's showed he was just offside but his clever diagonal run fooled
the linesman.
If you rearrange the letters in Brugge you get Bugger. It's worth thinking about.
Assists : Ibrahimovic, Sneijder
CELTA VIGO 0-0 MILAN
Celta were restricted to speculative shots which never troubled Dida.
Pinto, in the Celta goal, could have taken the night off.
Berlusconi's interference, he was almost certainly behind Rivaldo's decision to
stay and his selection in this match, is going to hurt the team over the next
few months.
16 September 2003
MILAN 1-0 AJAX
Inzaghi 67
The European Champions opened their defence with a hard fought victory over classic
rivals Ajax. A slick passing move ended when Trabelsi made an excellent block on an
Inzaghi volley. Milan should have been awarded a penalty when Pasanen blatantly
kicked Inzaghi after he had turned the defender in the box. He got his reward in the
second half. With his back to goal he took Cafu's pass and turned Maxwell before picking
out Shevchenko, Lobont parried his shot and Inzaghi was on hand to tap-in. Kaka, who
if you hadn't figure out by know is first choice playmaker ahead of the SHIT Rui Costa
and Rivaldo, should have added a second but having held off Pasanen, who is brilliant,
shot against the post. Gattuso was sent off for throwing an elbow into Ibrahimovic's face.
Milan almost came unstuck right at the death. The normally impeccable Maldini threw
himself at Van der Vaart and missed the ball. Ajax broke down the right through Trabelsi,
he turned the Milan defence inside out before sending a low pass toward Ibrahimovic, his
shot bounced off Cafu and fell to Van der Vaart who hit a thundering shot measured at
100kmph low towards the bottom corner but Dida made the BEST SAVE OF ALL TIME EVER
to seal victory.
It really was the best save of all time.
BRUGGE 1-1 CELTA VIGO
Juanfran 83 og Juanfran 50
Mendoza got himself a really stupid red card - for throwing the ball at Ignacio. Ignacio fell
on the floor clutching his arm, the big freaking puss. Replays showed Ignacio actually kicked
Mendoza after the ref had blew for a foul in favour of Mendoza. Van Basten was in the stands,
scouting for Ajax. Juanfran scored with a brilliant solo effort before turning Saeternes centre
into his own net. Martens was sent off for diving in the box.
Red Cards : Mendoza 45 (Brugge), Martens 91 (Brugge)
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