Duel rages on at home and on the continent

Last week, I was one of the hundreds of local football enthusiasts who made the trip to Italy to watch the two Champions League clashes involving Milan and Juventus.

Besides seeing some of the most talented players in circulation, it was also an ideal occasion for me to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the two contenders for this season's scudetto.

At San Siro, I was confident Milan will progress to the quarter-finals of the competition particularly after their first leg 1-0 victory against Manchester United.

Milan played as if they and not their opponents had to win the match. Maybe the home team's start to the game was not at all convincing but after Ryan Giggs came very close to breaking the deadlock, Carlo Ancelotti's players did not look behind and stepped up an extra gear. Their class was too much for United... Milan's dominance was complete.

Ancelotti can count on a truly strong and resourceful squad. The team is absolutely efficient in all departments. Milan's major strengths are touted to be the deep resources within their squad, the experience of all their players, including reserves, and their hunger for more success.

These are three key qualities on which Ancelotti is laying the foundations of a possible repeat of the historic double (scudetto and Champions League) of 1993/94.

This Milan side have all it takes to emulate Fabio Capello's star-studded team, who 11 years ago ran away with the league and went on to beat mighty Barcelona in the European Cup final. However, one major hurdle which Milan have to surpass to win either competition, or both, is Serie A rivals Juventus.

Juventus are an institution in Italian football. Failure is never accepted at the Turin club and finishing runners-up is a sour defeat by their own standards. Ancelotti knows this only too well. In June 2001 he was sacked by Juve after finishing second in back-to-back seasons.

For Juventus, Real Madrid represented a taller task than Man. United posed for Milan. This, for two main reasons.

First, the Spaniards are simply stronger than the popular Old Trafford outfit. Second, for the two games against Real, Juve could not count on the total contribution of regulars Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet and Manuel Blasi. These notable absentees, coupled with the fact that Capello cannot rely on reserve players of a certain calibre, like Ancelotti can do for instance, made Juve's task even more daunting.

I never wrote off Juve's chances of ousting Real, but I did not have the same confidence I had in Milan.

I recall writing in my preview of the Juve-Real tie a week ago: "Real represent a daunting task for Del Piero and Juve. However, if there is a team capable of matching Real's qualities then that team is Juve."

Also, as a concluding note I made reference to Juve's 'sheer resolve to win games and refusal to throw in the towel in tight situations'.

Juve made it to the quarter-finals because of their sheer determination. The players were also buoyed by a very warm and enthusiastic crowd.

Against Real Madrid, Del Piero was far away from his best. Instead, utility players like Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Marcelo Zalayeta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and later Trezeguet, came to the fore and struck in the crucial moments of the game.

All-round effort

But, the rest of the players performed superbly in my opinion.

Had it not been so, Juventus would not have made it for sure. Capello's gamble of deploying veteran Gianluca Pessotto in his 'old' role as a central midfielder to shadow Zinedine Zidane (like he had done for Italy against France in the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals) took Real Madrid by surprise and, at the same time, limited the Frenchman's operate in no small way.

The encounter was balanced but Capello, who led Real Madrid to the Primera Liga title in 1997, made all the difference in the end.

His selection of the first XI was perfect and so was his tactical ploy of fielding a three-man attack to keep Real Madrid at bay. So was his decision to replace Del Piero and not Zalayeta when he introduced Trezeguet in the second half.

With Del Piero, Juve were at a gain in dead ball situations but lost considerable punch in attack. Eventually, Trezeguet and Zalayeta scored the goals that enabled Juventus to qualify.

Juventus and Milan could now represent a hurdle to each other in the next rounds, or, perhaps, they could meet in the final itself like they did two years ago.

The difference between these two sides is so minimal. One only has to look at the Serie A standings.

Milan and Juventus have the same number of points after having won, drawn and lost the same number of matches. Even as regards goal difference, the two antagonists have identical records... and so the battle continues.

Serie A statistics...

3rd win in a row for Juventus as they conquered Chievo's Bentegodi stadium for the fourth successive season. A colourless opening period was the prelude to a more pulsating second half in which both teams went out in search of victory. Chievo should have taken the lead when a Sergio Pellissier shot crossed the fatal line... but to the surprise of everyone the match officials ruled it out. The game was heading to a goalless draw when substitute Ruben Olivera hit a dramatic winner for the visitors to keep them level on points with Milan. For Chievo, with the least prolific attack in Serie A, this was their fifth consecutive defeat. Like Juve, Milan had to sweat for a hard-fought home victory against third-placed Sampdoria. Milan's seventh straight league win coincided with Sampdoria's first upset after three victories. Over a decade has now passed since the last drawn result between these two sides. Sampdoria's most recent of nine wins in 49 league visits to Milan dates back to February 2, 1997 (3-2 in Serie A).

4th win - the first since March 18, 1990 (1-0) - for Messina in 17 league visits to Reggina as Bortolo Mutti's side scored two first-half goals to cruise to their first away win since beating Milan 2-1 on September 22, 2004. A Reggina home win over Messina has been missing since November 15, 1992 (1-0). In another match, Roberto Donadoni's Livorno came from behind to beat Brescia 3-2 away for the first time since March 12, 1950 (1-0). Livorno's first away success since beating Palermo (2-1) on October 27, 2004, coincided with struggling Brescia's ninth home setback of the term.

5th consecutive away defeat for Parma as Pietro Carmignani's strugglers went down to bottom-of-the-class Atalanta in Bergamo for the first time in over three years. Thanks to this win and defeats suffered by Brescia and Chievo, Atalanta revived their chances of avoiding relegation. Crisis-hit Roma suffered their third consecutive defeat after going down to Cagliari at the Sant'Elia stadium for the first time in over five years. For the southerners this was their first success following an uninspiring run of three defeats and a drawn match. It is worth mentioning that a draw between these two sides has been missing since November 1993 (1-1) and the last time Roma left Sardegna with a win was on October 29, 1995 (2-0). Roma changed coach on Monday with Bruno Conti replacing Luigi Del Neri.

26 years had to pass for Udinese to return to winning ways against Palermo at the Renzo Barbera stadium as the north-easterners interrupted the Sicilians' bold march of six unbeaten games with a resounding 5-1 victory. This result enabled Udinese to leapfrog Palermo in fifth place. It was a must-win game for both sides to keep their Champions League spot alive. The win on Sunday was Udinese's first after a barren run of two draws and two defeats. In an action-packed encounter, Lecce threw away a 2-0 lead to share the spoils with Fiorentina at their Via del Mare stadium. For the visitors this was their third successive game without defeat.

27 goals were scored on the 28th day (hosts: 12; visitors: 15). Foreign players contributed with 10 goals while there were 16 second-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 689. Despite not being on target for Roma, Vincenzo Montella still tops the scorers' list with 19 goals (none from penalties). Davide Di Michele became the latest player to notch a hat-trick as he scored three of Udinese's five goals against Palermo. Brescia's Andrea Caracciolo was the only player to grab a brace last weekend. Four players, namely, Adriano (Atalanta), Maccarone (Siena), Olivera (Juventus) and Maggio (Fiorentina), were substitutes who found the net. Five players - Di Biagio (Brescia), Olivera (Juventus), Giannichedda (Lazio), De Rossi (Roma) and Potenza (Chievo) - received marching orders. Meanwhile, of the five penalties awarded last weekend, two went off-target. Eugenio Corini failed to make Palermo's home defeat to Udinese more respectable when he shot wide a last-gasp penalty. Andrea Caracciolo broke the deadlock in Brescia-Livorno with a 16th-minute penalty. Later on in the same game, Caracciolo scored again for Brescia after hitting home from the rebound following a penalty he had just missed. Before Caracciolo's second attempt from the spot, 1995/96 Serie A joint top-scorer Igor Protti had given Livorno the lead from the penalty. Elsewhere, Claudio Bellucci gave Bologna an early second-half lead, also from the spot.