Masters of illusion prove worthy runners-up

Up until the first week of May, Milan seemed well on course to emulate their double cup success of 11 years ago. At that time, they were level on points with Juventus at the top of the Serie A standings and had also made it to the last four in the Champions League.

Four weeks on and Milan finished empty-handed after going down to Juve in a direct clash at the San Siro and then bowed out to Liverpool in the European Cup final on penalties after throwing away a 3-0 half-time lead.

In the wake of this decline, one is tempted to ask why have Milan crumbled in the most crucial stage of the season?

The first signs of strain were detected in their home win over PSV.

In that game, Milan were lucky to win by two clear goals as the newly-crowned Dutch champions' fine performance on the day deserved a better result.

Practically the same happened in the return leg when PSV dominated from start to finish but were denied by Massimo Ambrosini's last-gasp goal.

In the two-legged semi-final against PSV, Milan were a far cry from the side that had played some of the most effective football in the Champions League. Nonetheless, in those two games against PSV, Milan still showed the kind of killing touch that helped them win so many crucial points in the dying moments of games throughout the season.

After reaching their 10th Champions League final, Milan hit their lowest point. Key players like Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo ran out of steam but surprisingly enough, coach Carlo Ancelotti kept faith in them.

Kaka did not have a good season either and never really made the difference in the decisive matches. Protected by a midfield that kept dwindling from one game to the other, Milan's defence suddenly began to look fragile.

The end result was that Milan were exhausted by the time they entered the last month of the season.

This should not have happened because Milan have enough strength-in-depth to compete on two fronts.

To this end, Ancelotti must shoulder the blame for not having utilised a proper rotation policy.

What's the use of having players like Rui Costa, Ambrosini, Giuseppe Pancaro, Kakha Kaladze and Serginho, just to cite a few, if they are left out continuously?

This season the runners-up spot came back to haunt Ancelotti. The ex-Roma and Italy sturdy midfielder had lost his job four years ago when, at the helm of Juventus, he finished second in two consecutive seasons.

Ancelotti is still a cut above most of the current Serie A coaches but somehow he looks to lag behind the likes of Capello and Marcello Lippi. These two seem to have an edge over Ancelotti when it comes to motivating and getting the best out of their players. Also, their winning mentality is second to none.

Last season, Milan won the two-horse title race with Roma. This time, there were qualities that Juventus had and the Rossoneri just slightly lacked. It boiled down to the ability to peak at the most critical stage of the campaign.

Moreover, it is no secret that, during the season, Capello made better use of his restricted squad whereas Milan did not.

The injuries sustained by Andriy Shevchenko and Filippo Inzaghi are not good alibi for Milan's failure because Juve were without Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet for a good chunk of the campaign.

Perhaps, Milan's team this season was superior to the European Cup-winning side of 2003 and last season's title-winning team.

First and foremost, the best players were all retained and in addition, solid defender Jaap Stam and striker Hernan Crespo were brought in to bolster their squad.

Coming second in two competitions like the Serie A and the Champions League is an achievement nowadays but not for Milan.

Finishing a season without a piece of silverware is an underachievement for them because they had all it takes to triumph both in Italy and on the continent.

Milan's hopes have faded away, at least for this season, but thanks to the extended Champions League, they, along with Juventus, Inter and Udinese, still get to drink from the pot of gold. Viewing things in this context, failure tastes less sour.

Serie A statistics

1st time ever Roma and Chievo shared the spoils at the Olimpico. The 0-0 draw enabled Chievo to retain their Serie A status. Chievo owe their success to their stop-gap coach Maurizio D'Angelo who took over from Mario Beretta on the 36th day when they were in deep relegation trouble. Roma's presence in this year's Italian Cup final gives them the opportunity to participate in next season's UEFA Cup even if they finish runners-up because Inter will participate in the Champions League next season.

2 teams - Parma and Bologna - are still entangled in a battle to avoid relegation. Last weekend, both Bologna and Parma could not go beyond draws with Sampdoria and Lecce respectively. Bologna should consider themselves lucky to have another chance to stay in Serie A . On Sunday, they were no match for a determined Sampdoria side. The latter had to win at all costs to continue harbouring aspirations of finishing fourth. In an intense and pulsating match which could have gone either way, Parma held on to their first draw at Lecce since 2001. Sunday's draw saw Parma, Fiorentina and Bologna all finishing level on points. Fiorentina's better results in the direct encounters meant that the Viola automatically retained their status whereas Parma and Bologna will have to battle it out in a two-legged play-off.

9 minutes from time Siena were down but still not out. After taking an early lead through Enrico Chiesa, Siena did not do their best to finish off the game against the already-doomed Atalanta who equalised in the 62nd minute. When everything seemed lost for Luigi De Canio's team, Stefano Argilli scored the all-important goal that kept the Tuscany side in Serie A for the second season running. A draw against Serie A and Champions League runners-up Milan was enough for Luciano Spalletti's Udinese to finish fourth and secure a place in the third qualifying round of the 2005/06 Champions League. This will be Udinese's first ever participation in Europe's premier club competition.

19 years had to pass for Palermo and Lazio to share the spoils again at the Renzo Barbera Stadium as the visitors made a strong two-goal comeback to avoid their first defeat in Palermo in over two decades. It was also the last game for coach Francesco Guidolin at Palermo. Lazio ended the season with no wins in their last seven outings. In an unusually-packed Delle Alpi Stadium, newly-crowned champions Juventus overcame Cagliari 4-2. This was Juve's first home success over the Sardegna team since 1998. For the record, Cagliari's only win in 26 Serie A visits to Turin dates back to 1968. At the Artemio Franchi stadium, Fiorentina rose to the occasion and prevailed over Brescia to avoid relegation by a whisker and, at the same time, condemned the Lombardians to relegation after five successive years in Serie A.

28 goals were scored on the last day of the 2004/05 season: 17 coming from the hosts and the remaining 11 from the visitors. Foreigners contributed with only eight goals while there were nine first-half goals. Total number of goals scored in the outgoing season amounts to 960. Three players - Luca Toni (Palermo), David Trezeguet (Juventus) and Gianfranco Zola (Cagliari) - grabbed a brace each. Apart from Zola, Igor Budan (Atalanta), Fabio Bazzani, Roberto Muzzi (both Lazio) and Cristiano Rigano' (Fiorentina) were the substitutes who put their names on the scorers' sheet. Livorno's Cristiano Lucarelli is the season's leading marksman with 24 goals. Three players - Matteo Contini, Fabio Vignaroli (Parma) and Omar Milanetto (Brescia) - received marching orders.