Today I asked myself a very simple question, and paused when I realized I had to contemplate the answer. Is it better to be in the Champions League in the state we are in or not making the Champions League at all?
The first and only piece of silverware I have ever had the pleasure of blogging about was the 07 CL. It was awesome, unforgettable and as special as that CL was, for me it was extra special. Now I sit nearly three years later with a loss to Arsenal, a trip to the UEFA Cup, and on the eve of a new day of CL football with the feeling that it may have just been better if we didn’t bother at all.
Realistically speaking making it out of the group stages would be a gift. Two games against our old boy Kaka, a trip to Marseille, and a relative unknown in FC Zurich. Second place will not be as easy as we make it out to be. Will Real Madrid find the chemistry to be a good team, will Olympique Marseille be the bad CL omen it always has been, and can we take 6 a must points from FC Zurich in order to allow a drop elsewhere? There are plenty of what-if’s in this CL group and as the action unfolds we can finally answer if Milan is truly a team built for the CL as history has shown time and time again.
Carletto, a CL genius in his own right with two titles to his name, has left for Stamford Bridge where he tries to bring that magic to a team that is obsessed with old big ears almost as much is Milan, too bad we already have seven. The squad still has players who have lifted the trophy in the Rossoneri in Clarence, Rino, Ambro, Nesta , Pippo and Pirlo and it is those players that Leo should lean on and rely on to calm the nerves of the new players like Abate, Pato, and Silva. Can we win the CL, I don’t believe so, but this team can honor the place of AC Milan in the tournament and make me forget that I wish they had never qualified at all.