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| Tuesday, November 19, 2002 20:48 EST |
A tale of two cities
By David Satlin
[ESPN International]
I'm excited.
When the Champions League draw was released last week, all I could think of was two words - Milan and Madrid.
Ronaldo may be in for a rude welcome when he returns to the city he called home for five years. |
Two of the giants of European football will meet Nov. 26 in the San Siro on Matchday 7. (Fortunately, for those of you in the U.S.A., the game will be live on ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m. ET).
Entering this European season, most of us here at ESPN thought that these two clubs would be the favorites to reach the final. Instead, both clubs, favorites to reach the quarterfinals from Group D (the top two teams advance), will treat us to two additional matches during the second group stage.
Dream Teams, Big Money Transfers, Superstars. This is what major international soccer is all about in the modern era and why UEFA expanded its format to 32 teams three years ago to include not only the runner-up in the major European leagues, but also the third and fourth place clubs in Italy, Spain, and England.
Real Madrid, third place in last year's Liga Primera, would have qualified for the Champions League this season as defending champions. Milan, in fourth place in Serie A and 16 points behind champions Juventus, would not have qualified under the old format. Thirteen of the 16 clubs in the second group stage hail from Italy, Spain, Germany and England - a statistic that shows the dominance of the big money leagues.
Whether or not this game lives up to the hype and is "one for the ages" remains to be seen, but the storylines for this match are endless. Here are some of my favorites:
Defending European champion Real Madrid has won a record nine European Cups, including three of the last five. Milan is second with five European Cups, the last coming in 1994 when the club shocked Barcelona 4-0 in Athens. Fabio Capello, the Milan coach that season, would later coach Real Madrid.
Milan, led by the Dutch trio of Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, eliminated a powerful Real Madrid side led by Hugo Sanchez and Emilio Buitragueno two years in a row en route to the 1989 and 1990 European cups. In the 1989 semifinals, the Italians won the second leg 5-0 at the San Siro.
Two of the world's dynamic attackers will be on display. Rivaldo and Ronaldo, teammates on the Brazil World Cup Championship squad, will square off against one another. Both players have something to prove. Rivaldo, who saw his Champions League campaign end last season in the semifinals when Barcelona lost to Real Madrid, is looking for a little revenge against his former rival. Ronaldo returns to the city where he played for the last five years with Inter. Ronaldo is not a popular figure in Milan. Ronaldo was the enemy to the AC Milan fans for five seasons while the Inter fans did not appreciate Ronaldo's actions towards the club in the final months before his transfer to Real Madrid.
The winners of the last six FIFA Player of the Year awards will be on hand. Ronaldo, the top scorer at the 2002 World Cup with eight goals, is a heavy favorite to win his third award next month.
FIFA World Player of the Year
Year Player Current Club
1996 RONALDO Real Madrid
1997 RONALDO Real Madrid
1998 Zinedine ZIDANE Real Madrid
1999 RIVALDO Milan
2000 Zinedine ZIDANE Real Madrid
2001 Luis FIGO Real Madrid
Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi carried his team during the first half of the campaign. Inzaghi is the joint top scorer in the Champions league with eight goals, Despite cooling off of late, the 29-year-old striker still has 17 goals in all competitions this season.
Former Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Redondo could get the chance to play against his former club, but his return may not happen until Matchday 11 when the clubs meet in Real Madrid. Redondo turned a spectacular performance when he captained Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Valencia in Paris in the 2000 UEFA Champions League final, but the Argentine has been sidelined for over two years with various injuries. All indications are that Redondo, who resumed training last week, will make his Milan debut in the Coppa Italia on December 4.
Milan's Clarence Seedorf also has some fond memories of Madrid. The Dutch midfielder was a key component of Real Madrid's 1998 Champions League Championship side before being sent to Inter Milan in 2000.
Both clubs will be coming off of intense club matches at the weekend. Milan and Inter square off in the local derby while Real Madrid travels to the Nou Camp to face Barcelona, where the club has not won a league game since 1983.
There are a couple of differences in the two clubs. Milan actually took in more money in transfers than it spent in 2002. Rivaldo arrived on a free transfer from Barcelona. On the other side, Real Madrid, which spent $56 million on Luis Figo in 2000 and $66 million on Zinedine Zidane in 2001, decided to dish out $45 million for Ronaldo just before the transfer deadline. Madrid signed Ronaldo despite having three top-class strikers in Raul, Fernando Morientes and Guti already on the books and a sensation in Javier Portillo already raising eyebrows for his performances with Real Madrid's development squads.
Real Madrid also will find another familiar face on the other side of the ball when the two teams lineup on Tuesday. The Spanish giants chased after Italian international defender Alessandro Nesta for much of the summer. Nesta instead accepted a transfer from Lazio to Milan in a $30 million deal. Given that veteran defender Fernando Hierro is out of action after a suffering an injury to his right ankle last week, Real Madrid may wish it had Nesta on the squad.
Real Madrid has yet to find its rhythm in league and European competition this season. Vicente Del Bosque's side has not won at home in the last month of action. Due to various illnesses and injuries, the club's five superstars (Raul, Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos) have started just one game together - a 1-0 loss to Roma on Matchday 5. Roma's coach this season is none other than Fabio Capello.
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