Thursday, January 7, 2010

Rossoblù outclassed by AC Milan

Serie A returned to action on Wednesday with the premier match between Genoa and AC Milan at Milan turning into a stroll in the park for the hosts with a classy 5-2 victory. With the result, the Rossoneri hold down second place in the Serie A table, a point above Juventus and eight points off runaway leader Inter whilst Genoa disappointing campaign sees them to the bottom half of the table, now in the thirteenth spot.

The Rossoblù welcomed new man David Suazo to the starting eleven, though they were without Raffaele Palladino, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and long term absentee Boško Janković. However Milan, who welcomed David Beckham back on-loan until seasons-end, were in complete control from the opening and sliced the Genoa midfield apart with piercing runs.

The thirty-four year-old David Beckham, pressed into a more attacking role with Alexandre Pato and Clarence Seedorf out with injuries, served notice that time has not robbed him of attacking ingenuity. The match started with the former England captain sending a seeing eye cross from the right to Marco Borriello but Genoa 'keeper Marco Amelia made a brilliant save to deny the striker from point blank range. The heart pounding start continued and two minutes shy of the quarter-hour mark Giuseppe Biava was adjudged a penalty for bringing down Massimo Ambrosini in the area. However, the Rossoneri saw their chance come up empty as Ronaldinho’s effort to his right was denied by the sprawling Genoa 'keeper. Despite the miss, Milan continued to pour forward in a relentless attack but after an errant effort by David Beckham, Genoa notched the surprise go-ahead goal at the twenty-fourth minute as Giuseppe Sculli crept in at the back post to head Rodrigo Palacio's cross. The lead did not last long as seven minutes later Ronaldinho converted from the spot after Massimo Ambrosini was tripped-up in the area by the Genoa 'keeper. With the match now level, there was no holding back Milan and seven minutes prior to the break, Thiago Silva latched onto a loose ball in close range before driving it to the back of the net.

If there was any talk of Genoa mounting a comeback after the break, that was put to rest three minutes in as Ronaldinho linked the ball to Luca Antonini who provided Marco Borriello the chance for a close-range finish, which he made no mistake to give Milan the 3-1 lead. Milan was running roughshod over the clearly outmatched Rossoblù and on the hour Marco Borriello made it 4-1 with a splendid volley of Luca Antonini's cross. Milan manager Leonardo ushered in underused Klaas-Jan Huntelaar into the match and after Marco Rossi adjudged a penalty for mauling Ronaldinho, down to the ground the former Ajax sharpshooter converted from the spot to make it 5-1. Five minutes later David Suazo notched a fine consolation goal for Genoa but that would not defer the celebration of AC Milan as they posted a confident 5-2 victory.

The Rossoneri return to action on Sunday, as they travel to Turin to face Juventus whilst Genoa look to regain their winning form against Catania at the Marassi.

prepared by J. Davies