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

How the Kaká deal fell apart

As the Football world quickly moves away from the events leading up to Kaká staying at AC Milan and not moving as most believed to Manchester City, a number of interesting twists in the tale have come to light.

From the start of this deal to its very end it involved not only the respective clubs and player but the powerful forces of Adidas, Nike as well as Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN TV network stated intent of purchasing the rights to English Premier League matches live. From the broadcasting vantage in many ways the potential move of Kaká to Manchester City represented a near perfect situation for Disney's expansion into Football and the Citizens global branding with one of the sports best examples on and off the pitch. A great athlete not only none for his on-pitch splendor but of irrefutable character and quite possibly the perfect figurehead for the sports emergence within the American market. However not to be outdone, the targeting of Kaká, one of the most recognizable names in Adidas and subsequently the German based company would fight off any assault with whatever they could muster.

While in the shadows of this entire deal with City headed up by chief ex-Nike man Gary Cook as chief exectutive it is not by chance that their attempts were directed towards one of the rivals most well-known athletes. Along with his Nike's £285 acquisition of Umbro and sponsorship involvement of England's national academy, this was a point in the massive financial battle of worlds Football market as City moves slowly under the Nike umbrella.

However what remains to be seen is the "how and why" Man City executives were "played" in this situation. While in the past the executive team of the Citizens have made a series of negotiation blunders, this time they were letter perfect and came with a brilliant plan. Knowing full well that Mr. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite aka Kaká is a man of the highest moral character and it would take more than just a sizable contract to lure him to Manchester, they were ready to table a proposition that would fulfill some of his personal goals and build a charitable foundation of extraordinary proportion. If true be told, City's management which has stumbled on many occasions outdid itself in a not only a brilliant tactical move but one to bring it to the forefront of sports management and leadership. However these plans went stray and after acknowledging Kaká represents the values as the ambassador of the sport, Mr. Cook noted that they were never able to meet with him and all "his representatives wanted to talk about how much we were going to pay him."

After vetting AC Milan's interest in negotiating a deal and being assured "in which Milan made it quite clear Kaka was for sale", Mr Cook told the BBC, he along with a board member from Abu Dhabi and one other senior executive to finalize the deal. However the intent of Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and owner of AC Milan changed as per Mr. Cook:

“We were confined to a room, with no food or drink, and we asked some questions of the football club and more importantly we asked some questions of the representatives of the player and they simple could not answer the questions."

So what happened to the deal, possibly the greatest hint is the breadcrumbs left by Kaká's teammate David Beckham, less than forty-eight hours of the deal collapsing when informed Spanish media source "AS" that the he is likely to move to Real Madrid, where he can continue wearing the three stripes this summer.

Silvio Berlusconi hints of Kaká’s departure

As per the FIFA web-site, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and owner of AC Milan hinted of the imminent move of Kaká to Manchester City:

“Nothing is decided yet but it is very difficult to ask someone to stay and respect his contract when he has been offered such a huge amount of money.

“You have to act in a moral way, like a big brother, as I did with Sheva (Andrei Shevchenko). I didn’t know how to say no to him when the offer came in from Chelsea.

“We can’t possibly increase the salaries for everyone as we would have to do to keep hold of Kaka,” he said.

“I’ve already said it and (vice-president) Adriano Galliani believes it too but my reasoning is clear: you can’t say no to a lad who has a short career and who has the potential to earn much more than he is currently being paid. On the other hand we can’t raise his salary because it’s already very high and we would have to raise the salary of all the other players as well”, although he equally added “I hope he stays.”

Man City deal for Kaká plagued by poor negotiation tactics

With the mainstream media combing through crumb of information for a possible insight into whether the massive €120m offer for AC Milan’s Kaká will bring the talented maestro to the Citizens and various pundits debating the worthiness of paying any Footballer £500k per week, ownership is starting to raise their eyebrow at who is spearheading their efforts.

As Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak took over the club, they not only brought Manchester City financially strong ownership but a highly successful business team that understands negotiation tactics from every angle. While publicly they have continued to give a vote of confidence with the club management they are growing weary of their "point men" as they stumble through the negotiation of Mr. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, aka Kaká.

Make no mistake about it, the ownership is committed to the long-term success of Manchester City and while the club stumbles presently, they will stay the course and provide supporters the hardware they clamour for in time. Their initial £32.5m acquisition of Brazilian star Robinho from Real Madrid before the summer transfer window closed was just the start of things to come but very quickly they have realized they need a bigger "business team" with City if they are to achieve their goals. In leading the charge for Kaká, ownership has provided the financial resources to secure the deal but in the negotiation upper management is stumbling and not providing all the reasons why the young Brazilian should move to City.

While some managers with the Premier League, such as Arsenal's Arsène Wenger scoff at the size of the offer, every owner and business manager rubs their hands with glee knowing full-well that this will have a direct impact upon the bidding war between Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and Setanta Sports Ltd. for the the rights to broadcast Premier League matches, as well as the global brand of Football in England and naturally asset valuations of each club. While naturally the economic downturn has thrown a dark pall on the sale of many clubs, backroom deal-makers are well aware that elevated broadcast revenue will punch up simmering offers and wait to see how the bids turn-out this February.

In a very circuitous route, this returns to the Kaká saga because not only is Man City's ownership questioning how this deal is being orchestrated but so are the many business entities that will be directly impacted by it. Leading into a major rounds of talks between Kaká's representatives and Man City on Monday, a change negotiation tactics are needed.

Kaká deal closer than you think

While Manchester City assistant manager Mark Bowen broke the internal directive to steer clear of commenting to the media regarding the Kaká deal when he noted to BBC Sport Wales that, “We believe the deal is very close” and “that it is very much a strong possibility that Kaka will be coming to Manchester City”, he didn’t go far enough is saying how close this deal is.

Mark Hughes, knowing he couldn’t avoid the topic, tap-danced around the issue and showed his most political side stating:

“Garry Cook and a number of other people went to Milan to get an understanding of the situation involving the player (Kaká), but to add any more substance to that would be wrong.”

It would be inaccurate to state that this “deal is done” but it is extremely close as with £100m on the line AC Milan’s owner Silvio Berlusconi’s business sense knows he would be a fool not to listen and after consideration is inclined to move on the cash windfall. However the brokering of individual deal for Kaká is the sticking point and will require not simply the top their top salary effort from the get-go but involve broader based issues off the pitch and significant interest from related parties in the deal.

Stay tuned for updates on the Kaká saga.

Wolfsburg finishes first in Group!

Wolfsburg advances to the next round of the UEFA Cup, claiming first place of Group E with a draw against AC Milan. With the top spot of their group they will draw a preferential position and face a club finishing third-place in the knockout round while second place clubs will face the eight clubs falling in from the Champions League. The Serie A giant took the lead seventeen minutes in as they exposed a major Wolfsburg weakness as Massimo Ambrosini nodded in Clarence Seedorf’s corner with power. Wolfsburg did not wilt under the pressure and came close to leveling four minutes before the half-hour as of Bosnia and Herzegovina international Edin Džeko struck the cross-bar with a close range header. However on cue for his return to Milan ex-Palermo man Cristian Zaccardo re-directed Marcel Schäfer’s cross to the back of the net eleven minutes after the re-start. Within the minute the Rossoneri asserted their domain of San Siro as Filippo Inzaghi provided Pato a perfect set-up in the center of the area to which the young-gun didn’t disappoint. Behind 2-1 things appeared dire for Die Wölfe in the final half-hour but surprisingly with first place in-sight, Carlo Ancelotti turned aside a tactical defensive substitute to lock-down the match. With nine minutes remaining AC Milan lost it’s claim for first place as Wolfsburg as Polish international Jacek Krzynówek’s drive was re-directed in by Mahir Sağlık.

The result is an extraordinarily fortunate result for Wolfsburg and will provide them a leg-up on the competition in the round of thirty-two. I cannot help but mention my surprise on the tactical decisions made by AC Milan in the final twenty minutes and protecting the lead better.

Wolfsburg are now off on their winter break and return when they face FC Köln on January 31 of the new year.