AC Milan vs Man Utd, player ratings

74052053.jpgAC Milan
Dida
Did he touch the ball in the first half? Hardly. Looked sound enough when called upon in the second half though. 6
Kakha Kaladze An underrated defender. Tenacious, unruffled, never lost control. 7
Alessandro Nesta One of the easiest nights he’s ever had in Europe. A genuinely world-class centre-half. 8
Massimo Oddo Wasn’t overly troubled by Ronaldo and co and managed to attack down the flank at his leisure. 7
Marek Jankulovski Kept Ryan Giggs in his pocket. 7
Massimo Ambrosini The unsung fourth member of Milan’s midfield worked his socks off. A solid citizen. 7
Gennaro Gattuso Seemed to be three of him on the pitch at once. Milan’s heartbeat, in the way that Roy Keane was for United. The term ‘midfield general’ may be a cliche, but it applies perfectly to Gattuso. 9 MAN OF THE MATCH
Clarence Seedorf Has already won the Champions League with three different clubs (Real Madrid, AC Milan and Ajax) and last night you could see why. Set up Kaka’s goal, scored himself and strutted around like he owned the midfield. 9
Andrea Pirlo Took a couple of below-par free-kicks but apart from that he was his usual classy self, pulling strings and gliding about the place. 7
Kaka Fired up for this one and it showed. Never tries a trick for the sake of it; brilliantly direct. 8
Filippo Inzaghi Got in the faces of United’s defence but was outshone by his team-mates in midfield. 6
Man U player ratings below…


74051810.jpgManchester United
Edwin van der Sar
Never a good sign when your best player is your ‘keeper. 7
John O’Shea He’s no Gary Neville. Looked way out of his depth. 4
Wes Brown Probably United’s best defender last night, but you wouldn’t say he had a particularly good match. 6
Nemanja Vidic Clearly lacking match fitness – when he was skinned by Kaka early on, the writing was on the wall for United. 5
Gabriel Heinze Played like a cross betwen a headless chicken and an enthusiastic puppy. His form has been all over the shop since he returned from injury. 5
Darren Fletcher Found himself in a one-on-one with Dida but sliced his shot wide. Totally undone by Seedorf, Pirlo and co. 5
Michael Carrick United’s most disappointing performer. If he had one tenth of Roy Keane’s hunger and dynamism he could be great. United needed Carrick to be a leader in central midfield. He failed them miserably. Even his passing, his strongest suit, was all over the place. 4
Paul Scholes Seemed overly cautious in the first half (worried about his yellow card situation?) but improved as the game wore on. Looked his age last night though. 5
Cristiano Ronaldo Wasted vital free-kicks – generally nothing he tried came off. Must learn to play it simple. See Kaka. 5
Wayne Rooney No help from his midfield and really struggled up front on his own. Poor first touch at times and also looked tired. 5
Ryan Giggs I thought he had a shocker and should have been taken off at half time. Never in the game and, like Scholes, starting to show his age after a long season. 4
[Photos: Getty Images]

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9 Comments

  1. Tommy says:

    i think these ratings are pretty fair.
    In gattuso i saw so much of roy keane last night, i was really impressed. Milan struggle when hes not around. The ball he took from CR7 on the sideline was pure class.
    Also, i think the description of kaka/ronaldo is spot on. “Never tries a trick for the sake of it; brilliantly direct.” CR7-“Must learn to play it simple. See Kaka.”
    CR7 is a world class player but he will be even better when he takes a page out of kakas playbook and learns to play a bit more simple. Also, hitting free kicks as hard as you can at the wall doesnt really work that well.
    I think Man U is the better overall team but the better team last night won with style.

  2. SteelScouser says:

    Agreed probably the right rankings…How much do you think SAF wants to spend on Gattuso now? My Lord, the man was breathtaking. The thing I like most about Gattuso,and the biggest reason he draws parallel with Keane, is that while he is a workhorse/attack dog type in midfield, he also displays good skill on the ball at times when necessary, and his passing is smart and simple.

  3. OmegaSupremeho says:

    Harsh on Rooney, aside from a few sloppy passes his passing and control were better than that of his teammates, no service. Generous to Heinze.

  4. moses syengo says:

    i think the point has been proved very cleary that ronaldo is not the best player in the world.i mean lets be real people he is a player who can do great things in the pitch but the fact is that people have given him to much of praise that they forget to give him the other side of the coin like showing off in the pitch instead of foccusing on how to win a game further more hes been selfish contributing to the problems of manchesters loss.am happy that he learnt from kaka a great player that being a world player doesnt invovle showing off in the pitch but contributing to the team.great players have been there such as zidane ,let him first learn from them if not ronaldo is yet to make more disasters

  5. jay says:

    I do not think any of the Man U players played well and it is hard to pick on any as their poor performances fed of each other.
    One thing is clear, both Liverpool and Milan have had their positions in the respective leagues and the corresponding qualification for next years UCL practically guaranteed and they are both in the final. It was clear that Milan players were physically more prepared for this games. They were all over the place and we could often see three players attacking the ball carrier.
    Regarding Ronaldo’s display, it reminded me the game against Lille at home. Every time Ronaldo had the ball there were two or three guys on him. This means that other ManU players should have more space. However, they were never able to take advantage of that against Lille or ManU.
    This team has been relying too much on Ronaldo or Rooney to make the difference up front, and when that fails the other options are weak or inconsistent.

  6. Aryaan says:

    Rooney please give me your email address or send me a email. My email is aryaan_ishan@hotmail.com and i chat with ronalo on MSN

  7. bill says:

    i am bill lennox by name from malaysia,i need kaka’s email address or he should mail me,am an ac milan fan.
    Bill Lennox…….

  8. Jamie Santos says:

    I would love to see AC Milan do exhibition game in USA. I know America would truly enjoy watching these skilled players perform on USA location…

  9. Sayers says:

    well luck we have tevez nani anderson and hargreaves now best team in europe !!!!!