Serie A, Inter Milan 2-1 AC Milan

Inter fight back to win Milan derby

Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the winner as Inter Milan bounced back from their disappointing exit from Europe in midweek with a narrow triumph over city rivals AC Milan on Sunday in the derby match.



Ibrahimovic struck with 15 minutes remaining to give the Serie A leaders a deserved victory in a thrilling encounter at a sold-out Giuseppe Meazza stadium. Substitute Julio Cruz had levelled the score shortly after the re-start to cancel out Ronaldo's first-half strike against his former club.




Inter Milan showed plenty of character after their elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Valencia, to keep their unbeaten run in Serie A. Coach Roberto Mancini's decision to replace Crespo with Cruz proved a wise move by the coach, as the latter struck seconds after entering the game.



Crespo was first to test Dida with his central strike proving an easy catch for the AC Milan goalkeeper. The Rossoneri then pressed forward and Andrea Pirlo sent a warning to Inter with his curled free-kick going just wide off the near post. Mancini was forced to make his first substitution shortly after, with Maxwell replacing an injured Fabio Grosso. Midway through the first half, Pirlo's right-footed effort forced Julio Cesar to palm over the crossbar for a corner.



Marek Jankulovski had a lucky escape after his clearance inside his own area proved an assist for Crespo, who fired wide off the far post. On the half hour mark, Inter should have been awarded a penalty after Daniele Bonera brought down Ibrahimovic inside the area but the referee surprisingly booked the Nerazzurri striker for diving and played on.


Inter increased the tempo and looked more threatening from then on. The hosts twice had the opportunity to break the deadlock. Crespo's close-range header from Nicolas Burdisso's cross went just wide off the far post.



In the 38th minute, a fantastic play by Luis Figo saw the Portuguese get past two players before firing towards the far post but Crespo was unable to get the all-important touch. Just when Inter were playing at their best Milan struck.

Ronaldo got past Maxwell before firing a left-footed strike towards the far post with goalkeeper Julio Cesar unable to reach it.



Mancini made a half-time substitution with Walter Samuel replacing Olivier Dacourt. Inter picked up where they left off and should have equalised shorlty after the break, with Ibrahimovic's close-range strike forcing Dida to dive low to clear. Milan were quite happy to sit on their lead and wait to hit Inter in the counter attack.



They should have done just that on 53 minutes, with Gennaro Gattuso missing a great chance to double his team's lead, with his angled strike narrowly missing the far post. It proved costly for the Rossoneri, as Inter equalised seconds later.



A cross from the left by Ibrahimovic found Cruz inside the box whose first touch was sufficient to beat Dida. Cruz almost struck his second shortly after, with a classy back-heel touch going inches wide over the crossbar.

AC Milan attempted to react, with Pirlo's central free-kick proved an easy catch for Julio Cesar, but it was Inter who looked more deadly. A defensive mistake to fire past Dida and give his team a lead. The goal proved a hammer blow for the Rossoneri.



Coach Carlo Ancelotti's decision to bring in Alberto Gilardino and Yoann Gourcuff failed to spark the Rossoneri as they conceded their first defeat of the year at the hands of their arch-rivals.



INTER Milan (2): 12 Julio César, 23 M Materazzi, 11 F Grosso (6 Maxwell), 4 J Zanetti, 2 I Cordoba, 16 N Burdisso, 5 D Stankovic, 7 L Figo, 15 O Dacourt (25 W Samuel), 8 Z Ibrahimovic and 18 H Crespo (9 J Cruz)


Subs: 21 S Solari, 6 Maxwell, 91 M Gonzalez, 20 A Recoba and 1 F Toldo

AC MILAN (1): 1 N Dida, 3 P Maldini, 25 D Bonera, 44 M Oddo (2 M Cafu), 18 M Jankulovski, 10 C Seedorf, 23 M Ambrosini, 22 R Kakà, 8 I Gattuso, 21 A Pirlo and 99 L Ronaldo

Subs: 20 Y Gourcuff, 11 A Gilardino, 17 D Simic, 7 R Oliveira, 32 C Brocchi, 16 Z Kalac

Serie A Inter Milan 2-1 AC Milan highlights and goals:

Champions League, Valencia 0-0 Inter Milan

Valencia draw with Inter sees them into last eight

Valencia progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a 0-0 draw here Tuesday with Inter Milan saw them home 2-2 on aggregate.

Valencia, which stretched their unbeaten European home record to nine matches, had its two away goals from the first leg draw at the San Siro to thank for ensuring progression into the last eight of European football and premier competition.

The tie was marred after the final whistle when a mass brawl broke out between rival players, with members of each of the benches joining the melee which appeared to be triggered by blows exchanged by Valencia's Carlos Marchena and Nicolas Burdisso of Inter Milan. Security officers were forced to intervene to restore order.

Despite the scoreline the game itself at the Stadio Mestalla was by no means a dull affair despite Inter missing hamstrung Brazilian striker Adriano and dynamic French midfielder Patrick Vieira. The opening 10 minutes were end-to-end, with both sides keen to attack, and indicative of a pulsating match throughout.

Zlatan Ibrahmovic tested Santiago Canizares in the eighth minute, but the goalkeeper made a comfortable save from Zlatan's 25-yard strike. A minute later, Valencia striker David Villa fumbled a shot from a delicate David Silva through ball, and Fernando Morientes and follow-up was parried away by the covering Marco Materazzi.

Julio Cesar was forced into action in the Inter goal in the 12th minute, clearing a low diagonal 20-yard shot by Baraja. Inter Milan, with fiery Swede Ibrahmovic partnered up front by Argentinian veteran Hernan Crespo, came closest to an opener with a quarter of an hour to play in the cracking first-half.

Maicon whipped cross was headed into the middle of the area by Stankovic at the back post but Raul Albiol hooked clear to deny Crespo a near-range attempt.

On the stroke of half-time, Villa was denied a scoring chance from a Morientes cross by a neat backheeled clearance by Colombian defender Ivan Cordoba.

Valencia's Villa saw a header deflected away by Olivier Dacourt at the start of the second period, and Cesar was also in action to save an Emiliano Moretti header.

Inter Milan failed, however, to pull back any goals to leave Valencia booking their ticket into the last eight.

Valencia: Canizares, Miguel, Ayala, Albiol, Moretti, Angulo (Joaquin 77), Baraja (Hugo Viana 36), Marchena, Silva, Morientes (Vicente 67), Villa.
Subs Not Used: Butelle, Del Horno, Navarro, Curro Torres.

Booked: Canizares, Angulo.

Inter Milan: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Cordoba, Materazzi, Maxwell (Grosso 75), Zanetti, Burdisso, Dacourt (Figo 64), Stankovic, Crespo (Cruz 58), Ibrahimovic.
Subs Not Used: Toldo, Solari, Samuel, Gonzalez.

Booked: Ibrahimovic, Materazzi, Cordoba, Maicon.

Valencia and Inter Milan fight Video:

UEFA Champions League, first knockout round, second leg.

Valencia 0-0 Inter Milan

Chelsea 2-1 Porto

Olympique Lyon 0-2 AS Roma

Liverpool 0-1 Barcelona

Reports, highlights and videos are added now please click on the links!

Uefa Champions league, first knockout round, second leg

Uefa Champions league, first knockout round, second leg schedule.

Matchday 8 - Tuesday, 06 March:

Lyon 20:45 Roma
Liverpool 20:45 Barcelona
Chelsea 20:45 Porto
Valencia 20:45 Inter Milan

Matchday 8 - Wednesday, 07 March:

Milan 20:45 Celtic
Arsenal 20:45 PSV
Manchester United 20:45 Lille
Bayern Munich 20:45 Real Madrid

For the Cmapions league Full coverage please click here
First day matches reports and videos are now available click here now!

UEFA Champions League, for First knockout round Full reports and Videos Please click the link below.

Full reports and videos
Second leg schedule

UEFA Champions League, Inter Milan 2-2 Valencia

Wasteful Inter held by Valencia

Inter Milan were left kicking themselves after being held to a 2-2 draw by Valencia in a gripping Champions League last 16, first leg tie here on Wednesday. Inter had led in both halves of an engaging encounter at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, but the strikes from midfielders Esteban Cambiasso and Maicon were nullified by long-range efforts from David Villa and David Silva as Valencia refused to concede defeat.
Inter's fans may have been reduced in number but that only served to ramp up the volume in the Curva Nord and the home side responded by carving out some fine early opportunities. Their first chance came as a result of a mistake by Santiago Cañizares, whose attempted clearance rebounded off Zlatan Ibrahimović and looped back over his head towards goal. Roberto Ayala was on hand to spare his blushes with a crucial clearance.

Along with Zanetti and Cambiasso, Luís Figo was justifying his selection with an excellent performance and, after luring David Albelda into a foul on the right flank on 29 minutes, the 34-year-old delivered a curling free-kick which was touched goalwards by Ibrahimović. Cañizares made a fine reaction save but the reflexes of Cambiasso were even quicker as he stooped to head in the rebound.
Valencia, seemingly affected by an injury-depleted squad, were largely reduced to chasing shadows although Villa almost equalised in the 44th minute when he drove wide of the far post from 15 metres after flicking the ball over Iván Córdoba. That would have been harsh on the hosts, who should have doubled their lead a minute earlier when Crespo dived headlong to send Dejan Stanković's centre narrowly wide.

The second half continued in the same vein as Figo squandered two openings, first finding his shot blocked by Albiol following another sweeping Nerazzurri move, then failing to make clean contact with an angled attempt from ten metres. Valencia barely threatened but, against the run of play, pulled themselves level on 64 minutes when Villa unleashed a venomous strike. The visitors were awarded a free-kick 30 metres from goal and the Spanish international stepped up to beat Júlio César for pace and accuracy.
Valencia's tails were up and they began to pass the ball around with confidence but with a quarter of an hour remaining, they conceded again. Maicon, excellent all night, set off on another foraging right-wing run, exchanged passes with substitute Julio Cruz and sidefooted the ball in from six metres for a goal his selfless industry merited.

The Primera División team were not done yet, though. They grabbed a lifeline four minutes from time when Silva volleyed in from the edge of the area following a half-cleared corner to secure a second away goal and leave the tie weighted in Valencia's favour for the return leg on 6 March.

We Should Have Won, Says Crespo. "It's not easy, but neither unreachable," declared the Argentinean striker. "If we play like tonight, we can easily win in Spain. Luck did not help us, the usual Inter would have won with a two goal difference. The goals were two blows which are difficult to explain."

Zanetti: We'll Go To Spain To Win, "We're disappointed for drawing this match, however we deserved something more, but this is football. We must go to Spain and win the match, and I'm sure that we will succeed. "We had our chances to win this match. They put us in difficulty from set-pieces, but we're confident that this team can win in Spain. They have players with good technique and always find a way through."

Well Zanetti, I'm not sure about that... But who knows what is gonna happen in Spain.. Anyways now for the match's full highlights:

UEFA Champions League, First knockout round schedule.

First knockout round matches that will be played on 20/2/2007 - Match kick-offs are listed in CET:

Celtic VS. A.C Milan, 20:45
PSV VS. Arsenal, 20:45
Lille VS. Manchester united, 20:45
Real Madrid VS. Bayern Munich, 20:45

First knockout round matches that will be played on 21/2/2007 - Match kick-offs are listed in CET:

Roma VS. Lyon, 20:45
Barcelona VS. Liverpool, 20:45
Porto Vs. Chelsea, 20:45
Inter Milan VS. Valencia, 20:45

Full reports and matches' highlights:

PSV VS. Arsenal
Lille VS. Manchester united
Real Madrid VS. Bayern Munich
Inter Milan VS. Valencia
Porto Vs. Chelsea
Barcelona VS. Liverpool

Second leg Schedule

Inter Milan Net 12th Consecutive Win, TORINO 1-3 INTER:
Adriano scored for the third game running, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marco Materazzi were also on target as Serie A leaders Inter defeated Torino 3-1 in a gripping Week 19 clash at the Stadio Olimpico to open up a double-figure lead at the top of the table ahead of Sunday afternoon's match between second-placed Roma and Messina in Sicily. The win sees Mancini's team set a new record of twelve consecutive top-flight victories and extend their long unbeaten run to 22 games, Boss Roberto Mancini said: "We haven't talked about the record. It is a win that helps us with our title goal - we will celebrate it when that is met."

Adriano Leite Ribeiro (born February 17, 1982 in Rio de Janeiro), known simply as Adriano, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for F.C Internazionale Milano (known simply as Inter Milan in English speaking countries) in the Italian Serie A.

The experts consider him the best player raised in Brazil in the last decade, that is since the appeareance of Ronaldo. His body is chiseled in the long hours spent in a Milan gymnasium, and his boots (size 43) fire thunderous shots from all angles towards the same target. He is a superb ball-holder, shows a surprising agility for his size, and frustrates defenders with his gravity-defying jumps which unmistakeably last a bit longer than expected. That's Adriano – the hottest goods coming from Brazil since Ronaldo!

The tall striker joined Internazionale from Flamengo in 2001 and after just 8 appearances he was sent on loan to Fiorentina. In Florence, Adriano scored 6 times and soon found himself on loan to Parma.
At Parma, he went on to score 22 goals in 36 games earning him an immediate move back to Milan during the winter break of the 2003-04 season. The U17 Fifa World Cup winner in 1999, made his full debut in November 2000 against during the 2002 WC Qualifyings against Colombia. His best display with the Selecao was in Copa America 2004, he was top scorer with 7 goals, best player of the tournament and his goal in the 90th minute of the final sent the match to penalty kicks.

Zlatan Ibrahimović born October 3, is a Swedish football striker. He is currently playing for Inter Milan, in Italy and the Sweden national football team. Professional career:
Zlatan started professional football with the Swedish club Malmö FF in the 1999 season ( Allsvenskan, the Swedish top division, begins in spring, not in autumn like in Central and Southern Europe). During his stay at the club, Arsene Winger tried to persuade him to join Arsenal but Malmö did not allow the transfer. Other than Wenger, Leo Beenhakker was also interested in Ibrahimovic after observing the striker practiced in Spain. Beenhakker went back to Amsterdam and on March 22, 2001, a deal between Ajax and Malmo regarding Ibrahimovic's transfer to Amsterdam was announced and in July of the same year, he joined Ajax for €7.8 million.
Under manager Co Adriaanse, Ibrahimovic did not get much exposure. His fortune started to change with the arrival of Ronald Koeman. Since Koeman's arrival, Ibrahimovic has consistently been chosen in Ajax's starting lineup.

Zlatan scored an incredible goal against Nac Breda which was eventually voted the best goal of the year by Eurosport's viewers. Maradona-like, he dribbled past more or less the entire defence, feinting continuously and even fooling the cameraman in one of his fake shots before beating the goalkeeper and calmly putting the ball in the back of the net.


Special thanks to MONY.
In 2004, Zlatan was sought after numerous clubs again, and his disagreement with van der Vaart probably led him to leave for Juventus for a reportedly 19 million euros. Near the end of the Serie A season Juve reportedly rejected a €70 million bid for him from Spanish power Real Madrid. This later proved to be nothing more than a PR stunt initiated by Zlatan's agent in order to raise his market value. Nonetheless, he was voted the player of the season in 2004-05 by the fans of Juventus. Zlatan was nominated to the 2005 FIFA world player of the year along with thirty other top players and finished as number eight.

He joined Inter Milan after Juventus was relegated to Serie B due to the match fixing scandal two years later. He had won the two Serie A titles he took part in, but they were taken away as Juventus lost all honours from the title.

One of the world's most lethal marksman, Hernán Crespo is deceptively quick and skilful and has been a regular goalscorer everywhere he has played.

A protégé of Daniel Passarella at CA River Plate, Crespo won two national championships in Argentina as well as a Copa Libertadores in 1996 before joining Parma AC, where he won the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia in 1998/99 and another Italian Cup the following season. S.S. Lazio paid a then world record €60m to acquire Crespo, who finished the 2000/01 season as Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals. FC Internazionale Milano handed over €20m, plus Bernardo Corradi, to secure his services in summer 2002, but after an explosive start with the Nerazzurri a thigh injury halted his progress. Crespo joined Chelsea FC for €24.25m in 2003 but was unable to settle in London, scoring ten times in 19 Premiership appearances. He returned to Italy on a year-long loan at AC Milan, to be reunited with his former Parma coach Carlo Ancelotti, but the season ended in the disappointment of a UEFA Champions League final defeat against Liverpool despite Crespo's two goals. He returned to Chelsea refreshed for 2005/06 and scored their opening goal of the Premiership season, adding nine more as they retained their English crown. However, Crespo still wished to return to Italy and rejoined Inter on a two-year contract, with Chelsea retaining the right to take him back next summer.

Now watch Crespo's magic!!

Marco Materazzi of Inter Milan, the dirtiest defender on earth!!! I can't believe how hey plays, he harms other players on purpose...mmm I mean... Just watch the video!

Hey, Don't forget to check my blog archive to watch the old videos.