UEFA Champions League – Match Review: Auxerre versus A.C Milan, Full Time Report
Milan started the match in aggressive fashion as in the 12th minute of the encounter, Ambrosini committed himself to a totally horrendous two footed challenge on Sammaritano but the Italian was not even booked for
his offensive tackle. It was a dangerous tackle which left Sammaritano seething with pain, nonetheless the referee deemed it an illegal challenge and gave the free kick to Auxerre but he failed to book the A.C Milan veteran midfielder.
The 13th minute of the match saw Dudka taking the free kick for Auxerre, the set piece shot took a huge deflection off the wall and thus forced Abbiati into a save inside the Milan goal. In the 19thminute
of the match, the referee had to stop play as Auxerre’s winger Sammaritano suffered a head injury. It looked like a heavy knock at first but the French club’s forward did well to get back on his feet and continue the rest of the half for Auxerre.
The French club side struggled to keep possession of the ball in the midfield area as Milan maintained a monopoly on ball possession, up front Ibrahimovic tried hard to make an impact on the game but Auxerre’s strict marking on the Swedish
striker made it hard for him to pull off any act of significance.
In the 22nd minute of the match, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Seedorf linked up outside Auxerre’s penalty area. The tall striker headed the ball down to the Dutch midfielder who let loose a heavy strike on goal but the
ball was just off the target by a matter of inches as Seedorf failed to make the goalkeeper work with his shot.
In the 35th minute of the match, Auxerre almost drew first blood as Birsa successfully got to the by-line as he whipped in a cross in behind the Milan defence but there was no one in front of goal for the French
club to connect with Birsa’s ball and the move went to waste.
In the 39th minute, Gattuso found himself with space inside the Auxerre penalty area after their defence made a mistake inside their own half. It was a brilliant opportunity for the Italian national to score for
his side but Genaro’s shot from 16 yards out flew over the bar as Milan wasted a golden opportunity to take the lead.
In the 44th minute, Abate raced down the wing for A.C Milan and delivered a ball in but his cross was gathered in by Auxerre’s goalkeeper who did well to hold onto the ball despite pressure from Ibrahimovic. Half
time thus came in the match between Auxerre and Milan with the score line at 0-0.
The second half kicked off with Auxerre on the front foot as the French side forced three consecutive corners within the first ten minutes of the second period of the game. Milan were under pressure at the start of the second half but
Auxerre failed to take full advantage of their ascendency in the first ten minutes of the second half. In the 58thminute of the match, Milan’s striker, Robinho found himself with considerable space inside the Auxerre’s penalty area but his eventual
shot went over the bar. It was a frustrating effort by the Brazilian who was bought by Milan in the summer transfer window after a two year stint at Manchester City.
In the 65th minute of the match, Milan took the lead after Seedorf’s pass was deflected into Ibrahimovic’s path. The Swedish striker made no mistake as he struck a perfectly timed shot into the top right hand corner
of the Auxerre goal from the edge of their penalty area.
It was a remarkable finish by the former Juventus player as Milan opened the scoring. Milan’s win was made assured in the 91stminute as Ronaldinho was at hand for the 7 time European champions. The Brazilian midfielder cut inside
from the left and then curled the ball into the top left hand corner of the net to make it 0-2 to Milan.
Nonetheless, the match soon after that came to an end as at the final whistle blew and the score line rested at 0-2 to the travelling side, A.C Milan. The win confirmed Milan’s qualification for the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League
but for Auxerre it meant a knockout from the competition.
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