AC Milan V FC Bayern München MATCH PRESS KIT Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Wednesday, 8 March 2006 - 20:45 CET First Knockout Round - Matchday 8
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AC Milan v FC Bayern München MATCH PRESS KIT Giuseppe Meazza, Milan Wednesday, 8 March 2006 - 20:45 CET First knockout round - Matchday 8 Andriy Shevchenko©s second-half equaliser in the Fuûball Arena München has made FC Bayern München©s task more difficult as they look to gain a first aggregate victory over AC Milan in UEFA club competition. To achieve that ambition they will have to win at the San Siro or achieve a high-scoring draw. First unbeaten visitors · Shevchenko©s penalty forced a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their first knockout round tie and enabled the Italian club to become the first visiting team to avoid defeat at the German champions© new stadium. Penalty leveller · Bayern gained a deserved half-time advantage through Michael Ballack's stunning strike but could not force a second goal. When Valérien Ismaël handled, it gave Shevchenko the chance to put Milan in the driving seat. Happy omens · If they complete the job on their own ground Carlo Ancelotti©s team will begin to believe more strongly in their chances of lifting the European Champion Clubs© Cup for a seventh time. · On each occasion in which they have overcome Germany©s most famous club side over two matches they have gone on to lift a trophy. It happened in the European Cups of 1989/90 and 2002/03 and also in the 1967/68 UEFA Cup Winners© Cup. · In those six matches Bayern prevailed just once with Milan claiming four victories. The last encounter, the 2002/03 first group stage, ended in 2-1 home and away victories for the Italian side. PSV escape · Milan©s recent home games in the competition underline the difficulties Bayern face. Since losing two fixtures in the San Siro in the 2003/04 group stage, Milan have won ten of eleven fixtures on their own turf with PSV Eindhoven, in this season©s group, the only visitors to escape unbeaten. They earned a 0-0 draw. · Historically the Italian giants do not make a habit of losing to German visitors. In 14 home games they have won eleven and lost only twice. Unconvincing results · Milan©s campaign in this season©s group stage hit something of a roadblock on Matchday 2 with a 2-2 draw against FC Schalke 04. Another draw followed by an away defeat in two successive games against PSV made them fear for their qualifying ticket. · Two finishing victories in Group E, including a 4-0 away win against Fenerbahçe SK with Shevchenko scoring all four, put them in better heart and a narrow home success against Schalke kept PSV©s strong challenge at bay. Tough test last year · Milan©s passage to last season©s final where they lost a dramatic encounter to Liverpool FC on penalties, included 1-0 wins, home and away against Manchester United FC in the first knockout round. The striking skills of Hernán Crespo proved the difference each time. Last Updated 7.3.2006 9:38:01CET uefa.com 1 AC Milan v FC Bayern München MATCH PRESS KIT German finalists · Milan have twice faced German clubs in the UEFA Cup Winners© Cup final. In the 1967/68 campaign they defeated Hamburger SV 2-0 in Rotterdam, while in the 1973/74 edition, played again in the Dutch city, they lost by the same scoreline to 1. FC Magdeburg. Bayern strong in group · Bayern faced another Italian side, Juventus, in the group stage and honours finished even with both sides winning at home ± and both by 2-1 However, Felix Magath©s men, who reeled off three victories in the first three games, had to settle for runners-up spot in Group A after they dropped two points on Matchday 6 away to Club Brugge KV. Last season©s run · It will be some comfort to the German champions to recall that at this stage last season they hit top form, winning their first game with Arsenal FC 3-1. Although the English team gained a measure of revenge at Highbury two weeks later they could only reduce the arrears by a single goal. · Two thrilling games with Chelsea FC then ensued and the 4-2 defeat suffered on their return to London gave Bayern plenty to do on their own turf. A 3-2 victory was not quite enough to prolong the Munich team©s participation. Five successive defeats · A reminder of their record in Italy will not fill Bayern with over-confidence as they try and secure a seventh quarter-final place in the last nine seasons. They have lost on the last five occasions they have played Italian clubs on their own grounds but they did win the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League final in Milan, with a 5-4 success on penalties against Valencia CF after a 1-1 draw. Their record away to Italian clubs shows eight games played with six lost and two wins. Knockout format · Clubs play two matches against each other on a home and away basis, with the team scoring the greater aggregate of goals qualifying for the next round. In the event of both teams scoring the same number of goals, the team which scores more goals away qualifies. If this proves inconclusive, extra time of two periods of 15 minutes is played after the second match. If during extra time both teams score the same number of goals, the away goals count double (ie. the visiting team advances). If no goals are scored during extra time, the winner is decided by penalty kicks. Match facts · Until leaving the pitch in the 69th minute on Matchday 7, Dida had been the only Milan player not to have missed a minute of their seven UEFA Champions League games to date. · Aside from Dida, Andrea Pirlo, Kaká, Gennaro Gattuso and Andriy Shevchenko have each played some part in all seven games. · Gattuso and Johann Vogel each made it 50 appearances in the UEFA Champions League proper in Munich. · If he plays on Matchday 8, Kakha Kaladze will reach the same half-century milestone. · Shevchenko is one match from his 75th apppearance in the UEFA Champions League. · Dida is three games away from the 50-mark in the UEFA Champions League, Cafu four. Pirlo, Rui Costa and Serginho have all played 45 times in Europe©s premier club competition. · Carlo Ancelotti needs four more games to make it 50 games in charge in the UEFA Champions League. · Gattuso and Jaap Stam are each two games away from 75 in UEFA club competition. Last Updated 7.3.2006 9:38:01CET uefa.com 2 AC Milan v FC Bayern München MATCH PRESS KIT · Filippo Inzaghi needs two more goals for 50 in UEFA club competition. · Vogel will be celebrating his 29th birthday on the same day as Bayern visit Milan. Alessandro Nesta turns 30 on 19 March. · Shevchenko is the leading scorer in this season©s UEFA Champions League with seven goals, two more than Ronaldinho and David Trezeguet. · Shevchenko has also had more shots on target (18) than any other player, with John Carew and Samuel Eto©o the closest rivals on 13. · Gattuso is joint second in the list of players who have committed the most fouls (25) in this season©s UEFA Champions League. Jefferson Farfán leads the way on 29. · Alberto Gilardino has been caught offside on eleven occasions in this season©s UEFA Champions League, the same amount as Robin van Persie and Nicolas Anelka. Zlatan Ibrahimović leads the way with 19 while Roy Makaay has fallen foul of the assistant referee on ten occasions. · Gattuso is one of six players suspended for Matchday 8 after picking up his third yellow card of the tournament in the first leg against Bayern. · Milan©s 3-0 victory at home to Empoli FC on Saturday stretched their unbeaten home record in Serie A this season to 14 games. · In Dida©s absence, Zeljko Kalac made his Serie A debut for Milan in the 2-0 win at US Città di Palermo on 26 February. The Australian then kept another clean sheet against Empoli. · Alessandro Costacurta, 40 next month, has also played the full 90 minutes in the last two Serie A games. · Inzaghi©s two goals against Empoli made it seven in Milan©s last five Serie A games. · Shevchenko is also in a rich vein of form having now registered eleven goals in his last eleven games ± rising to ninth in the ESM Golden Shoe standings. · Gattuso, Kaká and Clarence Seedorf were all in action on Saturday, and remain the Rossoneri©s most used players this season having each missed just one Serie A game apiece. · Gilardino was on target with his first international goal to set Italy on course for an emphatic 4-1 win against Germany on Wednesday. Nesta and Pirlo also started in Florence. · It was a successful week all round for Milan©s international stars, not least Dario Šimić, whose 87th-minute strike proved decisive as Croatia earned a 3-2 victory against Argentina in Basle on Wednesday. · Vogel led Switzerland to a 3-1 victory against Scotland at Hampden, while Kaká played 73 minutes of Brazil©s 1-0 victory against Russia in Moscow. Dida was prevented from winning his 84th cap due to the injury picked up in the first leg against Bayern. · Marek Jankulovski was in the Czech Republic side whose hopes of a morale-boosting win dashed by two last-gasp Ümit Özat strikes as Turkey held the visitors to a 2-2 draw in Izmir.