zlatan ibrahimović underlined his team ethic as he looked ahead to a last-16 tie against tottenham hotspur fc with the hope that ac milan's greater experience will prove telling.
after playing for italian football's three biggest clubs in the space of six years, zlatan ibrahimović is a player whose itinerant career path might provoke a mixed response from some supporters.
yet the 29-year-old has not finished a national champion for seven years running for no reason and, having helped establish ac milan at the serie a summit, the former juventus and fc internazionale milano forward is the man whom rossoneri fans will look to when tottenham hotspur fc visit san siro in the uefa champions league round of 16 on tuesday.
since joining massimiliano allegri's side on loan from fc barcelona last summer, ibrahimović has struck four of their seven goals in the uefa champions league group stage as well as 13 in 23 serie a outings and one in two coppa italia games. curiously, he had not scored in the knockout stages of the uefa champions league nor against english opponents before last term – when he netted against vfb stuttgart and arsenal fc – but he would be quite happy to draw another blank in the double-header with tottenham so long as milan progress.
"i'm enjoying my positive moment, but now it's important that my team win, not that i can score," said the swedish international, who hopes milan's greater experience will tell against a spurs team new to the uefa champions league. "the experience that milan have in europe makes the difference. it's an advantage for me – many of the players here have won the champions league and this gives confidence to us all.
"tomorrow we will play an important game but we have to keep in mind that there's also the return leg. tottenham are a big team, they're showing their quality in the english premier league," ibrahimović added of harry redknapp's visitors. "i think they're growing, they are reaping the fruits of their labour. it won't be easy for us, i think they are at the same level as arsenal."
when antonio cassano arrived at milan in january, the italian betting agencies seemed to believe it was just a matter of time before the italy forward fell out with ibrahimović. on the contrary, the pair have shown a great understanding, and ibrahimović defended his reputation when he said: "i get along with my team-mates now, you know. i'm not 20 years old any more; i don't feel like punching the wall or messing things up now.
the fact cassano is unavailable in europe – he had already played in uefa champions league qualifying and the uefa europa league group stage for uc sampdoria – is not good news for milan but ibrahimović feels they have enough options to compensate, citing the importance of robinho, whom he considers "a fantastic player". he added: "tomorrow we must also try not to concede. i am happy here [at milan] because there are many chances to win, and we must get the first victory tomorrow."
peter crouch stroked in a late winner after fine work from aaron lennon to leave spurs well placed to advance to the quarter-finals.
tottenham hotspur fc will entertain ac milan in a fortnight's time with the cushion of an aggregate lead after peter crouch's goal earned harry redknapp's side a first-leg win at san siro.
the second half had been largely memorable for the acrobatics of tottenham goalkeeper heurelho gomes, who twice denied mario yepes. but with the match seemingly destined for a goalless draw, aaron lennon raced from his own half, leaving yepes in his wake, and into the milan box where he teed up crouch to sweep the ball in.
on the eve of the contest redknapp vowed to take the game to milan and the visitors began strongly, passing the ball around with assurance and looking to exploit the height of crouch from the flanks. christian abbiati was called into action four times in the opening 15 minutes, holding on to shots from crouch and rafael van der vaart and twice beating the lanky striker to the punch after lennon broke down the right.
indeed, abbiati's final intervention resulted in injury to the 33-year-old, who was replaced by marco amelia on 18 minutes. milan, deploying thiago silva in central midfield due to injuries, created little in the first half other than zlatan ibrahimović's low cross which was destined for robinho, but anticipated by gomes, and a wayward free-kick from the subdued sweden striker on the half-hour. the hosts were grateful to be on terms at half-time after amelia tipped van der vaart's shot over, three minutes before the interval.
massimiliano allegri needed to take action and elected to bring pato on for clarence seedorf at the interval yet tottenham almost took the lead when van der vaart turned on the edge of the area and sent a clever reverse chip narrowly wide. the hosts came even closer to breaking the deadlock, gomes displaying extraordinary athleticism to claw yepes's goalbound header over the bar on 48 minutes. now san siro came alive and the match more intense, while vedran Ćorluka was carried off following a challenge by mathieu flamini.
the much-improved rossoneri were unrecognisable from the first half, surging forward and winning a succession of corners. one again picked out yepes on the hour, only for the colombian international to once more meet his match in the inspired gomes. milan continued to press forward, pato combining well with flamini, whose shot was blocked by wilson palacios.
the rossoneri threw everything at the visitors but in so doing got caught cold by a lightning counterattack on 80 minutes. sandro, with an interception, and substitute luka modrić, with a poked pass between two defenders, were involved initially but the move was all about lennon who laid on the winner for crouch after his rousing run.
in the dying moments robinho's close-range shot was blocked by michael dawson's diving tackle, leaving milan with it all to do, and without the suspended gennaro gattuso, in north london.
yedekler: sokratis papastathopoulos, massimo oddo, marek jankulovski, alexander merkel, nicola legrottaglie
teknik direktör: massimiliano allegri (ita)
tottenham: heurelho gomes (gk), aaron lennon, rafael van der vaart (dk. 62 luka modrić), wilson palacios, william gallas, peter crouch, michael dawson (c), vedran Ćorluka (dk. 59 jonathan woodgate), sandro, benoît assou-ekotto, steven pienaar (dk. 76 niko kranjčar)
yedekler: carlo cudicini (gk), roman pavlyuchenko, jermain defoe, sébastien bassong
teknik direktör: harry redknapp (eng)
gol: dk. 80 peter crouch (0-1)
sarı kartlar: dk. 55 mathieu flamini, dk. 61 mario yepes, dk. 76 gennaro gattuso (c) (milan)
şampiyonlar ligi 2. tur ilk maçında san siroda'da oynanan milan - tottenham karşılaşmasının ardından milanlı futbolcu gattuso adeta çileden çıktı. tottenham'ın 1-0 üstünlüğü ile sona eren karşılaşmanın ardından milan'ın tecrübeli orta saha oyuncusu gattuso tottenham takımının yardımcı antrenörüne kafa attı ve defoe'ye saldırdı.
maçın 2. yarısında 35'lik mario yepes'in 2 sert kafa şutunu spurs kalecisi heurelho gomes nefis kurtarışlarla önledi. 2. yarıda milan çok daha baskılı idi ama bir kontrada spurs işi bitirmesini bildi.
maçın uzatma anlarında ibrahimovic rövaşata ile takımına golü getirdi ama rövaşatadan önce rakibini ittiği için hakem golü geçersiz saydı...
tottenham hotspur'un yardımcı antrenörü joe jordan'a kafa atan ac milanlı gennaro ıvan gattuso'ya uefa tarafından verilen ceza belli oldu.
avrupa şampiyonlar ligi 2. tur ilk maçında, ingiliz temsilcisi tottenham hotspur'un yardımcı antrenörü joe jordan'a kafa atan ac milanlı gennaro ıvan gattuso'ya uefa tarafından 4 maç oynamama cezası verildi.
avrupa futbol federasyonları birliği (uefa) disiplin komitesi'nden yapılan duyuruda, ''16 şubatta oynanan avrupa şampiyonlar ligi 2. tur ilk maçında, sahasında ağırladığı ingiliz ekibi tottenham hotspur'a 1-0 yenilen ac milan'da, orta saha oyuncusu gennaro gattuso'ya maç bitiminde konuk takımın yardımcı antrenörü joe jordan'a karşı giriştiği hareket nedeniyle 4 maçtan men cezası verilmiştir'' denildi.
bu arada ac milan kulübü, karara itiraz etmeyeceğini bildirdi.
