Liverpool were always going to enjoy watching this, comfortable in the knowledge that their place in the final was secure, but they may have derived more pleasure from these 90 minutes than even they had expected. Rafa BenÃÂtez and his team will have noted that Milan looked vulnerable and ordinary before undeservedly sneaking past PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night.
An injury-time header by Massimo Ambrosini took the Italian champions to Istanbul, but their performance blew away the gathering myth in England that Carlo Ancelotti’s team are a fearsome, almost unbreachable, superteam.
Liverpool will have noted how uncomfortable Milan looked as Guus Hiddink’s team played at a high tempo, closed down quickly and denied their opponents the space in which to hit comfortable passes or control the game.
BenÃÂtez will also have seen that Milan can be opened up more easily than statistics suggest. They arrived having not conceded a goal in this competition in seven games, but the Dutch club, who also created chances in the first leg, could easily have scored more than the two which looked set to force extra-time.
Although Phillip Cocu quickly responded to Ambrosini’s header by getting his side’s third, it was not enough to prevent Milan progressing on the away goal. Liverpool will not attack as readily as Eindhoven, who had a two-goal deficit to recover, but it was apparent that Milan can be exposed.
Ancelotti’s team were largely on the back foot, rarely looked comfortable as Eindhoven came at them and barely threatened to score on the break. Andriy Shevchenko was quiet and Clarence Seedorf poor, though Kaka showed flashes of his talent, including the cross from which Ambrosini scored. There were a few signs, too, of Cafu’s strength going forward.
It cannot be assumed that Ancelotti, who admitted ”we are very lucky to be in the final”, will use the same tactics against Liverpool but the 4-3-2-1 he began with left his team open to attacks down the flanks as his narrow midfield struggled to cope.
It was notable that the left-back, Lee Young-Pyo, got the better of Cafu to cross for his team’s second goal, also scored by Cocu, and that the same player set up other chances as he came forward. Milan often looked unhappy on crosses and struggled with Jan Vennegoor.
They were also unconvincing in their defending of set plays, something Liverpool could well look to exploit. Vennegoor put a header against the bar from a free-kick in the first half at 1-0.
BenÃÂtez is more entitled than ever to tell his team that, having beaten Juventus, whom Milan lead only narrowly in Italy, they ought to believe they can complete a remarkable story by beating Milan.
It is certainly not beyond them to harry, Premiership-style, as Eindhoven did here or to play at the pace which so upset Juventus at Anfield.
Only a good save by Dida from Robert prevented PSV going 3-0 up, yet his introduction proved a turning point. Hiddink was bold to introduce him as an extra attacker in place of the central defender Wilfred Bouma as he sought to win the tie in normal time. But it allowed Milan greater space to come forward.
Until then Milan had rarely enjoyed a serious foothold, even if Kaka had a shot blocked towards the end of the first half. There was a sniff of Milan’s growing danger when Ambrosini forced Heurelho Gomes’s first serious save when he reached a header from a corner.
Eindhoven had been in the ascendancy from the word go. They enjoyed all the early pressure and got a ninth-minute goal from Park Ji-Sung, who lashed a shot past Dida as he burst on to a loose ball after Vennegoor had got the better of Jaap Stam.
No stream of chances followed immediately, but Vennegoor hit the bar and Dida saved from Lucius before half-time. With more composure, and had Bouma not had a shot blocked, Eindhoven could have scored in the second half even before Cocu headed in Lee’s cross.
Extra-time looked the least Eindhoven would get, but Ambrosini’s header denied them. Stam praised his former club: ”They played a very good game and we only had one chance but that was enough.” Milan can surely play better, but Liverpool will not approach the final with trepidation. — Â