Wounded Milan clings to life

Milan is up against it on Thursday morning (AEDT) because it will have to overturn a 3-2 home defeat when it faces United at Old Trafford if it is to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

In the other match of the day, Spain’s Real Madrid must overturn a 1-0 deficit against Lyon when it faces the French team at the Bernabeu.

Beating the Red Devils in Manchester is a tough enough ask for any team and Milan’s young coach Leonardo would be under no illusions of the magnitude of the job ahead when he locks horns with wily old manager Sir Alex Ferguson for the second time in three weeks.

Fergie’s men are hot favourites to prevail after breaking a 53-year scoring drought at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza yet Milan, remember, is United’s bogey team.

The Italian team has always prevailed over the Red Devils in Europe’s topmost competition.

Four times these two giants of the game have met in the European Cup/Champions League and the outcome has always been the same.

In the 1957/1958 semi-finals – not long after the Munich air tragedy – crash survivor Dennis Violett scored in a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford but Milan won the return 4-0.

In the 1968/1969 semi-finals Gianni Rivera’s men should have settled the tie in Milan but won only 2-0 before losing 1-0 in the return, which will be remembered for a controversial incident when a shot from Denis Law appeared to cross the line but no goal was given.

In the 2004/2005 round of 16, Milan was much too strong for United, winning both legs 1-0 with goals from striker Hernan Crespo.

And in the 2006/2007 semi-finals, Kaka was in splendid form to help Carlo Ancelotti's side come back from a pulsating 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford to crush United 3-0 at the Meazza.

But things are somewhat different now and United will never have a better chance to put one over its nemesis. Ferguson was so right in declaring that this was a good time to face Milan.

The Rossoneri are doing well in Italy, running second with a pretty ordinary team.

They still play with the style and elan that made them such an admired team all over the world.

But the rock-solid defence one usually associates with top Italian teams is not there anymore and even in midfield, which is where Milan always excels, there appears to be an alarming drop in quality, probably because playmaker Andrea Pirlo is having a poor season.

And Milan won’t cause United too many problems if it uses David Beckham as a central midfielder as it did in the first leg.

To have a chance of winning in Manchester, Milan must slot Becks on the right side where he belongs. That is if he gets on the pitch in the first place.

United is brimming with confidence and optimism. Who wouldn’t be when you have a striker like Wayne Rooney who is playing above himself, seemingly carrying the entire attack on his broad shoulders.

Two-goal Rooney was the main difference between the two sides in Milan even though Ferguson believes his super star is "exhausted".

If Milan can nullify Rooney's considerable threat, who knows what in-form Ronaldinho might come up with at the other end of the field?

United is a better and more intimidating team at the moment but Milan is probably more experienced in terms of know-how and personnel and it will try to dictate the tempo of the game to suit its needs.

Milan must go for it from the start but United, which has become a recognised master of the counter-attack, will sit back and patiently wait for Milan to lose the ball before it can launch its own lethal raids.

So don’t be surprised if the match turns in to a compelling battle between Milan’s attack and United’s counter-attack.

It’s a funny old game, football. Thirty years ago it would have been exactly the other way round.