I'm back ladies and gentlefolk. There have been some cock-ups over the past few days with Aamir's posts and I have been unable to correct anything because I've had no access. Apologies for that.

By the way, thanks Aamir for filling in over the past few days.

Now, onto the main story this week; we scored another three goals to secure our passage through to the Champions League group stages Eduardo has become somewhat of a hate figure in the press (see the headline) for diving to win a penalty.

In many ways a new year of Serie A doesn't truly begin until it features one of thee Big Matches. It is often said that over the course of the season it's the the "little games", those against teams battling for relegation, that pave the road for a championship title. Often true, but the "little games" certainly are not those everyone is waiting to see.

Nell'anticipo serale di Serie A, il Milan vuole cancellare l'amarezza per la rimonta subita al San Paolo (era in vantaggio per 2 a 0 contro il Napoli) e conquistare l'intera posta in palio. Ma l'ostacolo di questa sera, il Parma di Guidolin, è un cliente particolarmente scomodo per i rossoneri. Il tecnico veneto sembra aver trovato l'alchimia giusta e la coppia d'attacco, costituita dal bulgaro Bojinov e il talentuoso (scuola Milan) Paloschi, è davvero temibile.

If the media are to believed, AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti is the one of the most sought after managers in world football with Real Madrid and Chelsea among the sides linked with the Italian boss for the 2009-10 season.

However, this writer struggles to see why Ancelotti's stock is so high at a time when his own job at Milan must be considered seriously under threat.

Il giovane Leonardo perde la prima battaglia contro l'esperto e titolato Mourinho. La prima stracittadina, vissuta nell'aria statuintense del Massachussets, a Foxborough, vede l'Inter sorridere, grazie al due a zero inflitto ai "cugini" rossoneri. Questi i risultati di calcio del primo derby milanese.

Before the Serie A season started, AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi forced Ronaldinho to stand on a table and promise his teammates he would lead them without question, and that he would help AC Milan recover from the loss of Kaka through good playing. With Kaka and Ancelotti gone, AC Milan is left with Leonardo, Ronaldinho, and Pato.

It's been a helluva week. Only an Audi signed by Marco Borriello could salvage this Friday.

Image via Ciacha

A few nice goals this week, but nothing extraordinary. Giuseppe Mascara scored one of his trademark wonder-goals, and Marco Borriello got back on the scoresheet with 2 goals (the second a nice scissor kick) after almost a year. Diego Milito got back to his scoring ways as well after being absent through injury, and Mirko Vucinic finally scored his first goal of the season.

The highlight of this weekend's fixtures was the match at the Olimpico in Turin between Juventus and Napoli. After numerous quality acquisitions over the Summer for Napoli, they had been expecting a good start to the season. However, after a less than impressive start, Roberto Donadoni was sacked and Walter Mazzarri brought in to try and settle the ship.

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech (Chelsea)

Chelsea were able to secure top spot of their group with a 1-0 win against Porto thanks to Cech. Three fine saves in the course of the match made sure that dominance by Porto did not convert to goals.

Centre Back: Gerard Pique (Barcelona)

Pique celebrates his goal off of a corner.

The UEFA Champions League resumed its group stage on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 with several matches including AC Milan v FC Zurich. This is the last set of group stage matches before the knockout stages starts in February 2010. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

AC Milan draws with FC Zurich 1-1 Video Highlights

AC Milan were the huge favorites heading into the match but would concede a first half goal against FC Zurich.

Italy's most-loved gangsta' is back and ready to play a full match! Futbolita Betsy reminded us about the Milan tour in USA in July, so all of you who're attending the game must remember to bring napkins for Gattuso when you see him.

Anyway, poor Paolo Maldini has to spend his final season fending off rants about his team's injury misfortunes.

Il Milan riparte dal passato. I risultati di calcio dei rossoneri evidenziano, nella prima uscita stagionale, il trend dello scorcio finale della stagione appena trascorsa. E' Pippo Inzaghi, "super" bomber immortale, sempreverde, di questo Diavolo assetato di rivincite, a regalare i primi squilli e i primi guizzi vincenti, perchè poi si vede ben poco altro nella prima "partitella" per scaldare i motori.

In many ways a new year of Serie A doesn't truly begin until it features one of thee Big Matches. It is often said that over the course of the season it's the the "little games", those against teams battling for relegation, that pave the road for a championship title. Often true, but the "little games" certainly are not those everyone is waiting to see.

Good news. Milan are considering offloading Borriello in the January transfer window in order to raise funds to try and get Luis Fabiano, again. It is terrific how the board are apparently keen to sell Borriello. In my view he is completely out of his depth playing for Milan and with him the team would [.

It's been a helluva week. Only an Audi signed by Marco Borriello could salvage this Friday.

Image via Ciacha

Under serious pressure

1 Another false dawn for Liverpool after a shambolic defeat at Craven Cottage. Two red cards, 3 goals conceded, Torres a major doubt for Wednesday's crunch game at Lyon and Gerrard definitely out. How much worse can things get for Rafa Benitez? His power base within the club is secure after he saw off Rick Parry and negotiated a huge contract with the American owners last season.

(video gol, 0-1. Thiago Silva)
(video gol, 0-2. Pato)
(video gol, 1-2. Autogol di Thiago Silva)
LAZIO (4-3-1-2) - Muslera; Lichtsteiner, Siviglia, Radu, Kolarov; Brocchi, Baronio (17' st Meghni), Mauri (1' st Cruz); Matuzalem; Rocchi, Zarate. (Berni, Diakhite, Cribari, Foggia, Inzaghi).

Don't ask what happened to the defense, but Milan eventually defeated Cagliari 4-3 yesterday with goals from Seedorf, Borriello, Mr Sthefany and Ronaldinho.

"All four forwards scored, which is something very positive," Leonardooooo said. "We had some problems defending and with coverage at times but that's to be expected when you play with (four forwards).

Francesco Totti caught up with Antonio Di Natale at the top of the top scorer's chart with 9 goals after his hat-trick vs. Bari at the Stadio Olimpico. That was Totti's first hat-trick in 7 years, the last coming against Brescia in 2002. Both Totti and Di Natale have each scored a hat-trick this season.

Real Madrid vs. FC Zurich

After leapfrogging Barcelona to the summit of La Liga and with Cristiano Ronaldo returning to fitness, the buzz has returned to Real Madrid who are out to secure their progress into the last 16. Bernard Challandes takes his Zurich side to Spain knowing they are the under dogs but he refuses to be intimidated by his multi-million pound rivals.

Well, it wasn't the most exciting night for Europe's top competition, but we still saw some interesting results. Lady luck appears to be shining on Bayern Munich right now, with their 1-0 result against Maccabi Haifa, courtesy of Ivica Olic's strike, coupled with Juventus losing 2-0 to Bordeaux means that they can still qualify with victory against Juventus in a mouth-watering European tie in December.

The UEFA Champions League had several group stage matches on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 including AC Milan v Marseille. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

AC Milan draws with Marseille 1-1 Video Highlights

Milan took an early lead only to see Marseille reply quickly as the two teams played to a draw on Wednesday.

"La partita di martedì? Dipender solo ed esclusivamente da noi, stiamo facendo qualcosa di positivo e al risultato del Marsiglia non dobbiamo pensare". Queste sono state le parole di Leonardo, tecnico dei rossoneri, alla vigilia della fondamentale gara di Zurigo. Stasera, al "Letzigrund" contro gli svizzeri, fuori da qualsiasi discorso qualificazione, potrebbe anche bastare un pari ai rossoneri per poter festeggiare, sempre che il Marsiglia non batti il Real Madrid (in quel caso sarebbero i francesi a passare, insieme proprio alle merengues).

(highlights di Milan-Palermo)
MILAN: Dida; Zambrotta, Nesta, Favalli, Antonini; Pirlo, Ambrosini (77' Flamini); Abate (51' Pato), Seedorf (69' F.Inzaghi), Ronaldinho; Borriello. (Storari, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Huntelaar). All.: Leonardo.
PALERMO: Sirigu; Cassani, Kjaer, Bovo, Balzaretti; Nocerino, Liverani, Bresciano; Simplicio (60' Pastore); Cavani (90' Goian), Miccoli (68' Budan).