The rumour mill may continue incessantly as it always does, but, for the time being no players will be swapping kits. Instead, now is the time for coaches to start preparing their troops, both new and old, for the business part of the season. It is already February and that mad month of May is [...]

...of punching Mark van Bommel in the face.

Footballers, pundits and fans have long held the unshakable desire to take a rolled up mound of knuckles and thrash them across any piece of van Bommel's face which may have it. Lazio's Andre Dias fulfilled this dream in the Coppa Italia yesterday, and it only cost him three cup matches worth in suspension.

By Chris Wright

It's not often you find yourself left in the unenviable position of having to sympathise with Mark van Bommel, but during AC Milan's 3-1 Coppa Italia victory over Lazio last night one such instance occurred.

With Lazio 2-1 down and defending a late corner, Brazilian centre-back Dias took an almighty swing at Van Bommel's temples and caught the Milan midfielder with a cowardly blow to the side of the head that left him sprawled on the turf for a couple of minutes.

By Chris Wright

It's not often you find yourself left in the unenviable position of having to sympathise with Mark van Bommel, but during AC Milan's 3-1 Coppa Italia victory over Lazio last night one such instance occurred.

With Lazio 2-1 down and defending a late corner, Brazilian centre-back Dias took an almighty swing at Van Bommel's temples and caught the Milan midfielder with a cowardly blow to the side of the head that left him sprawled on the turf for a couple of minutes.

Inter continued its strong run of form with a sixth consecutive win on the weekend. Only this time, the victory was not against the likes of Parma or Lecce. The Nerazzurri signaled its return to the upper echelon of Serie A with a 1-0 win over bitter rivals AC Milan, in the latest installment of the Derby della Madonnina.

It may have been called the Dubai Challenge and Massimo Ambrosini may have receive a rather extravagant trophy relative to the significance of the whole affair, but, there is no denying that the match played between Milan and Paris Saint-Germain was played more in the spirit of a friendly. Carlo Ancelotti, who took to the [.

Last sixteen of the UEFA Champions League? Say word.

I reckon that's a Luis Suarez (a couple middle fingers) to all our detractors. Tell me you don't agree. But, now that we've booked our place in the knockout stages of the competition, we need to look ahead to our possible opposition in the opening round.

After the Fiorentina game a couple of weeks ago I suggested that Milan could be top of the table by Christmas because of their fairly easy run of matches before the New Year. As things stand, at least until tomorrow morning, Milan are top of the heap having beaten both Chievo and Genoa since. Last [.

The 2011/12 UEFA Champions League has been an enthralling competition so far.
Out of all the groups in the group qualification phase, Group H contains 2 of the best teams in the European competition: Italian giants AC Milan and the current Champions League trophy holders Barcelona.
The other teams confined in Group H are as follows: Gambrinus liga outfit FC Viktoria Plzen, and Belarusian Premier League team FC BATE Borisov.

Heading into Sunday night's match Milan had won nine matches in a row against the Flying Donkeys of Verona. With such a record and given the Champions' resurgence after a slow start to the season Milan were clear favourites to win this one. And, Max Allegri's side duly lived up expectation as they trounced a [.

A revenge goal, beautiful build-ups and top individual play. It's safe to say that Wednesday's UEFA Champions League's marquee matchup lived up to its billing.

Barcelona captured Group G and forced Milan into the runner-up pot for the knockout stage draw after an entertaining, 3-2 victory at the San Siro.

This will not be an Arsenal related post. It's the Interlull and while there's been sufficient topic of discussion to go about, I felt it would be nice to take a break and write about other things for a change. Was suggested this wonderful site by WengerBoy1 on twitter and there's some wonderful statistics on there.

We continue our Oranje analysis and will focus on our midfield now.

The Holding Block
Mark van Bommel & Nigel de Jong. It was the fixed due Bert van Marwijk deployed. No questions asked. But also no prisoners taken. The lock on the door of the somewhat feeble defence. Chances are these [read more]

I have been holding my breath before declaring this, but, I think it is safe to say now; Milan are back. In the fight again Last night's win over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico made it four wins from four for Allegri's men. Few teams in Europe are in this kind of form, Real Madrid [...]

Max Allegri has said that this game is a title decider. While I do not subscribe to the belief that Roma are contenders for the Scudetto this is still, undoubtedly, an important match. This not to say Roma will not be difficult opposition because they always are especially at the Stadio Olimpico. This is highlighted [.

Against Lecce we saw the very best and the very worst of Milan. Luckily, despite being 3-0 down at half-time we were able to come back and win in the most dramatic of circumstances. The team will head into the Parma fixture inspired by their win at the Stadio via del Mare. Kevin Prince [...]

If ever anyone needed convincing that a football match is divided into two 45 minutes games, this is the one you would sit them down to watch. An incredible rollercoaster ride it was for us fans whilst for neutrals it would have been first class entertainment. So often maligned for being defensive and boring, this [.

A memorable round for the Italian clubs who took seven points from a possible nine to place themselves in good positions for progression into the knock-out stages. Inter Milan have had a torrid start to their domestic season. Following a shock loss to Turkish minnows Trabzonspor in Champions League and the dismissal of Provincial manager Gian Piero Gasperini, the European Champions of 2010 earned.

Adriano Galliani – Aquaman and Noce are extraordinary "They all played well but this evening I was particularly impressed by Aquilani and Nocerino. Aquilani was extraordinary both defensively and in attack" Speaking after the game everyone was understandably excited, including Uncle Fester. The old baldy reserved special praise for Alberto Aquilani and Antonio Nocerino and [.

Match Day – 6 – Milan Vs Palermo – San Siro – 15th Oct 2011 With the slowest start to the season in the last 21 years the defending Serie A Champions entered match day six needing a win. There were positive signs heading into the match with Palermo. Robinho was making his first appearance [..

Following last night's loss to Juventus at their impressive new stadium Milan coach Max Allegri admitted to reporters that his side were ‘second best' and that Juve ‘deserved it'. The former Cagliari tactician was spot on with these comments. However, he veered astray when he added, "there's nothing worrying at all.

On Sunday Juventus host Milan in the first big competitive match at their shiny new stadium. In lieu of writing a traditional preview, I've decided to take a look at some points to watch out for during the course of the match. 1) Which lineup will Antonio Conte deploy? During the first three games, Conte used his favored attacking 4-4-2 against teams that played similar formations in Parma,.

On Wednesday night Milan will play host to Czech side Viktoria Plzen when Champions League action returns to the San Siro for the first time this season. Two weeks ago Milan secured an unlikely point at the Nou Camp against Barcelona. Many did not expect the Italians to come away with anything, including yours truly [.

Milan have finally notched up a win. What a relief. Heading into the game the team was languishing in 16th position after the club's worst start to a campaign in 14 years. But, with this win over Cesena Max Allegri's team have leapfrogged to 8th on the table, albeit temporarily. It was not a great [.

Talk of crisis has avoided Milan despite the club sitting in a lowly 16th position. This is because rather than fingers being pointed at the players or coach Max Allegri for the Champions' poor start to the campaign, the significant injury crisis has been viewed as the main reason why Milan have so far failed [.

After last night's draw with Udinese, Milan remain winless after three rounds played which makes it official: this is the club's worst start to a season since 1997. Back then, the Rossoneri failed to beat Piacenza in their opening game, only managing a draw. Then against Lazio they were denied by a late Giuseppe Signori [.

Tonight Milan will host high-flying Udinese and nothing less than three points in this match will do. The Champions have started their title defence in dismal fashion. They were forced to come back from 2-0 down against Lazio in the opening round while on Sunday they were schooled by an impressive Napoli, who made a [.

Milan entered this new season as clear favourites to retain the Scudetto they won back in May. Yet, after three matches played in total, two in the Serie A and one in the Champions League, things have not gone quite to plan. The Italian champions are still without a win in the new campaign after [...

There was Benze-cat, and now there's Cris Charming. Yuck.
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"He's NOT handsome!" was my wife's instant reply when I read Cristiano's post-game comments to her. I can only suppose that this is what happens when you read out comments that epitomize the arrogance of an ex-Manchester United Player to a Liverpool fan.

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt is growing frustrated with the lack of silverware he is picking up at the Anfield club, according to reports in the Daily Star.
Kuyt joined Liverpool in 2006 from Dutch giants Feynoord and since his time at Anfield has been a runner-up in both the Champions League and the Premier League.

AC Milan secured a gutsy 2-2 draw against Barcelona thanks to goals in the first and final seconds of an absorbing match at the Nou Camp.

Pato gave the visitors a dream start when he notched the quickest matchday one goal in Champions League history, only for Pedro Rodríguez and David Villa to reply either side of half-time.

After last Wednesday came to an end and no big signing was announced, I must admit I was disappointed. Like last year when the club landed two great players late in the transfer window I was hopeful the club would do so again. Far from arbitrary, the promises of the fabled Mr. X gave my [...]

Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott and star goalkeeper Joe Hart have both offered their backing to the club's reported pursuit of Owen Hargreaves, whose injury-prone background and past affiliation with bitter rivals Manchester United will make this a shock transfer.

City boss Roberto Mancini has openly expressed his need for another midfielder before the close of the transfer window and having been linked without success with the likes of Mark Van Bommel, Wesley Sneijder, Daniele De Rossi, and Fernando Gago, it now appears that the Eastlands outfit will take a gamble on Hargreaves.

It was the first real test for Milan in their preseason and despite penalties being required to separate the two sides, it was a less than convincing performance from Max Allegri's league champions. Milan started the contest in relatively positive fashion and it did not take long for the away side to open the scoring [.

The best is yet to come from Milan in this year's transfer window. Well, at least this is the hope. Last year the club made a very late double swoop for Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and both these players were central figures in the club's first Scudetto triumph since 2004, especially the latter. So far [.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are two clever lads, the Football Intruders, who travel around Europe and sneak into the training grounds of top clubs for a laugh. While partaking in a Bayern Munich practice session, Danny had a kick about with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller, Philipp Lahm, Mark van Bommel and compared boot fashion with Arjen Robben.

So many of us blogger types have been obsessing over transfers for months now. It's only natural really. Concrete news is at a minimum for the most part, and rumors are very much a welcome diversion from the regular old norm.

Some, including us here at the Chelsea Offside, have even gone as far as to ask readers who would be their dream signings this summer.

Puh...ich habe fertig! Mit was? Ja mit dem Buch „90 Minuten Südamerika" von Mark Scheppert und verdammt, ja, ich fand das Ding geil. Da kommt einer und erzählt mit auf 156 Seiten was von Südamerika, von Freundschaft, von verdammt viel Bier und von seiner Suche nach seiner Heimat! Wie, versteht ihr nicht?

Yesterday it was announced that Massimo Ambrosini has signed on for another year at the San Siro. The midfielder has been kept on at the club and it is expected that he will alternate with Mark van Bommel as the team's defensive midfielder next season. This is a good decision by the club. Admittedly, having [.

Yesterday it was announced that Massimo Ambrosini has signed on for another year at the San Siro. The midfielder has been kept on at the club and it is expected that he will alternate with Mark van Bommel as the team's defensive midfielder next season. This is a good decision by the club. Admittedly, having [.