AC Milan 1 Genoa 1To continue Beckham's fairytale week in Milan, he scored again against Genoa in front of Milan's home crowd and from one of his classic free kicks just outside the box. The 'keeper got a glove to it but could only deflect the shot into the top of the net.
This game lacked the graceful flowing football of the previous outing as the two teams who are placed third and fourth in Serie A slugged it out.
The goal came in the latter half of the first half, and Milan seemed to be happy to rest on their laurels for the second half - retaining possession, but content to take the sting out of the game hoping to frustrate Genoa (and possibly their own fans...). There were few opportunities coming Genoa's way and Milan were nowhere near as effective up front as they were at the weekend.
I was concerned that Beckham was looking slow and tired in the second half until I noticed that the whole Milan team seemed to be playing that way - like a soccer equivalent of Mohammed Ali's famous 'rope a dope' trick...
On 70 mins, Beckham had a chance to take the applause as he was replaced by Flamini, 5 mins later Ronaldinho replaced Pato. Just two minutes after he came on, Ronladinho had the chance to trump Beckham from a similar free-kick, but the' keeper got fingertips to it.
Senderos came on for Milan, as the Genoa substitutes brought fresh legs and fresh impetus to their team. On 80mins Genoa were starting to take control almost leveled the game but for a great reaction save. A nervy 10 minutes ensued and the Genoa pressure finally found an outlet on 87 minutes when they were able to squeeze the ball past the keeper. This woke Milan from their slumbers, but to little avail. Genoa were gifted a final chance when a tackle from behind gave them a free kick similar to the chance that Beckham scored from, but the ball bounced off the wall and the whistle blew on a game which had the thrill of a Beckham goal, but lacked the skill that we know Milan can show.
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