AC Siena 1 AC Milan 5

Milan showed in emphatic style today, that they are not out of the title race, mercilessly putting Siena to the sword with another wonderful display from Inzaghi.
Flamini was fouled in the first seven minutes resulting in a penalty for Milan converted by Pirlo. AC Siena reacted by pressurising the Milan goal but to little effect although sadly Abiatti collided with one of his defenders after just eleven minutes leading to him being replaced by Dida in goal for the rest of the game. Reports confirm a lengthy period of recovery for Abiatti for a cruciate ligament repair. After resisting the best that Siena had to offer, Inzaghi opened up the gap to 2-0 just before the break, finishing from a Beckham corner.
Kaka returned to the field for the second half after a lengthy respite with a foot injury. Ten minutes later saw Pato scoring his first and Milan's third of the day. On 62 minutes, Siena hopes were raised as they manage to pull one back, but this turned out to be a mere consolation goal as Inzaghi capped his performace with his 300th career goal less than 10 minutes later. Not long after that Pirlo added insult to injury with his second and Milan's fifth. Beckham missed out an a chance to get on the scoresheet by placing a shot over the bar in the closing seconds.

New ankle injury

It has been reported that Beckham injured his ankle in training a few days ago. Although reportedly the injury is not serious, he was plagued with ankle problems about 18 months ago which kept him off the field after first arriving in LA. The next Milan game is on Sunday, whether he is included in the starting lin-up, on the bench or in the stands should indicate the extent of the damage.

Here is the schedule for Milan's league matches up to May:

Siena-Milan, sunday 15 march 15.00
Napoli-Milan, sunday 22 march 20.30
Milan-Lecce, saturday 4 april 20.30
Chievo-Milan, saturday 11 april 15.00
Milan-Torino, sunday 19 april 20.30
Milan-Palermo, sunday 26 april 15.00
Catania-Milan, sunday 3 may 15.00.

Beckham deal signed and sealed

The details may trickle through over time, but the Beckham contract reported earlier in this blog seems to be close to the deal actually struck.
Beckham has officially been signed for AC Milan until June, and this fact has been stated on the AC Milan website - at the same time he remains a Galaxy player, so the deal is basically a loan deal which will repeat itself next year allowing Beckham to return to Milan in 2010.
Both sides are claiming a positive outcome, although Beckham will be personally hit in the pocket, a small price to pay for extricating himself from a footballing backwater and making himself available for the next World Cup.
The Galaxy deal extends beyond the World Cup, and as it stands now Beckham would be expected to finish off 2010 in the MLS as per the original contract. Of course, this could prove an excellent platform from which Beckham can make his bid for the England squad - a man prepared to work straight through two MLS and two Serie A seasons with a World Cup thrown in - reportedly at a personal cost of £2m or $2m depending on which report you read... is surely worth considering for the national squad? On top of this, he has been able to demonstrate that his overall form has not suffered whilst languishing in the MLS, he is at least as sharp as he was when he left Real Madrid when he played under Capello.
As also reported earlier, the deal includes a 'Milan v Galaxy' exhibition match on July 19 at The Home Depot Center. I am guessing Beckham will be playing for Galaxy, and if they bring their top names, AC Milan should by rights absolutely hammer The Galaxy. Messers Kaka, Pato, Seedorf, Ronaldinho, Chevchenko and Inzaghi should be able to rip the Galaxy defence to shreds if it is anything remotely like the defence they ended up with last season.

AC Milan 3 Atalanta 0

Milan scored through Inzaghi in the first 7 minutes setting the tone for a closely fought first half. Beckham started taking up a more central role behind the strikers, often drifting into positions on the left more familiarly occupied by Ronaldhino.
After the initial blow by Milan, Atalanta showed that they were not about to lose heart, drawing some fantastic saves out of Abbiati in the Milan goal. The first half was a testament to the flowing football of Serie A, neither team establishing superiority, but both teams playing well.
The end-to-end action continued into the second half, with Atalanta having the best of the play as the hour-mark approached. Abbiati was kept busy in the Milan goal as Atalanta pressed for the equaliser and looked the team most likely to score. It was a cruel blow to Atalanta then when Inzaghi was put through with only the keeper to beat and made the score 2 - 0, and even more so a minute later when the ball was slipped across the box to a waiting Inzaghi this time in front of an open goal.. Inzaghi did not hesitate to take his hat-trick, and Milan were home and dry with 25 minutes left on the clock.
Chevchenko was bought on with 10 minutes to go allowing the crowd to show their appreciation for the substituted Inzaghi for his three goals. With 'Posh' watching in the stands, Beckham was also given a standing ovation as he was substituted less than a minute before the end.

The waiting is over??

The more observant visitors may have noticed that I changed the colour-scheme of the blog yesterday to the colours of the Rossoneri in anticipation of the imminent deal.

The details of the agreement are starting to trickle through and it is thought that Beckham will bear a cost of around £2m himself, and that he will fluctuate bewteen the two clubs over the next year or so. This keeps the marketing people happy as both Milan and The Galaxy will be able to print shirts with Beckham's name on the back. Of course, if the original deal of a 50/50 split on Milan merchandising of Beckham artifacts is intact, he may be able to put a dent in the £2m with shirt sales alone...

Staying at Milan until the end of the Italian season makes him available for England games against Kazakhstan and Andorra. He is then likely to return to LA to train with The Galaxy, but not able to play until after the transfer window closes in July. He will then see out the MLS season and return on loan again next year, probably resuming his role in the team after the Winter transfer window opens.

If all goes well, this could see Beckham as part of the squad that goes to the World Cup in South Africa next summer, possibly returning to LA again to finish off the MLS season. During this time, the family will remain primarily based in Los Angeles. One is just left wondering if this punishing schedule of game after game after game will take it's toll on the 33 year old Beckham, although his fitness is not really in question.

There has been much speculation about Beckham's value as a player as opposed to a marketing tool, but the simple fact is that he would not be on the field for Milan or England if he were not contributing - if he was not on the field, no-one would buy the merchandising. The critics have to accept that some very intelligent football minds are willing to stake their reputation on having Beckham in their side namely Ancelloti and Capello - they are primarily concerned with performance and results and I am sure their judgment is exactly what it should be.

Announcement expected..

According to Italian sources, Milan are expected to announce a new offer tomorrow for Beckham which may end the speculation about his future.
The deal is likely to see Beckham take a pay cut which will make way for more funds to be allocated to his purchase price. Effectively he is is subsidising his own purchase without going down the slightly humiliating route of having to buy himself out of his contract. There was always going to be pressure on the weakest point in this complicated business deal, and with Beckham declaring his genuine desire to stay at Milan, he became weaker than Milan who had previously expressed their desire to keep him.

That said, the minutia of the deal will be glossed over if he can give great performances on the pitch and put the LA experience behind him. There may be a sting in the tail of the deal which could see him returning to LA after the end of the Serie A season to see out the remainder of his contract until November.
Since the MLS season started in March 2008, Beckham has played right through both US and Italian seasons without a break - if he takes the option of returning to LA, he will be doing the same for two years on the trot. By the time he finishes his contract in LA, he will be straight back into the Serie A again through to June 2010.

Al Sadd 1 Milan 2

Milan have taken part in a friendly against Al Sadd in Doha. Once again Beckham was in the starting line up, but only played the first half.
Pato scored first for Milan after 27 minutes and ten minutes later the home side equalised. Almost immediately Milan responded to re-establish their lead and the game finished 2 -1 to Milan.
Speaking before the game, Beckham reiterated his desire to stay in Milan beyond next week when he is due to return to LA:

"I have already expressed that I want to stay here, negotiations are still going on and hopefully it will be sorted out in the next few days and I can carry on playing my football in AC Milan."

Sampdoria 2 Milan 1

Still missing Kaka and Ronaldhino, Milan took on a Sampdoria side who like Milan were recovering from being knocked out of the Uefa Cup.
Samp took the lead after 33 minutes in a largely uneventful first half in which Milan showed a distinct lack of form and despite the experience on display, a failure to compensate for their missing stars. In the second half, Inzaghi came on to increase Milans attack, but it was Samp who extended their lead after only 6 minutes into the second half. 23 minutes into the second half and Emerson came on for Beckham, a little over 12 minutes later and Pato grabbed a goal for Milan. Milan start to believe they could get something out of the game especially when Emerson had a Pirlo freekick glance off him into the net, only to be ruled offside. Despite Milans late efforts, no further goals came and Milan record another under-par performance and a missed opportunity for reclaiming second place in the league.

AC Milan tribute to Beckham

To keep you amused until the next Beckham-related story comes along...

Milan 2 Werder Bremen 2

As expected, Beckham started this game for AC Milan. Milan made a great start to the return leg of the tie by going two goals up in the first half. Prlo got the first on about the 25 minute mark with Pato scoring a second just 7 or 8 minutes later. As the first half progressed, the German side showed that they were not defeated by keeping Dida very busy in the Milan goal and the half finished with Werder Bremen threatening to be the next team to get on the score sheet.

Werder Bremen continued to push in the second half and got their reward on 67 minutes from a free-kick which was headed past a helpless Dida in the Milan goal, 2-1 and all to play for... on 77 minutes another header past Dida leveled the score at 2-2 and no-one could argue that it wasn't coming. Bremen had been living in the Milan half with very little creativity coming from the Italians. A frantic few minutes ensued when Bremen could have easily taken the lead, this woke Milan from their slumbers a little, but they lacked firepower with Schevchenko up front and by this stage Beckham could be found playing in centre back territory rather than on the wing. With seconds left on the clock, Bremen had another free-kick in a dangerous position and had another free header which somehow missed the target.

Werder Bremen take the tie as a result of the two away goals and on reflection you have to say they deserved it after a remarkable come back. Milan did themselves no favours by sitting back and creating virtually nothing after netting the two goals early on.

Beckham lastest

Latest Beckham quote being reported in the media makes tantalising reading:

“I really don’t know what will happen, but I do know that next week will be very important.”

Leaving us thinking that there will be a breakthrough soon, and to be honest the longer this goes on the more unthinkable a return to the MLS becomes. There is no doubt that David Beckham is far more at home with AC Milan surrounded by players of similar experience and quality. The MLS experiment has not been a success and will have left Beckham frustrated and looking for a way out.
LA are keeping to the line that Beckham will be on his way back in a few short weeks time, but this is surely just a negotiating stance now, even they must acknowledge that the move is in the balance, Beckham wants to go and Milan have the money to buy him.
Meanwhile, the player himself will be preparing for the return match against Werder Bremen tomorrow, a game in which he is likely to start having been given a short run-out in the win last weekend.

Milan 1 Cagliari 0

Seedorf scores in the 65th minute bringing AC Milan back within 11 points of the Serie A leaders. Cagliari put up a spirited confident performance against a Milan team that were missing some key players. Inzaghi started up front again as the only available striker since illness ruled out Pato and Ronaldinho, with Kaka and Schevchenko still sidelined.
Beckham continued to rain in crosses although there was rarely anyone available to take advantage of them. Inzaghi had the ball in the net on 22 mins but was ruled offside (again..). The Sardinian side Calgiari however created more dangerous chances but failed to get the ball past the Milan keeper Abbiati. In general Seedorf had a poor game, but capitalised on a defensive error in the second half and made no mistake from short range. Milan closed ranks to protect their undeserved one-goal lead, Inzaghi being withdrawn much to the Milan fans' disgust.
Winning when not performing well is often a sign of a strong team, and Milan can comfort themselves with three points even if they did ot look much like winners today.