Why Kaka will win the Champions League for AC Milan

Kaka is in unstoppable form in the Champions LeagueThe latest musings of Spanish Fry

As there really isn’t too much going on in the world of Arsenal at the moment, I thought that I’d turn my attention to the Champions League Final rematch between AC Milan and Liverpool. You can buy your Champions League final tickets here. Many Liverpool fans will be hoping that the heart their team showed in winning the 2005 final – after being 3-0 down at half-time the same opponent – will see them come away with victory over Milan again in Athens. If this is the case then I think they are in for a rude shock on Wednesday night.

The reason – they are facing AC Milan at a time when the Rossoneri’s star man, Kaka, is currently in the best form of his career. It would appear Rafa Benitez will be starting Argentine Javier Mascherano with the intention of stifling Kaka’s influence in much the same way that Gennaro Gattuso was used to mark Cristiano Ronaldo in Milan’s semi-final against Manchester United. Whilst this might look a good idea on paper the truth is that at this point in time, much like Ronaldinho in last season’s Champions League tournament and unlike Ronaldo in the semi-final – Kaka is currently unstoppable. His endless movement has been too difficult to handle for any of Milan’s previous opponents and I just can’t see that changing against Liverpool – even if Mascherano is given a marking role.

Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano will not be able to stop KakaKaka’s freedom to roam

The midfield set-up behind Kaka of Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf and Ambrosini gives Kaka the freedom to go wherever the game takes him and this renders him impossible to track for an entire 90-minute period. Even when Kaka is kept quiet, his technique and impeccable finishing means that he will always contribute positively to Milan’s game. If Liverpool are to have any chance of beating Milan on Wednesday – which they most certainly do – then Benitez would do better than get too preoccupied with Kaka and focus carefully on a game-plan built around attack. If he fails to take this approach and goes defensive the game will no doubt be tight, but with Kaka on the pitch then AC Milan will always be a goal better than their opponents.

With this in mind I am tipping a 2-0 win to Milan and another cavalier performance from the current best player in the world, Kaka.

Read previous columns by Spanish Fry here

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Comments

  1. I’m going to disagree with you. If there’s one person managing a team in this country who has Europe sussed it’s Benitez.
    Although he may have Mascherano looking after Kaka I think his main aim defensively will be cutting of his supply by controlling midfield.
    I haven’t checked who the ref is yet but, as effective as he was against Man Utd, if Gattuso has that same manic look in his eye tomorrow Milan could be playing some of the match with ten men.
    I’ll take Liverpool by 2.1

  2. Fair comments. There’s no doubt that Liverpool are incredibly effective at breaking up the play in midfield – that is how they have got this far – but I just don’t think that will be enough to stop Kaka. You never know with these things, we’ll just have to wait how things pan out. As for the point about Gattuso – you could well be right.

  3. I think Guttuso will wipe the floor with Stevie ME. I hope so anyway, we’ll never hear the end of it if they manage to pull it off again.

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