The competition format of the UEFA Champions League is not like boxing. When you defend a title in boxing, you go through one match and wait to see the outcome after you slug it out. In the UEFA Champions League, defending the title means having to survive the Group stages of 32 teams, the elimination round of 16 teams, then 8, then 4, then the big dance in the finals of the top 2 teams where one can only be crowned champions of the UEFA Champions League.

In the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League, AC Milan went through that entire ladder until they were the only ones remaining on the top step. For this season, AC Milan have to go through the entire ordeal again beginning with the Group stages. In the 2007-2008 season of the UEFA Champions League, AC Milan have been grouped in Group D along with Ukranian football club FC Shaktar Donetsk, Scottish Premier League title holders Celtic FC and Portugese club Benfica. Only the top 2 of Group D will advance to the elimination round of 16.

AC Milan recently hosted Benfica at the San Siro in Milan, Italy, and played an awesome match that gave them a 2-1 victory over the Portugese side. It only took UEFA Champions League title holders AC Milan 9 minutes to get into the score when Kaka was brought down 20 meters from the goal, awarding AC Milan with a free kick. Andrea Pirlo had no problem curling the free-kick into the top corner past Benfica keeper Quim to give AC Milan a 1-0 advantage.

The AC Milan side looked to be in total control of the match, and had a lot more opportunities to extend their lead with attempts from Massimo Ambrosini and Filippo Inzaghi keeping Benfica goalkeeper Quim on his toes. Benfica also looked to equalise and had opportunities from Rui Costa and Oscar Cardozo. Cardozo had the best effort when he was unmarked just a few feet from the AC Milan goal and pouncing a header from a beautiful cross by Angel Di Maria. Unfortunately, Cordozo hit the post.

However, the second goal of the match fell to AC Milan. Andrea Pirlo crossed from the right side to the far post and found Filippo Inzaghi 10 meters from the goal, who managed smash a volley into the right corner to give AC Milan a 2-0 advantage.

Benfica were able to score a consolation goal in injury time of the second half when Konstantinos Katsouranis played a low cross from the left side of the penalty area, and substitute Nuno Gomes slid into the AC Milan goal along with the ball. The final whistle was blown right after, and it was too late for Benfica who lose to AC Milan 2-1. AC Milan now have 3 points to lead group D along with Shaktar Donetsk who beat Celtic FC 2-0 on their home pitch in the Lokomotyv Stadium in Donetsk, Ukraine.

AC Milan will look to extend their lead in Group D of the UEFA Champions League when they visit the Celtic Park in Scotland, home of Celtic F.C. Matchday 2 of the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League is on October 2-3, 2007.

To bet on AC Milan vs. Celtic F.C. and other UEFA Champions League matches, click here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 5:04 am and is filed under AC Milan, Kaka, Soccer News, Sports News, UEFA Champions League, sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.