Transfer rumor #1 - summer 2012 edition

For some reason, in the last one or two dozen hours, the internet has decided that AC Milan are selling Thiago Silva (pictured below) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pictured further below) to the French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). 

It is possible that the internet has decided to believe this ridiculous rumor because of the statement by AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi that the two players have, in fact, been sold. We will keep you posted.

Milan lose; Berlusconi makes jokes about Hitler

Read this article.

More transfer announcements from AC Milan

GALLIANI: 'Robinho is a wonderful gift from Berlusconi'

8/31/2010

MILAN - Adriano Galliani's words quoted by Sky: 'The acquisition of Robinho cost us € 18 million plus bonuses. He's a wonderful gift from president Berlusconi to the Milan fans.'

Milan 4 - Lecce 0: Milan are in first place! Here are pictures.

Above: Thiago Silva scores.

Below: Inzaghi is excited after scoring late to make it 4-0.

Below: This photo is from last season, against Napoli, I believe.

Below: They haven't assigned Ibrahimovic a number yet. He got to watch the match up in the stands with Berlusconi and Galliani. Unfortunately, no photographs seem to be available at this time.

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More announcements from AC Milan

SILVIO BERLUSCONI’S ANNOUNCEMENT

8/28/2010

MILANELLO – President Silvio Berlusconi arrived at Milanello by helicopter at 19.30 CET, met coach Massimiliano Allegri and his staff. Then he visited the players and informed them about the acqusition of Ibrahimovic. Later on President Berlusconi was called by Adriano Galliano, who then handed over the phone to Ibrahimovic, too, thus the President could talk to the Swedish player personally. After their conversation all the players applauded their new teammate. At 20.20 CET the President left Milanello.

A.C. MILAN OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

8/28/2010

MILAN – A.C. MILAN announces the acquisition of the player Zlatan Ibrahimovic from F.C. Barcelona, through a free loan with the option to purchase the athlete’s playing rights for € 24 million at the end of the season 2010-2011. The Swedish champion will go through the medical exams tomorrow morning, before signing the contract that will tie him to the Rossonero club for four years.

Match report: Milan 3 - Juventus 0

• Goals scored: Antonini 14', Ronaldinho 29', 67'
• What happened: Antonini scored the first goal of his AC Milan career. Ronaldinho scored two goals. The Juventus fans set off numerous explosions and sang derogatory songs and had to be warned over the public address system that play would be halted if they did not stop.
• Aggregate score of the two Milan-Juventus matches this season: 6-0 (Milan)
• Reasons why fans of both teams were unhappy: Juventus finished in seventh place and had a truly terrible season (for them). Milan did about as well as can be expected and finished in third. Milan fans are upset that the team has not spent more money to bring in top quality players in recent years and also that first year coach Leonardo (pictured above congratulating Antonini on his goal and pictured below being bid farewell by his team) is being forced out by Silvio Berlusconi. The fans repeatedly sang songs in honor of Leonardo until he acknowledged them with a wave.

Below: Milan fans with an enormous set of banners. The internet translates the bottom one as "President failed AWOL".

• Milan personnel who officially said goodbye at today's match: Leonardo and Favalli
• Milan personnel who may have played their last match for the team today: Dida, Inzaghi, Ronaldinho, and about a dozen others
• What this match teaches us: Milan's Serie A 2009-2010 season is over. This means that my daughter will soon be home from her (almost) year in Brazil.

Below are highlights:

Below you can watch the Milan players and staff force Leonardo to come out on the pitch for one last goodbye:

Berlusconi attacked

The man above (identified as Massimo Tartaglia) attacked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Milan today, either by hitting him with a small souvenir statue or throwing it from a close distance. Berlusconi suffered a broken nose and some damage to his teeth, but was otherwise unhurt. The man's motives are not known-- hopefully he is not an AC Milan fan upset by the team's poor performance against Palermo.

Match report: Milan 1 - Madrid 1

• Goals scored: Benzema 29', Ronaldinho 35' (penalty)
• Why Milan received a penalty kick: Zambrotta tried to cross a ball in the box. Pepe slid across and blocked the ball with his hands raised. The ball struck either his arm or his armpit, and the referee awarded a penalty.
• Ronaldinho's penalty: High, hard, and to the corner. No goalie in the world could have stopped it.
• Number of Milan goals incorrectly disallowed: One. In the 36th minute, Pirlo was fouled at midfield. He quickly took the free kick and passed it up to Pato. Pato brought the ball down in the box, took a quick shot and scored. The referee waived off the goal. Why? Offside? Handball? Pushing a defender? None of these seemed to have applied.
• Overall tenor of the game: Exciting first half; tired, lethargic, and lackluster second half
• Milan players who played well: Ronaldinho hustled at both ends of the field, made some nice passes, and scored an excellent penalty. Ambrosini played excellent defense, taking the ball off Kaka at least three times. (His offensive play was not as good, however.)
• Milan players with the power to both frighten and amaze: Dida. On the goal, he gave up a rebound off a shot by Kaka. The rebound went straight to Benzema who scored. Sometimes he seemed incapable of catching the ball. On the other hand, his injury time save against Raul at the end of the game was outstanding.
• Milan player who got knocked around a lot by Madrid: Pato
• Madrid player who got knocked around a lot by Milan: Pepe
• Other rumors about Milan: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears willing to sell AC Milan if the right bidder can be found.
• What this match teaches us: Soccer players play many games each season and get tired after awhile.

Below: Ambrosini takes the ball away from Kaka.

Another 73rd birthday

From acmilan.com:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT!

9/29/2009

MILAN - September 29 is a special day for all the Rossoneri fans: Silvio Berlusconi's birthday. The most warm and sincere birthday wishes to our president which with him and his family, all of the fans around the world will celebrate it. Happy birthday president!

Silvio and Adriano intro and comic #1

2 weeks ago, when I was watching Milan lose to Bologna, I was stricken by Silvio Berlusconi (Milan's owner) and Adriano Galliani's (his right hand man and club vice president) interesting facial expressions. This gave me the idea to make a short comic strip after each Milan game, featuring this two men. I will call it Silvio and Adriano.

These first comics are from Milan v. Bologna two weeks ago:

Silvio Berlusconi; stopped the war in Georgia?

AC Milan's Georgian defender, Kahka Kaladze, has publically thanked his team's owner/Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Kaladze was thankful because of Berlusconi's efforts to end the recent fighting in Georgia. Kaladze says that Berlusconi, a good friend of Vladimir Putin, called the Russian leader on the phone and personally negotiated for hours to help end the hostilities. I'd like to imagine that Berlusconi took this extra-ordinary step so that his player wouldn't worry, but I doubt it...

To read the full article... go here.

Milan Fans' Anti-Berlusconi Petition

AC Milan's owner, Silvio Berlusconi, took over the club in the late 80's, and pumped in lots of money. As Italy's richest man (and just by chance, the Prime Minister) he was able to buy many great players. Under his leadership (as the club's president) there were many winning seasons.

However, after Milan's abysmal season, the fans are not happy. As a result, an online petition has been written and signed by at least 2,000 fans, demanding that Berlusconi sell the club to someone more willing to spend their euros. Galliani, Milan's current president, has been saying lately that clubs in Italy don't have enough money. I think this is ridiculous and Berlusconi should have no problem forking over 45 million euros for some more decent players!!!

In case you are interested, go here to sign the petition. At the bottom of the page, click on FIRMA, and then it asks you for your name, email, comments, etc. I didn't sign it, because, I don't really care, it's not really my business, and a new owner might not want to spend his money either...

*Please note, that no matter how it sounds, I am NOT a Silvo Berlusconi fan. The only thing that is like-able about him is that he is really, really rich, and sometimes spends his money on good footballers.

Bullet and Threat Letter

A threatening letter was sent to AC Milan headquarters recently, according La Gazzetta Dello Sport. The letter contained a bullet and threatening messages addressed to Adriano Galliani (the acting president of the club) and Silvio Berlusconi (the club's owner). These events are almost identical to ones that happened in January, when a fan also sent a threats accompanied by a bullet in the envelope. That letter was sent because of Milan's bad start to the season, and this recent letter was probably because Milan failed to reach the Champions League (the top four teams in Italy are entered into Europe's elite soccer competition, and Milan was 5th).

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