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:

Match report: Milan 1 - Fiorentina 0

• Goals scored: Ronaldinho 77' (penalty)
• What happened: Milan was awarded a somewhat problematic penalty. Ronaldinho scored on the kick. (See video below)

• Why this win was important: Milan need to finish in third place in order to guarantee a spot in the Champions League next season. Fourth place may not be good enough, because if Inter fail to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final (and not on penalties), then Serie A may lose its fourth Champions League spot. (See correction below)
• Milan players who received red cards today: Ambrosini
• Strange statistics cited by today's match commentator: According to the man on the television, today was Dida's 300th Serie A appearance in goal for Milan. In that time, Dida has allowed 2,423 goals. This would mean that Dida has allowed slightly more than 8 goals per game.
• Strange things heard on today's broadcast: There are appeared to be a large group of children at today's match. They could be heard chanting things such as, "Milan! Milan! Milan!" or "Borriello! Borriello! Borriello!" (when Borriello momentarily appeared to have hurt his ankle). Even more strangely, they appeared to have brought some sort of annoying plastic horn with them to help them in their chants. Two of the other popular chants were, "Milan! Honk! Honk! Milan! Honk! Honk! Milan! Honk! Honk!" and "Milan! Honk! Honk! Honk! Milan! Honk! Honk! Honk! Milan! Honk! Honk! Honk!" At times it appeared that the adult Milan fans were cheering extra loud in an attempt to drown the children out.
• What else happened in Serie A today: Roma beat Parma, to temporarily take back first place. Inter play Lazio tomorrow.
• What this match teaches us: Milan's only goal-scoring strategy seems to be falling down in the hope of being awarded penalties. Sometimes it works.

Highlights are below:

Correction: I believe that this is not completely accurate. The reduction in Champions League spots apparently would not take effect until after next season. Milan have guaranteed themselves a spot in next year's Champions League no matter what.

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.

Match report: Milan 2 - Parma 0

• Goals scored: Borriello 12', Borriello 90+3'
• What happened: Milan scored early. I spent the rest of the game dreading a repeat of Wednesday's blown lead against Napoli. Then Milan scored again.
• Who set up Borriello's goals: Ronaldinho made nice passes on both plays.
• About Parma: This is their first year back in Serie A, and they are doing quite well. Prior to yesterday's match, they were in fourth place. One of their strikers is Alberto Paloschi, whose contract is co-owned by Milan and Parma.
• Dida's game: Dida played quite well, with an excellent save on a long shot and another on a close header.
• Milan players who have returned from injury: Gattuso
• Milan players who were injured during the match: Antonini
• Strangest yellow card I have ever seen: Ronaldinho received a yellow card in the 42nd minute. The ball had gone out for a Milan throw-in. Ronaldinho went to take it. Before he could get the ball, another Milan player got a different ball from the ball person and threw it in. When Ronaldinho looked up to throw his ball in, he saw that there already was a ball on the pitch. He dropped his ball in such a way that it also rolled onto the field. The referee had to stop play due to there being two balls on the pitch, and he gave Ronaldinho a yellow card for delay of game.
• What this match teaches us: Always score more goals, especially late in the game.

Below are highlights--

Match report: Napoli 2 - Milan 2

• Goals scored: Inzaghi 2' (See photo above), Pato 6', Cigarini 90', Denis 90+3'
• What happened: Milan scored twice inside of six minutes. They then became casual and careless. Both sides started committing lots of fouls. Napoli scored twice in the last five minutes-- tie game.
• Milan players who left the game after ten minutes due to unspecified injuries: Nesta
• Milan players sent off: Abate
• Napoli strategy for the first ninety minutes: Appeal for penalties every time you get near the penalty area. Shoot the ball straight at Dida even if he is lying down in front of a wide open goal.
• Napoli strategy for the last five minutes: Score goals.
• Number of Milan goals correctly disallowed for offsides: Two-- one by Inzaghi and one by Borriello
• What this match teaches us: It is not possible to kill off eighty-nine minutes of a game.

Above: Cigarini scores.

Below: Dida looks at the ball after Denis has headed it into the net to tie the score.

Below: Leonardo looks sad as he walks off the field after the match.

Highlights:

Match report: Chievo 1 - Milan 2

• Goals scored: Pinzi 7', Nesta 81', Nesta 90+2'
• What happened: For the third game in a row, Milan started out in a disorganized manner and gave up an early goal. They then spent the rest of the match desperately trying to catch up.
• Nesta's first goal: Pirlo crossed the ball in. Borriello headed the ball off the cross bar. Nesta headed the rebound in past a bunch of defenders.
• Dida's save: In the 91st minute, Milan goalkeeper Dida made a fantastic save on a header by Chievo. His body was going one way, and he had to reach out with his hand in the other direction to stop the shot.
• Nesta's second goal: Not even a minute after Dida's save, Nesta scored another goal. This one was also a header (off a corner kick). Chievo had played quite well, but ultimately were unlucky.
• Milan's jerseys: Milan wore jerseys I had never seen before-- all black with three red stripes running down the sleeves. They look just like their standard road jerseys, except in black instead of white.
• Players who looked completely lost: Huntelaar
• Defenders who came forward to attack over and over again: Oddo
• Players who never get in the game anymore: Jankulovski
• Amusing things about Pirlo: Early on in the match, he and a player from Chievo were laughing at the referee for making a bad call. Also, his captain's armband was white.
• Best player for Chievo: Sorrentino (goalkeeper)
• Chievo players who are Albanian: Bogdani
• Chievo players who look like Ben Stiller: Pellissier (picture below in a previous match)

• Where Milan stands in the Serie A table: Milan has 15 points, tying them with 4th place Palermo and 5th place Fiorentina. Since Milan is behind on goal differential, they are currently in 6th place.
• What this match teaches us: When Milan play well, they may be difficult to beat.

Video highlights are below--

Match report: Real Madrid 2 - AC Milan 3

• Goals scored: Raul 19', Pirlo 62', Pato 66', Drenthe 76', Pato 88'
• Goals disallowed: Thiago Silva 86'
• Raul's goal: Milan keeper Dida had just caught a soft shot. Then he brought it down and bounced it off his knee straight to Raul. Raul did not miss.
• Why Dida was even playing: Dida started for the injured Storari. Storari had replaced the injured Abbiati. Abbiati had replaced the injured Dida.
• Pirlo's goal: Pirlo shot from 35+ yards out. The ball grazed Iker Casillas' fingers but went in. The shot was so surprising that the television announcer did not realize that the ball had gone in the net. The Madrid home crowd did go instantly silent, however.
• Pato's first goal: Ambrosini put a long pass in to Pato. Casillas rushed all the way out of the penalty area but could not get to the ball. Pato went around Casillas and did not miss. This was Pato's first ever Champions League goal.
• Drenthe's goal: Madrid had many, many more corner kicks than Milan. This was one of them. Madrid took a short corner and Drenthe drilled it along the ground and into the net.
• Thiago Silva's goal: Milan had a corner. Ronaldinho took it. Thiago Silva or a defender headed it in. The referee disallowed the goal for no apparent reason. Much yelling, pushing, and shoving followed.
• Pato's second goal: Seedorf (who had an absolutely fantastic game) lobbed a short pass into Pato who was wide open on the right side of the box. Pato calmly volleyed it in.
• What this match teaches us: I have absolutely no idea what this match teaches us. However, this may have been the most exciting, satisfying match I have ever seen.

Above: Thiago Silva celebrates the victory.

Below: Another post-match scene.

Highlights are below: