Milan In Russian's Hell

MILAN – In football, evening’s like this are called turning points. In one of the hardest places in Europe to travel to, Milan come out 3-2 winners and get back the points dropped against Anderlecht. It needed a big performance from the players who started well and took the game back in hand after some difficult moments.

Milan started with the same 4-2-3-1 that we saw against Parma but with Emanuelson and Montolivo instead of Nocerino and Ambrosini. After kick-off Bojan turned well and Malafeev was called into action for the first time. Bystrov from distance failed to really test Abbiati and it was all Milan for the first 20 minutes. Emanuelson broke the deadlock on 13 minutes earning a free kick and taking it only for the ball to deflect off Shirnov giving Malafeev no chance. Allegri’s team kept pushing forward. Two minutes later a cross from Antonini and Emanuelson hit the side netting on the far post. On 16, El Shaarawy got the ball on the left side and left two defenders in his wake as before placing the ball past the keeper. 2-0 and it could even have been 3 on 19 minutes when Bojan was brought down in the area but no penalty was given. Abbitati was then called into action a few times. Then on 33 minutes he did well to push out a shot from Hulk for a corner. A superlative save came five minutes from the end of the first half from a frightening strike from the same player on the edge of the area. Abbitati pulled off a miracle to stop him celebrating the goal. Then, in the second minute of injury time, Hulk finally got his goal with a violent left footed shot. At half time Milan were up 2-1.

The home side pushed hard early in the second half and on 4 minutes Hulk won another corner and the Rossoneri defense found itrself unprepared. Shirokov brought his side back onto level terms. Pazzini then came on for Bojan and Milan gained more presence in the final third. On 9 minutes, Abate crossed from the right for Boateng but the header was off target. Allegri then brought on Nocerino for Emanuelson beefing up the middle of the field. Zenit dropped and Milan pushed on. With 15 left, Milan went back into the lead. Montolivo crossed from the right and Hubocan deflected the ball past his keeper when trying to get there ahead of Pazzini. Then Abbiati did his job well to ensure that Milan saw out the rest of the game without conceding any further goals. It was big win for the team and it has come right in the nick of time. Now for the derby.

THE NUMBERS

ZENIT-MILAN 2-3

GOALS: Emanuelson (M) on 13', El Shaarawy (M) on 16', Hulk (Z) on 46'fh; Shirokov (Z) al 4', O.G. Hubocan (Z) al 30'sh

ZENIT (4-3-3): Malafeev; Anyukov, Hubocan, Lombaerts (44'st Bukharov), Criscito; Shirokov, Fayzulin (34'st Kanunnikov), Witsel; Bystrov (27'st Zyryanov), Kerzhakov, Hulk. Subs: Baburin, Bruno Alves, Lukovic, Lumb. All. Spalletti

MILAN (4-2-3-1): Abbiati; Abate, Bonera, Zapata, Antonini; De Jong, Montolivo; Emanuelson (19'st Nocerino), Boateng (35'st Yepes), El Shaarawy; Bojan (7'st Pazzini). Subs: Amelia, Mexes, Flamini, Robinho. All. Allegri

REFEREE: Brych (German)

NOTES: Booked: Fayzulin, Anyukov, Hubocan, Shirokov, Bonera, El Shaarawy,

Roberto Mancini hails 'incredible' Joe Hart after Manchester City draw

• The Guardian, Thursday 4 October 2012

Joe Hart, the Manchester City and England goalkeeper, pulls off a save in the 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Bongarts/Getty Images

Roberto Mancini hailed an "incredible" performance from Joe Hart after the England goalkeeper produced a string of exceptional saves to keep Manchester City's Champions League hopes alive on a night when the Italian conceded his side were fortunate to pick up a point against an excellent Borussia Dortmund team.
Mario Balotelli's late penalty, awarded harshly after Neven Subotic was penalised for handling Sergio Agüero's close-range shot, earned City a 1-1 draw that Mancini believes could be vital come the end of the group.
Yet it was Hart, rather than the Italy striker, who was hailed as City's saviour, after the 25-year-old made eight superb saves in a pulsating game that had chances from the first minute to the last. Hart denied Mario Götze on three occasions in the first half alone and, at times, it felt as though he was single-handedly keeping Dortmund at bay. He was so impressive that there was even acclaim from Old Trafford. "Have to say Joe Hart has been incredible. For me best keeper in the world," tweeted Wayne Rooney.
Mancini had expressed his frustration with Hart less than a fortnight ago, after the goalkeeper criticised his team-mates for allowing a 2-1 lead to slip over Real Madrid. On this occasion, however, there was only praise from Mancini, who recognised that he was indebted to Hart for preventing Dortmund from being out of sight by the time Balotelli scored in the 90th minute to cancel out Marco Reus's opener. "Joe Hart is incredible because he saved everything and we should say thank you to him," Mancini said. "He did a fantastic performance. I don't know if it's the best performance in football history but he did very well."
Hart admitted that he could not recall being so busy in goal before. "It could have been 10-all tonight. I thought their keeper was fantastic," he said, acknowledging the contribution that Roman Weidenfeller made in the first half, when the Dortmund keeper made a hat-trick of saves to thwart Agüero. "Off the top of my head, I can't remember making as many saves before. I thought Dortmund were different class tonight. It took a good defensive effort by us to keep it to just one. I hope this result is important and that it is not a waste of effort."
It remains to be seen whether that will be the case, although City will clearly have to play much better if they are to have a chance of reaching the knockout phase and avoid a repeat of last year's elimination at the group stage. Third in Group D with one point from two games, they have not kept a clean sheet since the penultimate game of last season and there was little doubt that Dortmund were going to extend that record on an evening when City never got the balance right between attack and defence.
"The Champions League is totally different from every championship," Mancini said. "When you play, you play against the best players, so when you have a chance you have to score. If you don't score, and after you concede, like we conceded this evening, it's difficult that we can win.
"First half we had three or four incredible chances and I don't know why we didn't score but this can happen. The problem was our performance. This is the problem. In the Champions League we can't play with all players that attack. We need to defend with all players. If you don't defend, if you don't run like Borussia Dortmund did this evening, it's difficult."
City lost Javi García to a thigh strain in the first half and it seems certain that the midfielder will miss Saturday's league game at home to Sunderland. Yaya Touré also appeared to be struggling and was well off the pace in the second half in particular, although Mancini claimed there was nothing wrong with the Ivorian's fitness. "Yaya didn't play well. He is not injured. But it was not only Yaya; all the team played a poor game. We didn't play well. We didn't deserve to take this point, but in the end it could be important. Borussia Dortmund played better than us and at this moment they are a better side."