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I’M SORRY, I WANTED TO TELL YOU...

There is still one match of suspension, on Wednesday for Milan-Shakhtar. But apart from the result of the appeal, there was still something to clear out between Nelson and his fans. Dida did so yesterday.

MILAN – Now it’s really closed. The Glasgow issue has been archived. In a matter which was about the public order, the respect for the opponent and not only, following the gesture of the Celtic fan, but also the sports ethics, Nelson Dida had already yesterday provided, before the Uefa decision of today, to say sorry. Yesterday was the 21st of October, 18 days after McDonald’s goal at Celtic Park with all the relative stories we know about. Either yesterday or never? No, it was not such a rhetorical choice. In the same moment he understand that he made a mistake, following the moments of disorientation and disappointment of Glasgow, Nelson had probably already matured his decision. They criticize me, they offend me, they wait for me at the garage under my house: they are free to do so, I will not respond. No announcements and no declarations to the video cameras. But an appointment yes. San Siro, the Rossoneri fans. They suffer when they criticize, they have the right for everything.

Here’s so that without the press conference, Nelson Dida does not let his return at his stadium, for the warming up of the Milan-Empoli game, Occurs as if nothing had occurred, maybe in the general indifference, in a silence which would have had the compromise taste, he asked for a moment of attention without imposing himself, without wanting to disturb, almost with discretion. He turned towards a sector of the stadium, then another one and then another. He saluted, his hands together and a bow. I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Direct, without frills and without rhetoric. He re-opened the channel of comprehension between himself and his fans. No agreed choice with the club, no ceremony. Nelson Dida is made like this. Result of yesterday’s gesture? The bow and the hands together hit the hearts of the Rossoneri fans. They understood and accepted his apology.

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FORWARD WITH OPTIMISM

"We must think about what happened, find a remedy as soon as possible and look forward with optimism because we have two home games to redeem ourselves."

- THE DECLARATIONS OF ANCELOTTI -

These are the declarations of Carlo Ancelotti at the end of Milan-Empoli 0-1:
“Unfortunately in this game we have faced the same difficulties we had so far at home. After the game against Lazio, we thought we had picked ourselves up, but unfortunately it was not the case. Now we have to find a remedy as soon as possible because we are finding difficulty at home, contrary to our away games. At San Siro the teams close themselves and so the lack of space problem remerges and creates us more difficulties than it should.

“I tried to field Ambrosini as a striker in a situation in which we were behind and Empoli had lowered its defensive line further. We must expect these teams which come to San Siro and defend themselves, not allowing Milan to find spaces to go forward. Contrary to last year, we are finding more difficult, despite the team is the same. Today on the pitch I fielded 10/11 of the formation which won at Athens. However, in this start of the season we only managed to score one goal on action. We must simply think on what happened, trying to find the remedy as soon as possible and look forward with optimism, because we now have two home games which gives us the possibility to redeem ourselves. This team has always shown that it is able of getting back on its feet in the moments of difficulty. With regards to the standings, last year we started in a different way due to the penalization, this year we’re sorry we started out this way. Let’s hope we can recover as soon as possible, we must just work hard.

“Unfortunately Kaka did not play today due to a knock which did not allow him to train neither yesterday nor today, but we hope we can recover him for Wednesday."

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THE RACE FOR THE GOLDEN BALL

On the 2nd of December, in Paris, the 2007 Golden Ball will be awarded. In the list of 50 candidates, there are 6 Milan players: Kakà, Gattuso, Inzaghi, Maldini, Pirlo and Seedorf. The series of recognitions continues...

France Football announced this morning the list of 50 candidates for the 2007 Golden Ball winner, which will be assigned on the 2nd of December in Paris. The recognition will be handed following the votes of a jury made up 96 newspapers, amongst which 8 Italian ones.

Milan is heading the list of Italian clubs with 6 nominations; these are the Rossoneri present in the list: Ricky Kakà, Rino Gattuso, Filippo Inzaghi, Paolo Maldini, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf.
Ahead of Milan only Barcelona and Real Madrid, with 7 players per head, and behind the Rossoneri there are Chelsea (4), Bayern Munich (3) and Liverpool (2).

Therefore there are multiple and constant in time the recognitions which have gratified the Rossoneri at the start of the season.

Here are some examples:
- The list of 30 candidates for the “Fifa World Player 2007” sees four Rossoneri players, of which Milan is very proud: Gattuso, Nesta, Pirlo amongst the Italians, and Kaka with regards to the Brazilians. The winner will be elected on the 17th of December by the coaches and captains of all the national teams in the world. Amongst the nominations, Barcelona is the team which has the highest number of candidates (7), but Milan is the Italian team with most players in the run for the award.
- During the away game of Milan at Montecarlo for the European Super Cup Final, on the 30th of August, during the ceremony of the draw of the calendars for the Champions League 2007/08, three awards were handed out to three Rossoneri players for the past season in the Champions Leagues:
Paolo Maldini, best defender in the Champions League 2006/07;
Clarence Seedorf, best midfielder in the Champions League 2006/07;
Kaka, best attacker and best overall player in the Champions League 2006/07
- On the 1st of September, on the return from the victory in the European Super Cup at Montecarlo, Filippo Inzaghi received the ‘Gaetano Scirea Award’ to highlight the exemplary career of the Rossoneri’s player.
- On the 22nd of September, before the Milan-Parma game at San Siro, Carlo Ancelotti was elected best coach of the 2006/07 season by ESM which regroups the European Sports Magazines.
- On the 5th of October, at the Sports Centre of Milanello, the winners of the third edition of the FIFPro World XI Player Awards were announced. The awards were handed out thanks to the votes of the players’ syndicates around the world. There were almost 45,000 votes which arrived from 42 syndicates. Amongst the 55 nominates for the ideal 2006/07 formation, there were nine Rossoneri players: Maldini, Nesta, Maldini, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Inzaghi, Dida, Kakà, Seedorf and Ronaldo. Amongst the Rossoneri, Kaka won the best player award of 2006/07 and Alessandro Nesta, together with Kaka was named in the top 11 of the 2006/07 season.

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SHAKHTAR: THE WORDS OF RAZVAN RAT

MILAN - Here are the words said by Shakhtar defender Razvan Rat about wednesday night's game at San Siro against Milan: "Certainly this match against Milan is very important. We have six points in the standings, but that doesn't mean we are sure about coming through this group stage. We will show what we can do, we are determined to give our best performance."

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MILAN-SHAKHTAR: LUCESCU'S CALLED UP PLAYERS

Here are the 24 players called up by Mircea Lucescu for Milan-Shakhtar: GOALLKEEPERS: Pyatov, Shust, Virt;
DEFENDERS: Lewandowski, V. Shevchuk, Chygrynskyy, Ilsinho, Yezerskyy, Rat, Kucher, Hubschman;
MIDFIELDERS: Srna, Duljaj, Jadson, Willian, Gai, Pryyomov, Vukic, Fernandinho;
STRIKERS: Castillo, Lucarelli, Brandao, Gladkyy, Luis Adriano.

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WE WILL FIND A SOLUTION

'We struggle when we face teams who close up at San Siro. We are sorry for the fans, we want to do well in the league. We will solve the problems we're having at home.'

- THE WORDS OF GALLIANI –

MILAN - At the end of the conference for the Audi partnership, Milan administrator Adriano Galliani talked about the team's situation and all the current topics. Here are his words:

MILAN'S MOMENT: 'Also yesterday we analyzed the situation in the dressing room with Carlo Ancelotti: this year we are struggling when we play at San Siro against teams who close themselves down, so it's not a surprise that the only games we've won were away from home, where we've always played well regardless of the results. In fact we played very well also at Palermo. Attacking teams who close themselves becomes problematic. Yesterday we didn't play well, even though we were denied a point by the refereeing. If they had given us that penalty when the score was 0-0 (handball by Piccolo in the 7th minute), perhaps the game would have been different. Also the Consumer Association evidenced that we were denied 5 points, which with yesterday have become 6. We're not discussing the good faith of the referees, but there is a certain repetitiveness to the mistakes. Sure, that doesn't take away we played badly, but if there's a penalty they have to give it. Along with our 11, 12, 14 players there was a 15th player who made a mistake and that was the referee.

DIDA, THE PENALTY REDUCTION AND THE EXCUSES AT SAN SIRO:
'Nelson was in Nyon with Cantamessa. I think a one match suspension is right, it's OK like this. Two matches seemed too much, but Dida made a mistake and one match is right. His was a mistake that did not bring any damage to anyone, neither to Celtic or to any other player. Reading the rules, you understand that one match is right, but to have two violence has to be involved, and that was not the case, at most Dida was a victim of violence.
As far as his excuses to San Siro go, Dida made a nice gesture that I think helped fix the player's relationship with the fans. It was his own idea, the club did not suggest anything."

MILAN-EMPOLI: 'In this moment we are sad, we are sorry for the fans, but it's hard to give an explanation for his. This is the team that, except for one player, played what I like to refer to as 'the perfect game', the semi-final against Manchester United at San Siro. After twenty-one years in the football world I cannot find an explanation for this moment, and neither can the fans. Compared to the team in Athens the only difference was that Gilardino played instead of Kaká, but aside from that there were no major absences.

The problem is that at home we struggle, perhaps we need to change something, I don't know. Yesterday I spoke with Ancelotti, always in a friendly and peaceful manner, about a possible solution to this problem. Milan are great when they're given space to play, not when it meets teams who close up. In any case I thought the team started well yesterday, we had a few chances, penalty appeal aside. Unfortunately we did not convert our chances and then it can happen that there's a counterattack and you concede a goal. We have to score, until now we've scored just once from open play, the one by Seedorf against Parma, which was a bit of a casual goal. I reminded the team yesterday. We are the European champions, I have nothing to complain about to the players, they give their all with the usual professionalism, that brought them to the top of Europe. We have to understand the problems we have at home and make sure we don't repeat the same mistakes.'

THE LEAGUE: 'I want to get rid of this idea that Milan don't give their all in the league. It's not true. In 2004 we won a Scudetto, in 2005 and 2006 we fought until the end with Juve to win the league. We had an off year in the league after that, and now we haven't started well. We gave the subscribers a league title and three years of fights for first place. Last year there was the penalisation. This year I don't know how it will end. We win away from home and not at home, but in one recent season we got 18 wins and one draw at home. We were always the same team, with the same formation. In the last three 'normal' years, so to speak, we always did well in the league. Let's not make a drama. We have to get past this moment and we will, with this club, this coach, and these players. I am reminded of last season. In November we were in a bad situation, we played in Florence as the 15th placed team. Then we resolved our problems.'

MILAN-SHAKHTAR: 'I hope the Ukrainians won't come to San Siro to defend! But I am not worried, I'm concentrated on each match as it comes, whether it's Empoli, Shakhtar, or Manchester. After losing the way we did in Glasgow, it's clear we have to try and win Wednesday, also because, although this is just a hunch considering how things have been going (smiles), it should be easier to win at home than in Ukraine.'

AMBROSINI AS STRIKER: 'Ambro is possibly our best player when it comes to aerial play, he even came close to scoring, their keeper was great. If he had scored we would be talking about a brilliant tactical move. You win against Lazio and they say it's because of the goalkeeper, but when you lose it's never thanks to the opposition's goalkeeper.

MARKET: 'The January transfer market will bring us a striker, Pato. We will have him available by January, so he will be like a new purchase. But since he's already training you've already branded him as a new purchase. Now we let him stay calm, hoping to recover Ronaldo and that, after January, Pato will do well.'

JANKULOVSKI AND MILAN'S SITUATION: 'Today we are worried about him, he's having a magnetic resonance test done to his knee, let's hope it's not a problem to a ligament. He was hurt yesterday during the match against Empoli. We await news. This is life. Life can't always be like Athens: you have defeats, you have injuries. Our fortune is that we have a President who understands this well. There's a thing I want to contest. Someone today spoke about 'Milan chaos', but it's enough to look at our environment to understand that this does not hold for us. You can talk about defeats, a results crisis if you will, but not chaos.
This is the team, with six players in the running for the Golden Ball. I'm disappointed about the 8 points in 10 matches, not because we have Inter in front. If it were Juve or any other team it would be the same.'

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A.C. MILAN OFFICIAL NOTE

MILAN - The footballer Marek Jankulovski, who was injured during the Milan-Empoli match, was subjected to a magnetic resonance test that evidenced an injury to the external meniscus of his right knee. In the next few days the player will be subjected to more tests.

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AUDI AND MILAN STILL TOGETHER!

Present during today's press conference were Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani, Director of the Audi Italia Division Michael Frish, and Marketing Director Guglielmo Fadda.

Here are the words said by Adriano Galliani:

"We thank Audi for being present here today with their representatives for the delivery of the cars to the players and the society of Milan, and especially for extending the deal between Audi and our club. The deal was made on the first of January 2007, when Audi became Sponsor and Official A.C. Milan car, two brands that combine perfectly: the black and red colors with the four rings that brought our team much luck, as this year we won a Champions League and a European Supercup. Our compliments go to Audi who for the 7th consecutive year won the 24 Hours at Le Mans for the Ingolstadt company, which was obtained for the second consecutive year thanks to the innovative Audi R10 TDI equipped with a diesel motor. We also hope to become World Champions coming December, just like Ferrari who triumphed yesterday. This morning I wanted to compliment Ferrari and put a note on the site, because this country which is always so criticised had the World Cup winning football team, a club that became European Champions (and hopefully also of the World!), the World Champion Formula One team, the Ducati who won the MotoGP, this means that something still works in this country. We of Milan will have the chance in January to get these Audis, which are very safe and beautiful cars."

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MILAN-SHAKHTAR: OVER 30,000 TICKETS

MILAN - For the Champions League game, Milan-Shakhtar, of Wednesday 24th of October which will be held at 8.45pm at San Siro, up till 24.00 of the 18th of October, apart from the 24,814 subscribers (for a revenue of 375,486 Euros), there have been 5,593 tickets (178,850 Euros). The sales have therefore reached 30,407 for a total of 554,336 Euros.

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PRIMAVERA: TODAY TOWARDS UDINE

MILAN - In the early afternoon of today, the Primavera team of Milan left towards Udine, where tomorrow at 2.30pm, on the sports pitch of Remanzacco (Ud), where they will face Udinese for the return leg of the second round of the Tim Cup: 1-1 the result of the first leg. On Saturday always at 2.30pm the second squad of the Rossoneri will face in the league Vicenza at Bresso (Mi).

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ANTONIO PUERTA'S SON HAS BEEN BORN

MILAN - The son of Antonio Puerta, the player who was honored by the whole Milan squad during the European Supercup final in Montecarlo, was born Sunday in Sevilla: little Aitar Antonio weighs 3 kilograms and 300 grams, and is 53 centimeters long. Aitor was the name the parents had chosen, Antonio was given in memory of his father, who died on 28 August, 3 days after collapsing during Sevilla-Getafe, a Liga match.

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UKRAINIAN LEADERS SHAKHTAR ARRIVE

MILAN - The Shakhtar Donetsk squad who arrive at San Siro have full points in the Champions League with 6 after two games, 3 goals scored and none conceded, and is at the top of the Ukrainian league. Lucescu's men have 34 points, 5 more than Dnipro and 6 more than Dinamo Kiev. In the league Shakhtar have the following statistics: 11 victories, 1 draw and 1 defeat, with 31 goals scored and 8 conceded.

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SHAKHTAR: THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS

MILAN - Shakhtar has six Brazilian players, exactly like Milan, on the official list for the 1st phase of the 2007-2008 Champions League. Yesterday Ukrainian international celebrated his 25th birthday, while Rat will make his 50th appearence in a Uefa competition. Fernandinho has made the most assists so far in the Champions League.

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PUNISHED YES, SATISFIED NO

Massimo Ambrosini likes to be clear in the way he faces things. "We were punished too harshly, but we are neither sad nor beaten down. We know what we have to do to improve."

- THE WORDS OF AMBRO –

MILANELLO - Here are all the comments made by Massimo Ambrosini, who is the captain of Milan in Paolo Maldini's absence, ahead of tomorrow's Milan-Shakhtar match.

He first talked about the team's current moment: "This game is important because it comes at a delicate time, but we are facing it with a lot of determination because we want to get out of this moment. We don't feel like giving up and we are not sad, but we are fiercely determined to get out of this moment. We are aware of our strength, a strength we've always had. We know we haven't done too well on some occasions, but more importantly we know what to do to improve."

Massimo Ambrosini continued as follows: "Why is this happening? A combination of factors, including the fact we have obtained less than what we deserved. We don't look for alibis, but we have been punished too harshly in comparison to how we've played. But we have to start again with conviction in our strength. Our reference point in this sense is Athens. No, Athens was not a miracle, absolutely not, it was the right reward for splendid work. Miracles in football are usually related to casuality, there was nothing casual to what happened in Athens. Football is also about moments, and in this moment we understand the criticisms, but we have left Athens behind us, and started again for the new season. Athens is a reference point, not a reason for satisfaction."

On his situation and his use in the team: "Me? The more you play, the better your condition is. Playing a lot is not a problem at all. In certain games we lost our order a little and certain situations that we handled differently, this year we handled them worse and allowed the opposition to score and take points against us. Me as a striker tomorrow? I don't think so (Ambro smiles...) also because that will happen only in the case we would be losing towards the end..."

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A.C. MILAN FOR THE PUERTA FAMILY

MILAN - Milan wanted to be close to mrs. Puerta on the occasion of Aitor Antonio's birth. Milan delegate administrator Adriano Galliani, on behalf of all the club, sent her some flowers and a message of best wishes.