What's with Milan's failure to finish off English clubs?

	Alessandro Nesta and AC Milan have had trouble maintaining leads against English clubs in Champions League play. AP
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Journalists are supposed to be objective. But come on. We're humans. We're sports fans. Sometimes being objective is difficult.

Sometimes we simply have no choice but to drop our veil of objectivity and just be unabashed partisans. This week -- the week of the Champions League semifinal second legs -- is one of those times.

How could any fan of the this beautiful game -- or for that matter, anyone with a competitive gene in his body -- stay impartial when a Liverpool-Milan 2005 rematch is a mouth-watering possibility?

The history is so palpable, even in a bar in Cambridge, Mass., where a choir of Liverpool fans serenaded a small cadre of Milan fans in the corner with this little ditty:

Three-nil, and you f---ed it up! Three-nil, and you f---ed it up!

There's really only one place in Beantown to go if you want to enjoy a European soccer game: the Phoenix Landing, a dark soccer-friendly pub in Central Square.

On Champions League match days, especially if Liverpool is playing, the Phoenix Landing transforms from a spot where MIT geniuses have a beer before going back to curing cancer into a satellite version of Anfield's famous "Kop," complete with red scarves coiled around every neck, Gerrard jerseys clinging to mountainous British beer bellies and unintelligible bursts of Liverpudlian-accented cheering.

But there is always a corner left open for other games and other fans. On this day, while Liverpool was dismantling PSV Eindhoven, the little corner TVs showed Milan vs. Bayern Munich. Whenever Milan scored and the dinky tribe of Milanistas cheered, the Liverpool fans -- already with several pints of Harp in them -- would start their chant. Everyone chuckled, even the Italians, although theirs was a bittersweet laughter.

You have to feel sorry for Milan. Strange, I know. After all, this is one of the greatest (and richest) clubs ever. Some would argue the greatest.

But to remember the talented, graceful players who stumbled over themselves that bright night in Istanbul -- the young colt Kaká, the old dog Paolo Maldini, steady yet enigmatic Andrea Pirlo, the normally sure-footed Alessandro Nesta -- and think now how they have a chance to redeem themselves, you have to either be a jerk or a Manchester United fan not to jump on their bandwagon.

Especially after they stumbled last week at Old Trafford. What is it about AC Milan and its inability to finish off English teams? You would've thought they had learned their lesson. Instead, they sat back and played like zombies on Zanax. I might be the worst Nostradamus around ("Lyon will win the Champions League," Feb. 20) but even I knew Man U's goal would come.

It's been a bittersweet year for Italian soccer, starting with the Calciopoli scandal, then the World Cup victory, then the death of two youth players at Juventus, rioting in Sicily and more scandal.

Like a beacon of positive light -- never thought I'd say that about anything connected with Silvio Berlusconi -- Milan has quietly put together a remarkable season, and now sits in third place in Serie A despite an eight-point reduction to start the season.

The ultimate retribution, of course, would be to again face Liverpool in the Champions League final. I don't know if they would win this time, but the opportunity would be a just reward.