Milan plays waiting game on Costacurta

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -- AC Milan will wait until Wednesday morning before deciding whether experienced defender Alessandro Costacurta will be fit to play against Juventus in the Champions League final at Old Trafford.

"We still have a doubt about Costacurta and we will see tomorrow [Wednesday]," said coach Carlo Ancelotti. "It is not clear yet but we still have a day to evaluate things."

The Milan coach said Brazilian World Cup-winner Roque Junior and Croation international Dario Simic were the most likely replacements at right back if Costacurta is not fit for Wednesday's final.

Simic would be the safest choice as he has been a regular for Milan this season, only losing his place to Costacurta in the final stages of the campaign, while Roque Junior has missed most of the season with injury making only four appearances.

The loss of former Italy international Costacurta would be a blow to Milan as the 37-year-old has enjoyed a new lease of life after initially being released by the club at the end of last season.

Costacurta also has plenty of experience in Champions League finals having played in four of Milan's five between 1989 and 1995 -- he missed the 4-0 win over Barcelona in Athens in 1994.

Ancelotti added that Brazilian goalkeeper Dida was fit to play and that the club's other keeper Christian Abbiati has also shrugged off a minor injury.

That will almost certainly mean that Dida, who missed the Champions League semifinal, second-leg tie against Inter earlier this month due to a finger injury, will start in goal.

Healthy stroll

The Milan coach was in relatively relaxed mood at the pre-match news conference in stark contrast to his strong criticism of the hype that surrounded the build-up to the Milan derby semifinal.

"After that week, with the games against Inter, this feels like a healthy stroll," joked Ancelotti, who added that fans should expect a very Italian-style encounter.

"It will be an all Italian game. There will be close attention to all phases of the match. I am proud of our football, even if it differs from the characteristics and style of other countries.

"We had three out of four teams in the semifinals and now we have two teams in the final -- that is something that gives great satisfaction," said the Milan coach.

Honours between the two sides were even in Serie A this season with champions Juve winning 2-1 at their Delle Alpi stadium and Milan enjoying a victory by the same margin at the San Siro.

Captain Paolo Maldini, who will play in his sixth European Cup final, said those two matches offered little guide to the outcome of Wednesday's game.

"They were two very different games in Serie A. The reasons are simple -- we played very badly in Turin and did very well in Milan. I don't think it will be a closed sort of match, I think the players, on both sides, will try and impose themselves on the game," he said.

Milan's last appearance in a European final was in 1995 when they lost to Ajax in Vienna and Maldini said he was enjoying the big-match atmosphere again.

"After eight years away from this feeling, I am really very happy to be here," he said.

Seedorf faces familiar foe in final

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -- AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf will have a former teammate turned familiar foe barring the way to a personal record in Wednesday's Champions League final against Juventus at Old Trafford.

Seedorf has already tasted Champions League glory twice, with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995 and Real Madrid three years later, and victory on Wednesday would make him the first player to win the European Cup with three different teams.

His hopes of achieving that feat will rest to some extent on his ability to win a midfield battle with fellow Dutchman Edgar Davids, a player he knows well.

Seedorf and Davids cut their footballing teeth together at Ajax and were on the same young team that beat Milan in the final in 1995.

Seedorf had already moved on to Sampdoria by the time Ajax, with Davids in the side, lost the final the following year to Juventus but they were on the pitch together again in 1998.

This time, they were on different sides and it was Seedorf who got the better of that particular encounter as Real beat Juventus 1-0.

Wednesday's game will be a fourth final for Davids and a third for Seedorf, who is looking forward to renewing their acquaintance.

"I'll be proud to see Edgar in the final," Seedorf said on the eve of the match. "We were European champions together and we lived our first years in football together.

"I've been lucky enough to play two other finals in two other places and I've had great experiences in the competition.

"The atmosphere is different each time and the emotions are possibly even higher now."

Seedorf, in his first season at Milan following a move from Inter, has been impressed by the fighting spirit shown by the players, but he believes Serie A champions Juventus will be the favorites going into the final.

"They won the title and also knocked out Real Madrid, the reigning European champions, with a great performance," Seedorf said.

"They're the favorites but that doesn't mean we're not capable of beating them."

Final chance at last for Milan's Dynamo boys

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -- When AC Milan pair Andriy Shevchenko and Kakha Kaladze line up in the Champions League final against Juventus on Wednesday they will achieve a goal that once appeared to have eluded them.

Striker Shevchenko and defender Kaladze were part of the Dynamo Kiev team of the late 1990's that was the last from Eastern Europe to make a serious impression in the Champions League, reaching the semifinals in 1999.

"At Dynamo we had a great team with Andriy but we couldn't make it to the final and now we are both so happy to be there with Milan," says Georgian international Kaladze.

The Ukrainian side, coached by the late Valery Lobanovsky and fired by the striking talents of Shevchenko, made a habit of upsetting some of the aristocrats of the continental game.

Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven were humbled in 1997-98 before Dynamo fell to Juventus in the quarterfinals, with Shevchenko's current Milan strike partner Filippo Inzaghi scoring a hat-trick in a 4-1 win in Kiev.

A year later Arsenal were beaten 3-1 in the group stage before one of the great night's in the history of the former Soviet side when Real Madrid were beaten 2-0 in Ukraine, Shevchenko scoring twice to put them into the semifinals.

The striker scored two more as Dynamo drew 3-3 at home to Bayern Munich in the first leg, but a 1-0 defeat in Germany ended the Dynamo dream.

The team then broke up with Shevchenko's compatriot and fellow striker Serhiy Rebrov heading for a disappointing spell in the English premier league with Tottenham Hotspur and Ukraine defender Oleg Luzhny also moving to north London and Arsenal.

While that pair have struggled to recapture the exciting European adventures they enjoyed with Dynamo, Shevchenko and Kaladze now have a perfect opportunity to finally reach their target of being champions of Europe.

"It's a dream I've had since I was young, and especially since I became a footballer, to play in a Champions League final," Shevchenko told Reuters.

"Back in 1999 there was great disappointment for everyone at Dynamo but, to be honest, I don't think we were ready to go all the way. We didn't think we could reach the final and that was the moment we lost it," he says.

Players from the former Soviet Union have rarely made an impact abroad but Shevchenko is an exception. He scored 24 goals in his first season in Italy, more than he managed in the Ukrainian league, and repeated the feat a year later.

Injury robbed him of the opening months of the season and he has rarely hit top form but, with his place in the Milan side being questioned by some, he delivered the crucial "away" goal against rivals Inter Milan that secured a place in the final.

"I was unlucky to get injured so early in the season and I was out for a few months but step-by-step I was able to refind my form despite a few other injury problems. Now, though, I've completely refound my form and my faith in myself," said Shevchenko.

Kaladze played under four coaches in his first 18 months and was asked repeatedly to switch positions. But this season he has made the left back slot at Milan, for over a decade occupied by current captain and central defender Paolo Maldini, his own.

"I had a few problems at first because of the different positions but now we can say I have my place. I'm very lucky to have Maldini alongside me. We talk a lot and I have become a Serie A player alongside him," says Kaladze.

 

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