Milan hit back to crush Deportivo

AC MILAN showed their determination to keep hold of the Champions League trophy with an emphatic 4-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna in a gripping quarter-final first leg tie at the San Siro last night.

AC Milan 4 Deportivo La Coruna 1

The defending champions, 10 points clear at the top of Italy’s Serie A with eight games to go, recovered from going a goal down to destroy their Spanish opponents in a stunning eight minute spell.

Milan’s Danish striker Jon Dahl Tomasson fell victim to coach Carlo Ancelotti’s rotation policy and was dropped to the bench in favour of Filippo Inzaghi, despite scoring twice in last Saturday’s 3-1 win over Parma.

Alessandro Nesta was ruled out with a thigh injury and replaced by Milan’s most experienced player, 37-year-old Alessandro Costacurta. Brazilian Nelson Dida kept his place in goal having recovered from a bruised back which he suffered against Parma.

Deportivo saw little of the ball in the opening stages, but the Spaniards sat back patiently and hit Milan with a sucker punch in the 11th minute.

Alberto Luque tapped a left-wing corner short to Joan Capdevila and his cross found Pandiani whose powerful header from the edge of the six-yard box gave Dida no chance.

Milan were stung into action by the away goal and should have drawn level six minutes later when Marcos Cafu’s right-wing cross picked out compatriot Kaka at the back post only for the talented 21-year-old to slice his shot wide from eight yards out.

The home side kept up the pressure with Clarence Seedorf firing inches wide before two crosses in quick succession from Giuseppe Pancaro were headed wide by Inzaghi and then Shevchenko.

Milan refused to lie down and their aggressive approach paid off on the stroke of half-time. Cafu swung over a cross from the right and Kaka controlled the ball on his thigh before lashing a fierce volley low into the bottom corner.

Only 20 seconds of the second-half had passed when Milan went in front thanks to some woeful defending from the visitors. Shevchenko ran at the heart of the Deportivo defence and a huge gap opened up for the Ukrainian to drill home past Molina with an unstoppable right-foot drive.

Seedorf set up Kaka to make it 3-1 three minutes later with an equally explosive finish before dead-ball specialist Pirlo found the top corner from outside the box.

AC MILAN: Dida, Cafu, Costacurta, Maldini, Pancaro (Serginho 72), Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Kaka, Shevchenko (Tomasson 84), Inzaghi (Ambrosini 79).

D CORUNA: Molina, Naybet, Andrade, Capdevila, Mauro Silva, Sergio (Manuel Pablo 81), Scaloni, Valeron, Duscher (Fran 66), Pandiani, Luque (Tristan 82).

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia).