AC Milan wins Champions League beating Liverpool FC 2-1

The Italian AC Milan won the Champions League after beating England's Liverpool FC 2-1 in the soccer final played at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Wednesday night.

Milan 's goals were scored by Filippo Inzaghi in the 45th minute and 82nd.

Liverpool 's goal was scored by Dirk Kuyt in the 89th.

Among the spectators were President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias and UEFA President Michel Platini.

A full compliment of nearly 14,000 uniformed police officers were in and around the stadium, as well as in the capital's centre, metro stations and the airport.

The area around the stadium was off-limits to individuals without tickets, whereas mass transit routes were increased and operated throughout the night. This the seventh time for AC Milan to win in the European Champion League finals, Xinhua reports.

Milan's success is the first by an Italian club since it won in 2003 against domestic rival Juventus. It lost on penalty kicks to Liverpool in the final two years ago after letting a three-goal lead slip to draw 3-3.

Victory may be worth 100 million euros ($135 million) to the winners, according to a survey by MasterCard Inc., the second-biggest credit-card company. A Liverpool win would have been a boost for the Reds' new U.S. owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, whose 174 million-pound ($345 million) takeover was completed in March.

Liverpool, whose fans appeared to vastly outnumber those from Milan, had the game's first shot on target in the 10th minute when winger Jermaine Pennant collected the ball following a mistake by Marek Jankulovski. He exchanged passes with Kuyt before forcing goalkeeper Dida to save a low shot.

Three minutes later, Gerrard missed his kick from a Pennant cross, then at the other end Inzaghi was just unable to reach a through-ball by Pirlo, Bloomberg reports.

AC Milan was nearly kicked out of this season's competition by UEFA, European soccer's governing body, because of a match-fixing scandal in Italy. But it was allowed to remain and was forced to qualify for the group stage of games.

AC Milan's captain, Paolo Maldini, a month from his 39th birthday, became the oldest nongoalkeeper to take part in a final. He earned his fifth winners' medal, one short of the record by Real Madrid's Francisco Gento, the AP reports.

Source: agencies

Prepared by Alexander Timoshik
Pravda.ru

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