Sport | Football
Milan and Hamburg set to face off
Very few people have the good fortune of watching two of Europe's biggest footballing sides locking horns, but Dubai residents can avail of that opportunity when AC Milan and Hamburg face off in tonight's Dubai Football Challenge encounter at The Sevens.
- By Duane Fonseca, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:35 January 5, 2009
- Image Credit: Supplied Picture
- With both AC Milan and Hamburg in contention for this season's Uefa Cup, Moday's showpiece match will provide a glimpse of what Cup action is like in Europe.
Dubai: Very few people have the good fortune of watching two of Europe's biggest footballing sides locking horns, but Dubai residents can avail of that opportunity when AC Milan and Hamburg face off in tonight's Dubai Football Challenge encounter at The Sevens.
The event, sponsored by Emirates airline and DTCM, brings the curtains down on Milan's 10-day winter training camp in Dubai and with both sides in contention for this season's Uefa Cup, this evening's showpiece match will provide a glimpse of what Cup action is like in Europe.
The match will also provide two of Europe's top coaches the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their respective sides - and each other - should they, as Martin Jol, the Hamburg coach put it, meet at some stage in the Uefa Cup.
Both clubs have made the Round of 32 in the competition, with Milan drawing German side Werder Bremen and Hamburg having to face NEC Nijmegen of The Netherlands.
Dutchman Jol played down the possibility of that happening, but said: "Everything is possible, so that might happen, but it'll just be a coincidence after this tournament. It'll be nice nevertheless.
"AC Milan are a team with some great players in their ranks, but we'll try to play an offensive game tonight and hopefully they'll let us play the way we like to play. I'm looking forward to an offensive game."
His opposite number Ancelotti, meanwhile, dubbed the game "important" for the future of both clubs this season, saying: "The result could be negative or positive, but it is good to be playing them and we will treat it as an important game.
"We won't think of it as a practice match, we'll treat it like a real game and try and express our best qualities and play our best game."
Star-studded line-ups are expected to grace the field at The Sevens, which will play host to its first football game tonight, with Milan newcomer David Beckham, Ukranian Andriy Shevchenko, Brazilians Ronaldinho, Dida, Alexandre Pato and Kaka, Italians Gianluca Zambrotta, Massimo Ambrosini, Andrea Pirlo and the legendary Paolo Maldini all expected to play.
Hamburg, too, have promised to field a strong side, with Jol claiming most of his top men are match-fit and ready to rumble.
"All the players who have done well will play. Beckham has the same chance as anybody else. Zambrotta is here [at the conference] so he will play," Ancelotti said in jest.
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