Lucky lot: A day out with the milan stars

Official AC Milan merchandise doesn't exactly come cheap these days but it was money well spent in the case of five passionate fans of the renowned Italian club.

Not only did Tarek Al Assaad, Ali Al Hosani, Abdul Rahim, Sean Pookpan and Ebrahim Khalifa Mubarak return from Dubai Festival City with a souvenir from AC Milan's latest collection, they left in a state of daze after rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kaka, Clarence Seedorf and the latest big gun to join coach Carlo Ancelotti's troops – David Beckham.

They certainly had dame fortune to thank for smiling on them so kindly in a draw of 1,050-odd entrants who thronged the Adidas store at Dubai Festival City for the "Sign for AC Milan" campaign. Each individual was entered into the draw after shopping among the Rossoneri's latest collection of merchandise and Al Assaad, Al Hosani, Rahim, Pookpan and Mubarak turned out to be the lucky five who would get to meet the Milan stars.

"I don't like Milan, I love them," declared 32-year-old Al Hosani.

He added: "It was my dream to meet the Milan team, especially Ancelotti who has been the coach for many years." Al Hosani is so much in awe of Milan that he has affectionately nicknamed his 18-month-old son Saif after Kaka, his favourite player.

The Brazilian playmaker was grilled by reporters in a press conference which preceded the public event. He was asked on more than one occasion if the attention towards Beckham and summer arrival Ronaldinho affected him. Pookpan, another Kaka admirer, leapt to his idol's defence. "I don't think all this affects him," said the Thai national. "I know the press ask a lot of tough questions so I wanted to ask him some easy ones like what was his favourite meal. And I could see he has a good sense of humour."

Al Assaad was keen to find out how much time Beckham put in for daily practice but time didn't permit him. He did manage an interesting one for Ancelotti though.

"I asked him if the team needed any defenders," said the 12-year-old. The Milan coach duly replied but on this occasion Al Assaad was let down by the translation from Italian to English.