Fireworks Abandonment and a Milan win

By European Football
April 12 2005

Milan were leading 1-0 in their Champions League quarter-final second leg tie against Inter when a flare thrown from the crowd hit Nelson Dida.

After the players were taken off and then returned, further flares and objects were once again thrown into the Milan penalty area and the match was abandoned.

As for the game itself, Milan had a familiar look about them, with coach Carlo Ancelotti only having to introduce Massimo Ambrosini in place of the suspended Rino Gattuso while Paolo Maldini recovered from a slight injury to play at left-back.

The game opened at a high tempo and Shevchenko collided with Marco Materazzi on the edge of the Inter area while Kily Gonzalez and Ambrosini exchanged late challenge on the slippy surface and went into the referee’s book. Kaka made one of his trademark runs into the heart of the defence but was fouled by Ivan Cordoba who became the third player to receive a yellow card. Andrea Pirlo’s resultant free-kick curled just wide of the post.

Then, Dida was called into action as he got across to his near post to turn away a fierce Juan Sebastian Veron drive. Jaap Stam was winning the battle with Adriano as Milan defended strongly and on 30 minutes Shevchenko broke the deadlock with a wonderful drive from the left side of the area which flew into the corner of the net past stranded goalkeeper Francesco Toldo. Dida was again at his best soon after as the Brazilian dived full-length to touch a Kily Gonzalez strike around his right-hand post.

Marcos Cafu almost doubled the lead on 37 minutes when he sent a diving header just wide of the frame of the goal. There was some bad news for Milan just before the break when Alessandro Nesta was booked for a sliding challenge on Adriano which will keep the defender out of the next European encounter.

Ancelotti made no changes at half time while Inter brought on Sinisa Mihajlovic and Julio Cruz. The Rossoneri were soon into their slick passing moves and Shevchenko ended a quick break with a low shot which Toldo gathered. Adriano then limped off and his replacement Obafemi Martins tested Dida with a low drive but the keeper pushed the ball on to the post with his knee and the danger was everted. Kaka once again skipped past a number of challenges but put his lofted shot into Toldo’s arms.

Milan continued to look dangerous on the break and Hernan Crespo flicked a low Cafu cross just wide. The Argentinian was then replaced by Rui Costa on 69 minutes and moments later Dida was again down to push away an Andy van der Meyde shot from the edge of the area. The resulting corner was headed home by Esteban Cambiasso but referee Marcus Merk disallowed the goal for an infringement in the area. The match was then delayed after an incident where Dida was hit on the shoulder by a flare thrown from the stand behind the goal.

Flares and objects continued to be thrown from the crowd and the players were taken off the pitch by referee Merk. They returned ten minutes later, only for further flares to land in the goalmouth where Christian Abbiati had taken Dida’s place and the referee decided to abandon the game once and for all.