AC Milan key player

Any player reaching double figures in a single UEFA Champions League season has reached the highest class. To score eight in a single stage, as Filippo Inzaghi did this season, deserves all the plaudits that can be offered.

Injury comeback
A €40m signing from Juventus FC in 2001, Inzaghi's first season at AC Milan was wrecked by a serious knee injury. He needed a good start this season to thank his new club for their patience, and the former Atalanta BC player did just that.

Superb hat-trick
First he claimed the vital away goal in the third qualifying round win against FC Slovan Liberec, then scored both goals in the 2-1 victory against RC Lens on Matchday 1. Then, away at much-fancied RC Deportivo La Coruña, Inzaghi registered a hat-trick to take his tally in European competitions to 40, an record for any Italian.

'Best period in my career'
"Without doubt this is the best period in my career and for that I am grateful to Milan", said Inzaghi after his treble. Well, that period stretched on, as his double at the Olympiastadion saw FC Bayern München beaten 2-1, and his winner in the home return virtually ended the Germans' campaign.

Telepathic sense for goal
There is little secret to Inzaghi's success - he is just a natural finisher, with an almost telepathic sense for goal. His Milan team-mates know that if he is given the ball in any scoring position, chances are that he will at least take the goalkeeper, something his opposing defenders will be well aware of as well.

Crucial strikes
Inzaghi's spectacular rate of scoring in the early matches was never likely to be kept up throughout the Champions League, but he has continued to be on target at crucial times. It was Inzaghi that scored the only goal at BV Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 8 to ensure Milan were always in charge during the second group stage, and he was the man the broke the deadlock in the quarter-final win against AFC Ajax.

Well versed at scoring
As Raúl González has proved at Real Madrid CF, any team aiming for Champions League success needs a man well versed at scoring in the competition. Inzaghi may be a few goals behind the Spanish forward in the all-time scoring charts, but he has more than any other player still in this season's competition, and is still clearly hungry.