Ancelotti hails fighting spirit

By Marcus Christenson

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti praised his players for their never-say-die attitude after the 3-2 win against AFC Ajax.

'Fighting hard'
After Jon Dahl Tomasson had scored a late winner to take Milan through to a semi-final derby with Internazionale FC, Ancelotti admitted his players had been "a bit lucky" but believed the victory was deserved. He said: "We were fighting hard and we tried until the very end. And in the end that paid off as we managed to score. Ajax were great when they had possession but I thought we created more chances than they did."

No mistake
Ajax had twice come from behind, with second half goals through Jari Litmanen and Steven Pienaar, to level the game at 2-2 and looked to be heading into the last four on the away goals rule until Tomasson struck. Milan took the lead after half an hour when Andriy Shevchenko galloped down the right to send in a cross, which took a wicked deflection of Jelle van Damme and left Filippo Inzaghi completely unmarked in the area. The Italian international made no mistake with his downward header.

Immediate impact
Ajax coach Ronald Koeman, however, reacted at half-time by substituting right-back Van Damme and replacing him with Litmanen. And the Finnish international made an immediate impact, running the game from his position just behind lone striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic - and scoring the equaliser after 63 minutes. And even though Andrei Shevchenko reinstalled Milan's lead a minute later, Ajax continued to cause the home side problems and scored what looked to be a decisive goal through Pienaar 12 minutes from the end

Inter next
Ancelotti was particularly pleased to triumph after his side earned a goalless draw in the first leg in Amsterdam and because of recent setbacks including injuries to key men like Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo. "Considering the difficult moment we are going through I am happy with the performance," he said. "We had several players injured and a lot of pressure after the defeat against Empoli [FC] in the league [last Saturday]." He added: "To reach the last four is an important result for us. And the derby against Inter will be really fascinating."

Chivu slip
Koeman was naturally downbeat after the game and rued his side's luck, especially focusing on the way Inzaghi was able to create the winning goal for Tomasson. He said: "We were better than Milan for large parts of the game but this is football. Sometimes you are lucky sometimes you are not. We were a bit unlucky at the third goal because [Cristian] Chivu fell down and that enabled Inzaghi to get into position. But Milan were lucky with their other goals as well as both the crosses before the goals were deflected."

Bright future
Despite defeat, the Dutch champions could still hold their heads high and look forward to next season. Ibrahimovic, one of Koeman's brightest young talents, said: "We have had a tremendous season in Europe. I am not surprised because I know this is a good team and we can do even better in the future."

Looking forward
Meanwhile, Milan are already gearing up for the two-legged semi-final against Inter next month. Tomasson, who scored a goal in last season's UEFA Cup final to help Feyenoord lift the trophy, can hardly wait. He said: "It was incredible to score the winning goal and now we will take on Inter. They have a lot of great players but so do we."