Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock
Titolo: Italian football

Milan's coach Carlo Ancelotti will welcome Rivaldo to the San Siro this week
but insists his arrival will not mean the departure of his Portuguese
playmaker Manuel Rui Costa.
Ancelotti, speaking at Ibrox after the Italians' 2-2 draw with Rangers
yesterday, said: "It would be a mistake to think that Rui Costa will not
play because he has already shown what a good player he is for us.
"I am, of course, very happy to have Rivaldo and it is obviously much better
to have a player like him than not to have.
"I don't see any problems in dealing with him and really the only problem
for me will be selecting 11 players and leaving others on the bench."
Rivaldo became a free agent after cancelling his contract with Barcelona
last week and on Saturday signed a three-year deal with Milan which makes
the 30-year-old forward one of the world's most highly paid players.
Milan rolled out all the big guns to welcome the World Cup winner as the
club's president Silvio Berlusconi and captain Paolo Maldini also paid
tribute to the Brazilian.
It is clear everyone connected with the San Siro club believes Rivaldo can
transform Milan into scudetto winners once again.
Berlusconi insisted: "There is no one better than Rivaldo. He is a wonderful
player and it is an honour for Milan to have a player of his calibre."
Maldini declared: "With Rivaldo we have a team who can win the championship
again. Perhaps only Ronaldo [Internazionale] at his very best is better but
now Milan has the two best players in the world in the city and that will
put it back at the top of Italian football."
Milan and Internazionale have suffered in recent years as Lazio, Roma and
Juventus have upstaged them in Serie A but, with the two Brazilian stars now
rivals, the expectations are huge.
"I can't wait to play in the derbies at the San Siro," Rivaldo told Gazzetta
dello Sport. "It will be a huge party for all the fans and I hope they will
enjoy it. I never imagined that such a scenario could become reality and I
am really curious to see what it it will be like."
"There were other offers, it is true, but Milan clearly rated me very highly
and made me feel that I am still an important player. In short, they were
the team that straight away gave me the impression that they counted a lot
on me."
Milan are expected to welcome Rivaldo officially on Thursday and Ancelotti
could give him a debut in the Champions League qualifier against Slovan
Liberec of the Czech Republic on August 13 or, at the latest, in a friendly
against Juventus five days later.
The Italians will certainly welcome his skills, although on the evidence of
this Ibrox performance they are not exactly short of top-class personnel.
Despite being some way behind Rangers in pre-season build-up they showed
they will be a major force in Serie A.
Rangers with their own newcomer, Mikel Arteta, dominating midfield before
going off to a standing ovation, were sharper early on but lost their way
amid many substitutions.
The Spaniard had a hand in both goals and settled well alongside the captain
Barry Ferguson and Ronald de Boer.
After 15 minutes Arteta rode the first of several reckless challenges from
the former Ibrox midfielder Rino Gattuso, sent Peter Lovenkrands scampering
down the left and his cross was headed in by De Boer. Three minutes from the
interval Arteta's corner was met by De Boer and then by Craig Moore, whose
knock-down left Claudio Caniggia a simple chance.
Then, with seconds of the first half remaining, Rangers lost concentration
as Andrea Pirlo crossed for Jon Dahl Tomasson to glance a fine header past
Stefan Klos. The equaliser came in the 79th minute when one substitute,
Ibrahim Ba, set up another, Marco Borriello.
Parma, the other Italian visitors to Glasgow over the weekend, lost 2-1 at
Celtic. Chris Sutton and Momo Sylla gave the Scots a comfortable lead until
Marco di Vaio's last- minute disputed penalty.
Celtic's manager Martin O'Neill is trying to tie up deals for Coventry's
goalkeeper Magnus Hedman and Hibernian's full-back Ulrik Laursen before
Saturday's Premier League opener with Dunfermline. Both are expected to sign
before O'Neill fliesto Slovakia in midweek to watch MSK Zelina and Basle
meet for the right to take on the Scottish side in their Champions League
qualifier.
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Buona estate a tutti

 Milan's coach Carlo Ancelotti will welcome Rivaldo to the
ops... che cazzo ci fa qui'????
devo aver sbagliato...:)