Sports press hails Milan as masters of Europe

MILAN, May 3 (Reuters) Italy's sports press hailed AC Milan as the masters of European football today after their emphatic victory over Manchester United sent them into the Champions League final.

''Great, great, great,'' ran the front-page headline of La Gazzetta dello Sport - one ''great'' for each goal in a 3-0 win on Wednesday that gave Milan a 5-3 aggregate semi-final victory over United.

Six-times European champions Milan go through to a showdown on May 23 in Athens against Liverpool, who beat them in the 2005 final.

Milan gave United a ''true footballing lesson'', continued the paper, before warning Liverpool they could not expect another collapse like the one that Milan suffered two years ago, when they squandered a 3-0 halftime lead to end up losing on penalties.

''This time in the final in Athens they will find a different team, a real Milan United, with a new determination and a hunger for success that dates back two years from that never-forgotten defeat in Istanbul.'' Such was Milan's dominance of the second leg at San Siro that Gazzetta highlighted the inexperience of United's young guns Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo in contrast to the experience of the Italian's team's older squad.

''Rooney: Overall a puppy dog compared to the lion of Old Trafford,'' the paper said in its player ratings, giving the striker, who scored twice in the first leg, 5/10.

''Ronaldo: Rabbit-like opposite the (lion's) roars of (Milan midfielder Rino) Gattuso,'' it said of the English players' Player of the Year, giving him 4/10.

'INCREDIBLE RECORD' Corriere dello Sport hailed a ''Marvellous Milan''. The eleventh European Cup final in the club's history - and eighth since 1989 - was further confirmation that they, more than any club in the past 20 years, could claim to be the masters of the continent's top club competition.

''It's an incredible record, a technical miracle that repeats itself year after year,'' said the paper.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti received special praise. The 47-year-old, a midfielder in Milan's European Cup-winning teams in 1989 and 1990, has guided the club to three Champions League finals since his appointment in November 2001.

Corriere also praised Milan's players for maintaining their focus despite the upheavals of the past 12 months.

Milan were thrown out of the Champions League last July after being found guilty in the Serie A match-fixing scandal.

Reinstated in the competition on appeal, they had responded on the pitch to those who had attacked their right to be there.

''In a season that sometimes seemed like an obstacle-race, they have been able to gather together all their strength at exactly the right moments, to sweep aside (quarter-final opponents) Bayern Munich and Manchester United as though they were two also-rans''.

Reuters BJR VV1522