AC Milan defender uses the sexy to get Brazilian’s attention…

Spotted at [ONTD Football]

Spoiler bonus: Check out our extensive Sporno gallery here

Albanian oil baron alleged to have ordered journo beating…

Last month, rumours were swirling of a bid to wrest AC Milan from the wandering hands of everyone’s favourite political liability, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi. Albanian oligarch Rezart Taci was ready to lump €700m on the Rossoneri, claiming he’d been given first refusal by Berlusconi after putting the kibosh on a mysteriously failed takeover of Serie A side Bologna.

Fans may think Milan have it bad enough with Berlusconi - whose ‘Controversies’ section in Wikipedia is the longer than most people’s entire profiles - at the helm, but according to Spanish sports paper AS (one of the less mental ones), Taci could give him a run in the ’shady’ stakes.

Who really wants to watch Chelsea win 1-0?

Another eight matches for your consumption this evening, although at least CSKA Moscow and Manchester United (5:30pm SS2) have the decency to kick off a little earlier for us armchair fans.

At 7:45, the two most successful clubs in European Cup history meet for the first time in almost seven years. Many expect Madrid to absolutely tank Milan, whilst in the other Group B fixture, Marseille will be collecting some Toblerone, and probably three points in Zurich.

Elsewhere, Besiktas go to Wolfsburg, whilst victory for Bordeaux at home to Bayern, could mean big trouble for Juventus, who themselves are at home to whipping boys Maccabi Haifa tonight.

For those without Sky Sports, Chelsea - Atletico is on ITV1 at 7:30, whilst the other Group D game tonight, Porto vs APOEL, should go largely unwatched.

As ever, predictions below…

UPDATE: Thespoiler has just been reminded that this year’s Champions League final is on a Saturday. Thank goodness Simon Cowell is usually on his holidays by then, or we may be looking forward to the first ever ITV2 Champions League final.

…is ‘Thank Goodness we are drunk’ apparently

The tifosi (oooh, get us) banner has long been a mainstay of Italian football culture, along with flairs and female presenters who aren’t necessarily on television due to their knowledge of the Bari back-line. Such banners have been employed for sinister purposes down the years, as the fascist-leaning clubs use them to ill-effect. Lazio even received a one match ban back in 2001, when their ultras held up a banner aimed at Roma supporters proclaiming, ‘Team of Blacks, stand of Jews.’

More happily, the annual Sandro Ciotti award has just been allocated to Torino fan Eleonora Ingrassia, for the banner he displayed (above) throughout Torino’s relegation campaign, loosely translated as:

 Thank goodness we are drunk

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Bye bye Peter Taylor
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Carlo Ancelotti backs his former employer Milan to improve, probably with a huge grin on his face
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Brazilian caught livin’ it up for the zillionth time

With Milan languishing in the bottom half of Serie A, now would be the worst time for Ronaldinho to be caught out partying in the early hours before a game. Oh hey, guess what happened at the weekend?

Unable to resist the prospect of samba rhythm and alcohol, the King of Nightclubs flew to Paris on Saturday afternoon to take part in a “percussion concert”. He continued to bang his drum well into the wee hours of Sunday morning, and French paper L’Equipe reports that he had “some difficulty” leaving the bar.

Ronny played for the Rossoneri against Atalanta later on Sunday, and undoubtedly excused himself from punishment by slotting home a superb equalising goal…

Italian PM forgets about all the teams that are better than his

Currently sitting in the bottom half of Serie A with two league wins to their name, AC Milan are struggling to find form under Leonardo. Well aware of this fact, owner Silvio Berlusconi yesterday described the start to the season as “a disaster” while visiting the earthquake-hit region of Abruzzo. However, when he realised a reporter from La Gazzetta dello Sport heard his comment, he changed his mind quicker than a former Tottenham defender at a League Two club:

“Ah, you work for Gazzetta?”"Well, when I said ‘disaster’ I was just saying it for the sake of it.

“It is a difficult moment, but that’s football. It will pass. We’ll see where things stand in the end.”

The Italian ladies’ man - who has suspiciously black hair and perfect teeth for a man who turned 73 yesterday - continued

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Spoiler promotion: Play Fantasy Football and win Champions League Final tickets!

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Milan and Juventus target Gary Cahill
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