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EUROPEAN LEAGUES:NO ONE could ever accuse AC Milan’s Brazilian coach Leonardo of being a pessimist. Speaking on Saturday night after his side had drawn 0-0 with AS Roma at the Olimpico in Rome, Leonardo sounded the battle cry for Wednesday’s Champions League return leg tie with Manchester United, even suggesting that his side could pull off the “mission impossible” and win by two clear goals: “We really believe we can do it. We’ve done really well in all the games we’ve played since that night at San Siro (2-3 defeat by United). We go to Manchester full of optimism, if we were able to stage a comeback there it would be something incredible, eternal”.
Leonardo’s optimism was only partly borne out by his side’s performance in a game that was effectively a clash between the pretenders to Inter Milan’s throne. Milan did indeed dominate much of the match, they played much good football but Brazilian Ronaldhino, strikers Marco Boriello and Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar all missed the sort of chances that players of their class and experience would normally gobble up. Furthermore, this Roma side, missing talisman Francesco Totti and looking just a little jaded, clearly represented a less imposing opponent than United next Wednesday.
