Milan forced to face age-old queries

Champions League:So to be 32 is to be a "dinosaur". That, at least, is the view of La Repubblica, who, when reflecting on what Cristiano Ronaldo and others did to Roma on Tuesday night at Old Trafford, worried aloud about the prospect of this Manchester United careering at Milan's "dinosaur" defence in the Champions League semi-finals.

Milan's back four may have Paolo Maldini at its heart - and he will be 39 years old in June - but Alessandro Nesta, Marek Jankulovski and Massimo Oddo average out at 30. They currently have an average age of 32 and, though that is not exactly retirement time, in Italy there is a pre-occupation with age and, particularly this season, with Milan's.

Kaka will have had another birthday by the time of the first leg, which will gently lever up the average age of the team. The outfield 10 against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night had an average of just over 30 years and much is sure to be made of United's likely outfield 10 for the first leg of the semi-final being on average four years younger, rising slightly with Paul Scholes' return.

That seems a striking difference until Bayern's age is taken into account. Their outfield 10 averaged just over 26 years on Wednesday and yet they were beaten by a Milan side revelling in their experience and the economy of effort. Andrea Pirlo, 27, is a master at that.

It is about the application of talent - and sometimes luck - more than age and speed, though Alex Ferguson will have noted that after the first leg, which was considered to feature Milan's best hour of football this season, Carlo Ancelotti admitted Milan had tired. Jankulovski said the team was not fit enough to maintain the high-tempo pressing game. Bayern scored twice in the last 12 minutes that night. "We played very well for 75 minutes, but at the end no longer had the stamina and fell away," said Jankulovski.

Ferguson has observed before that when United were eliminated by Milan at the San Siro two years ago, Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were 20 and 19 respectively. Two years on those players are more assured European performers and United will take heart from a throwaway,though interesting, remark made by Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani as he watched the Milan bus leave the Allianz Arena without him on Wednesday: "We are not as strong as the team that beat Manchester two years ago."

Milan may have acquired their own Ronaldo in January - cup-tied in Europe - and Alberto Gilardino before that, but gone are the days when Silvio Berlusconi would bankroll Milan in the transfer market. It feels as if Milan have been playing catch-up, with uncertainty surrounding the club since they were banned from Europe - later rescinded - and docked eight points last summer for their role in Italy's match-fixing scandal.

• Guardian Service