ABBIATI BERKOMITMEN UNTUK MILAN

Milan - Penjaga gawang nomor satu AC Milan, Christian Abbiati melalui agennya menegaskan bahwa ia berbahagia bersama Milan. Sempat berhembus kabar bahwa ia telah dihubung-hubungkan dengan salah satu peserta Liga Italia Serie A lainnya, Genoa.

Abbiati telah dihubungkan dengan Genoa setelah melihat Nelson Dida memantapkan dirinya sebagai pilihan pertama dalam tim Leonardo. Namun agen sang pemain, Claudio Vigorelli membantah rumor tersebut dan menyatakan bahwa kliennya tidak pernah berpikir akan meninggalkan Milan.

"Kami belum bicara dengan siapa pun," kata Vigorelli sebagaimana dikutip oleh tribalfootball.com.

"Abbiati adalah bagian dari rencana klub dan dia tidak pernah berpikir untuk meninggalkan Milan."

Nelson Dida, Kiper berkebangsaan Brazil berusia 36 tahun menggantikan peran Abbiati yang absen lantaran cedera dan bermain cukup stabil di bawah mistar gawang Milan, yang sejauh ini tampil sebanyak 13 kali bagi klub baik di Liga Italia Serie A maupun Liga Champions. Walau pun sempat diparkir karena dinilai mulai lamban ternyata masih mampu membuktikan dirinya bermain pada level tertinggi.

"Walau pun Abbiati belum berada pada performa terbaiknya namun pada bulan Januari mendatang akan menjadi awal yang penting baginya." jawab Vigorelli saat disinggung tentang penampilan Dida.

Read more...

Abbiati has had a successful operation

AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati has had a successful operation to reconstruct a cruciate knee ligament torn in a 5-1 Serie A win at Siena earlier this month.

The procedure took place without complications under the guidance of specialist Marc Martens in Antwerp, Belgium, Milan said.

It is expected to take Abbiati five or six months to recover, the club said on their website.

Read more...

With heart and passion

"I have motivations, I will put in heart and passion and start all over again". Christian Abbiati spoke exclusively for Milan Chanel on Thursday.

Abbiati will have to miss the rest of the season due to this injury following a clash with a team-mate (Gianluca Favalli) in the first half of the match against Siena which the Rossoneri won 5-1.

"I’m a person who believes a lot in destiny and therefore I must say that it had to happen."

At 32 years of his age Abbiati was quite lucky because he never suffered serious injuries and this was his first one. At first he just thought that it was a knock to his tibia, but then he felt pain to his knee.

While the Rossoneri have Nelson Dida, Zeljko Kalac, Marco Storari and Ferdinand Coppola all on the books. And there was a possibility Dida would replace Abbiati's place for the next Milan match.

"I saw him really motivated. He has a great passion and proved this throughout the entire year, always training well.”

"I wanted to thank everyone because I did not reply to the phone or the messages in the past two days, because I wanted to stay in tranquillity. I thank all of my friends, team-mates and colleagues who have been close to me, proving all of their affection."

"For the league we must not look at other teams, but just think about ourselves. We go forward, preparing a game at a time. Now there’s Napoli, then there will be the break and then we go forward." His answered when asked about the team.

Read more...

Abbiati: "I feel more mature outside the pitch"

The number one Milan goal keeper Christian Abbiati told the Italian daily La Repubblica: "I feel more mature outside the pitch and more experienced on the pitch. Julio Cesar has become one of the best goalkeepers in the world, even though Buffon remains the best and in Italy amongst the young ones I like Marchetti. However the derby will be decided by Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic, not us. The goalkeeper role has become the most difficult one."

Read more...