Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.
from the BBC
Head-to-head
* Manchester United and AC Milan have met each other on four previous occasions with each winning their home games.
* In the 1957/1958 Champions Cup semi-final, AC Milan won 5-2 on aggregate although they lost 2-1 at Old Trafford.
* 11 years later, Milan knocked United out at the same stage of the competition, this time winning the home leg 2-0 before losing the away leg 1-0.
* Manchester United have hosted Italian opposition on 10 occasions, winning seven and losing just once.
* That home defeat was against Juventus in November 1996, the Italians winning 1-0.
* Manchester United are unbeaten in their last five home matches against Italian opposition.
* Furthermore, United have won their last three matches (home and away) against Italian teams.
* AC Milan have visited England nine times and never won, drawing twice and losing seven.
* Their last visit was a 1-0 defeat at Leeds United in September 2000.
* Milan's two draws in England were both goalless, at Everton in September 1975 and Chelsea in September 1999.
* AC Milan have failed to score on their last four visits to England.
* AC Milan have not won a match against English opposition (home and away) since beating Everton 1-0 in October 1975.
* This is one of only six Milan victories against English clubs in 20 European matches.
European history
* Manchester United have won the Champions Cup/Champions League twice, in 1967/1968 and 1998/1999.
* United have also won the Cup Winners' Cup (1990/1991) as well as the Uefa Super Cup (1991) and Intercontinental Cup (1999) on one occasion each.
* AC Milan have won six Champions Cup/Champions League trophies with the last coming in 2002/2003.
* Milan have also won two Cup Winners' Cups, four Uefa Super Cups and three Intercontinental Cups.
* Milan have reached the knock-out stage in six of their nine Champions League participations.
* Manchester United have reached the knock-out rounds of the Champions League for the ninth season in a row.
* This sequence represents a competition record.
* The only United campaign that failed to negotiate the group phase came in the Red Devils' CL debut in 1994/1995.
* Manchester United have been knocked out of European competition by Italian clubs on four occasions.
* Juventus put United out of the Uefa Cup (1976/1977) and Cup Winners' Cup (1983/1984) in addition to United's two exits courtesy of AC Milan.
* AC Milan have failed at the hands of English clubs on three occasions - Chelsea beat them in the 1965/1966 Fairs Cup, Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals of the 1971/1972 Uefa Cup and Manchester City in the 1978/1979 Uefa Cup.
Current European form
* Manchester United have won their last four European home matches, three of which were in the Champions League.
* United are unbeaten in their last 22 European home matches, 20 of which were in the Champions League.
* United have scored in their last 18 European home matches, 16 of which were in the Champions League.
* United lost their last European match, 3-0 in Turkey against Fenerbahçe.
* Manchester United finished second behind Olympique Lyon in their first phase group.
* AC Milan won Group F with four wins, one draw and one defeat. FC Barcelona were second.
* AC Milan have lost just one European match this season, a 2-1 defeat in Barcelona.
Player and disciplinary info
* No players are suspended for this match.
* Manchester United's Liam Miller, Gabriel Heinze and Paul Scholes will be suspended on receiving another yellow card.
* For AC Milan, Gennaro Gattuso is also one yellow away from suspension.
* United employ this season's CL top scorer in Ruud van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman has netted eight times so far.
* Van Nistelrooy was the single season CL top scorer in both 2001/2002 and 2002/2003.
* He could become the first player to earn the distinction three times should he hold on to his lead.
* Van Nistelrooy is also United's most prolific goalscorer in Champions League with 42 goals although he didn't score all of them as a United player.
* Only Raúl has scored more Champions League goals than Van Nistelrooy.
* United's most experienced player in the competition is Gary Neville who has played 89 matches.
* Six others have broken the 50 barrier - Ryan Giggs (81), Paul Scholes (77), Ole Gunnar Solskjær (71), Roy Keane (69), Phil Neville (59) and Mikaël Silvestre (58) are the sextet.
* None of the Manchester United squad have played in all six of their Champions League matches this season.
* Milan striker Andrei Shevchenko has scored 31 Champions League goals in his career whilst team mate Filippo Inzaghi has 30 to his name.
* Paolo Maldini is Milan's most experienced Champions League player with 80 appearances, all for AC Milan.
* Four other Milan players - Clarence Seedorf (64), Andrei Shevchenko (62), Alessandro Costacurta (58) and Filippo Inzaghi (50) have broken the half century barrier.
* Dida, Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Seedorf and Kaká have played in all six of Milan's Champions League matches this season.
* Dida, Maldini and Nesta have been on the pitch for every one of the 540 minutes this season.
Other miscellaneous facts
* United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been in charge for more CL matches than any other trainer - 107 in total.
* Manchester United have won their last five matches in all competitions and eight of their last nine.
* Chelsea are the only team to have beaten Manchester United in 2005.
* Manchester United have played 45 matches in all competitions this season, the most by an English club.
* Milan have played 10 fewer matches than United in the 2004/2005 season.
* Over the weekend, Manchester United beat Everton 2-0 in the fifth round of the FA Cup, thereby advancing to the stage of the last eight.
* Manchester United are second in the FA Premiership, nine points behind leaders Chelsea.
* Last Saturday, AC Milan beat Cagliari 1-0 on a goal by Serginho in injury-time. As leaders Juventus drew Messina 0-0, AC Milan took over the lead in the Serie A from Juventus on goal difference.