Nesta ready for Cristiano Ronaldo
Saturday 21 April, 2007

Alessandro Nesta is not afraid of facing Cristiano Ronaldo and insists Manchester United should be worrying more about Kaka.

The Portuguese starlet wreaked havoc in the 7-1 drubbing of Roma, but Milan hope to avoid the same fate in next week’s Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford.

“I faced him two years ago and at the moment he really is at the top of his game,” noted the experienced defender.

“It will be tough, but you can stop Cristiano Ronaldo with organisation and by closing him down immediately.

“We watched the Roma game and that night everything went United’s way, scoring seven goals with as many attempts. Those are special evenings, but in the first leg you could not see such a vast difference between the sides, so we will go there looking for the win.”

Nesta instead believes that Sir Alex Ferguson is the one who should be concerned at taking on arguably the best player in the world right now – Champions League top scorer Kaka.

“We have many world class players here who are going strong, for example such as Kaka, so we have important factors working in our favour,” he told ‘Sky Italia’.

The first leg will be in Manchester – the same stadium where the Rossoneri last lifted the trophy in 2003, beating Juventus on penalties in the Final.

“It will be difficult to play at Old Trafford, as they have a remarkable crowd that gets fired up easily. This clash is worth a great deal, as our team has been criticised and penalised from all sides, so reaching another Final would be a marvellous feeling.”

Milan had originally been excluded from the Champions League due to the Calciopoli scandal, but an appeal saw them go through the Preliminary Round.

The Italians are the only side who made it to the quarter-finals both last season and in the current campaign.

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iGod