Berlusconi inspired AC Milan win, says Antonini

Nov 26, 2012 8:10:00 PM

The Rossoneri defender has revealed that the speech made by the club's owner before their clash with Juventus on Sunday evening encouraged them to triumph

Luca Antonini believes that AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi helped inspire the team to a 1-0 victory over Juventus on Sunday night.

The match finished 1-0 in favour of the Rossoneri outfit thanks to a goal a first-half penalty from Robinho, and Antonini has revealed the impact that the former Italy prime minister's words had on the players when he spoke to them during a training session prior to the game.

"Berlusconi's words were important for our performance," he told reporters. "He came to [our training ground] Milanello and gave us the motivation that we needed.

"It was certainly not easy to get a result against Juventus. They came into the game on the back of a good result versus Chelsea, but my team-mates did a fantastic job."

Antonini suffered an injury that has sidelined him since the beginning of November but he is optimistic of returning to action in the near future.

He added: "I love playing for this club and hope to return soon."

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Champions League final - LIVE!

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will battle it out at Wembley for European glory. Get involved by sending us your thoughts via Twitter or Facebook! Hosted by Mark Doyle.

6:26 PM BST

Bayern have arrived at Wembley! The legendary Lothar Mattheus will obviously be cheering on die Roten this evening, but he is just hoping that Fussball is the winner tonight:

"The whole world will watch the game," the World Cup winner told Sky Sport Germany. "It electrifies the masses. Never before there was so much talk about a Champions League final than this time.

"Both groups of fans know the whole world is watching. We have to present ourselves similar to the way we did at WC 2006 because it brings a lot of sympathy. Today we have another chance to present Germany in a positive way."

Unfortunately, there were reports of some clashes between rival sets of fans earlier in the day, but, happily, the atmosphere at the ground is wonderfully good-natured.

6:18 PM BST

Former Dortmund goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was present at the Champions League festival earlier and he is tipping his former side for the title: "I think Bayern are a little stronger but if I was to have a bet, I would bet on Dortmund because that would win me more money!"

However, our tipster Hugh Wilson reckons that the value is a punt on both sides scoring in the first half ...

6:11 PM BST

Right, allow me to redirect you back to Twitter because Goal's Carlo Garganese has just logged on for a live Q&A session, so start tweeting him your questions.

6:08 PM BST

Dortmund are keen: They've already arrived at Wembley. Former Dortmund defender Christoph Metzelder can understand his old side's desire to get to the ground as early as possible. "This is the most horrible time ahead of the match," he told Sky Germany. "The tension is huge on the way to the stadium until you can finally warm-up and get on the pitch."

However, former Bayern boss Ottmar Hitzfeld says it doesn't matter when Dortmund arrive, they're still not going to lift the Champions League tonight: "Bayern has to win the title; it's just their time. They won't let a third final in four years slip away from them."

6:02 PM BST

Now back to our man, Jay Jaffa, who is outside the ground:

"I've just had a chat with a man called Helmut. As you will see from the photo, Helmut arrived here by bicycle ... He said: 'It took me 10 days. I didn't see the sun once: it was raining, powerful winds, horrible, but I made it. I rode 554 miles to get here but ... I don't have a ticket.'

"Ouch! I feel for Helmut, he looks absolutely drained and I reckon he was relying on the gift of charity as his way in, but alas it is yet to find him."

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