Three is a Crowd at AC Milan

The very tall (6 feet 7 inches or 2.02 meters) native of Sydney, Australia, ended the 2007-2008 Serie A campaign as the number one keeper. During his youth, he played for Sydney Croatia and Sydney United. He began his Italian career with Perugia in 2002. Three years later, he was transferred to Milan, where he has made 37 appearances. He has been capped 54 times for Australia, and has an impressive goals against average of 0.50.

“Il più vecchio dei tre è lì che si allena, e suda. Zeljko Kalac ha impiegato anni per essere considerato portiere titolare del Milan e non ha intenzione di cedere quello che ha ottenuto con tanta fatica. Sicché ha passato le vacanze in Australia e poi in Croazia a rilassarsi, ma anche a lavorare.”

“The oldest of the three trains and sweats. Zeljko Kalac has worked for years to be considered the starting keeper of Milan, and does not have intentions to cede what he obtained with such hard work. Such that he spent the holidays in Australia and then in Croatia to relax, but also to work.”

Christian Abbiati

The Italian native began his Serie A career with Milan in 1998. After an injury in 2002, he lost his starting role to Nelson Dida. During the last few years, he has been loaned out to Juventus, Torino, and lastly to Atletico Madrid, respectively. He has been capped 3 times for the Azzurri, and was a reserve keeper at Euro 2000.

Nelson Dida

The native of Bahia, Brasil has been with Milan since 2000. He earned the starting role in 2002, and remained there until last season when his form dropped considerably. With Milan, he has won one Scudetto (Italian championship), along with two UEFA Champions League titles. He has made 91 international appearances for Brasil, but is not considered their first team starter any longer. For 2004-2005, he was voted by his peers as the best goalkeeper in the world at FIFPro, which is an organization made up solely of professional footballers.

“Il vero problema per Kalac e Abbiati potrebbe essere Dida, che non ha voluto saperne di lasciare Milanello e di accettare una rescissione di contratto che molti in primavera davano per fatta. Il brasiliano ha un ingaggio altissimo, quattro milioni all’anno, un nome importante, un passato ricco di successi.”

“The real problem for Kalac and Abbiati could be Dida, who didn’t want to hear of leaving Milan and accepting a rescission of his contract that many thought was a done deal last Spring. The Brazilian has a very high wage bill, four million euros a year, an important name, and a past rich with successes.”

Source: La Gazzetta dello Sport, 02 July 2008.

Italian translations by Steve Amoia.

Pretend you are Carlo Ancelotti. Who would you select as your starting keeper? They also have another young goalkeeper, Marco Storari, in their player pool.

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