AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was very proud of his side's qualification for the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League after beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in Germany on Wednesday. The Italian tactician said that his team had a duty to represent their country following Roma's humiliating exit at the hands of Manchester United. "Roma's loss was a shock to everyone and something nobody could have predicted," Ancelotti told a post-game conference. "Our objective now is to keep Italy's head held high in Europe," he said. "We are pleased to be representing Italian soccer in the last four of the most important competition." Milan had Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi to thank for scoring two superb first-half goals that gave the Rossoneri a 4-2 aggregate win. “I think this was a great performance by my team. It was not easy to wrest back the initiative in the tie after the first leg, and we didn't expect to score so easily in the first half,” he said.
Ancelotti The Italian giants will next face Manchester United in the semi-finals, a test that Ancelotti knows will not be easy. "Manchester are very strong on the break with real pace and a solid defense. "They have different qualities from Bayern, but we beat them twice two years ago and have the small advantage of playing the second leg on home turf,” added Ancelotti. Bayern boss Ottmar Hitzfeld admitted Milan deserved the victory after outclassing his side. "We didn't show the necessary quality to beat a team of the class of AC Milan," said Hitzfeld. "Milan was the best team this evening and the Italians deserved their win. They are a very clever team, which knows how to take advantage of the slightest error and they will test Manchester United."
