Courageous Pompey suffer injury-time heartache
Filippo Inzaghi scored late on to deny Portsmouth a famous win
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Thursday, 27, Nov 2008 10:17
Portsmouth were two minutes away from claiming a famous win over AC Milan, but in the end had to settle for a 2-2 draw in the Uefa Cup.
Goals from Younes Kaboul and Kanu had given Pompey a well deserved 2-0 lead, but late goals from Ronaldinho and Filippo Inzaghi earned the Italian giants a point.
Pompey started the match well, but got a huge slice of fortune when a deflected Andriy Shevchenko free-kick landed at the feet of Inzaghi inside the penalty area. The Italian international turned sharply and got a shot on target which rebounded off the post straight into the hands of David James.
Five minutes later world player of the year Kaka showed his blistering pace and left the Portsmouth defenders for dead before unleashing a shot which went just over the bar.
Portsmouth had their fare share of possession in the opening quarter and created a good chance themselves. Kanu floated in a beautiful ball into the area and Peter Crouch had a good chance to score but he miscued his shot from a couple of yards out.
Inzaghi then had a golden chance to give Milan the lead as he ran through on goal and with only James to beat, the 33-year-old lobbed the keeper but saw his effort go just over the bar.
Portsmouth played with excellent pace on the flanks and an ageing Milan team found it difficult o live with Pompey. The excellent Nadir Belhadj played a one-two with Kanu on the left-wing and floated the ball into the box, but Glen Little could only find the side-netting with his shot.
Fratton Park exploded on the hour mark when Portsmouth took a deserved lead. Milan failed to clear a free-kick into their box and the ball was played back into the area by Glen Johnson and Younes Kaboul towered above everyone else to thump the ball into the goal.
Pompey fans could hardly believe what they were witnessing as their team scored again 11 minutes later. Johnson showed superb skill to beat two Milan players on the right-wing before sliding the ball into the area and Kanu slotted the ball into the roof of the net from a couple of yards out.
Unsurprisingly Milan came fighting back and managed to snatch a point with two late goals. First substitute Ronaldinho controversially scored with a sublime free-kick. The Portsmouth players were unhappy with the referee for awarding the free-kick when Johnson looked to have cleanly won the ball off Ronaldinho.
Pompey suffered heartache in injury-time when they failed to clear a hopeful ball into their penalty area and Inzaghi was left unmarked to score from a couple of yards out.