AC Milan history today: Shevchenko saved the team in the first round of Serie A in 2005! Escaped unscathed in the heavy rain

Today in AC Milan's history: August 28, 2005, Sheva saved the day in the first round of Serie A! The Rossoneri escaped unscathed in the rainstorm

On August 28, 2005, the first round of the 2005-2006 Serie A season began. AC Milan challenged Ascoli away. The game was played in heavy rain. The field was seriously flooded, and the players' running and cooperation were seriously affected. The referee once discussed with the players whether to cancel the game, but the rain later subsided and the game went on normally.

Captain Maldini and Gattuso were absent, Seedorf sat on the bench, Kaladze, Ambrosini and Serginho entered the starting lineup, Kaka played as a single front midfielder, Sheva and Gilardino formed the front line.

Take a look at the starting and substitute players of the two teams.

C Milan (4-3-1-2): 1-Dida; 2-Cafu, 31-Stam, 13-Nesta, 4-Kaladze (86th minute, 18-Jankulovski); 23-Ambrosini, 21-Pirlo (82nd minute, 20-Seedorf), 27-Serginho; 22-Kaka; 7-Shevchenko, 11-Gilardino.

Ascoli (4-4-2): 28-Coppola; 13-Carbone, 6-Cudini, 53-Lauro (78th minute, Corallo), 77-Tosto; 17-Foggia, 55-Cristiano, 18-Parola, 8-Fini; 99-Quagliarela (68th minute, Grosso), 9-Ferrante (56th minute, Colombo).

After the start of the first half, the two teams attacked and defended each other, but they played in the rain and their performance was affected, and they did not get too good opportunities.

In the second half, AC Milan coached by Ancelotti stepped up their offensive, but the home team scored first in the 58th minute. Cudini's supplementary shot gave Ascoli a 1-0 lead over AC Milan, and more than 24,000 fans at home cheered.

After that, the rain got heavier and heavier. AC Milan launched a counterattack in unfavorable weather. In the 60th minute, AC Milan took a corner kick and Stam headed the ball into the net, but the referee De Santis had not blown the whistle yet and ordered the corner kick to be restarted. AC Milan players were very dissatisfied.

In the 63rd minute, Sheva, who had missed several scoring opportunities before, dribbled the ball horizontally and shot with his right foot 25 meters in front of the goal. The ball went straight to the lower right corner. AC Milan tied the score to 1-1. The Ukrainian nuclear warhead ran wildly in the rain to celebrate.

Two minutes later, Sheva got another chance to score, but unfortunately, because of the deformation of his skills and tactics in the rain, he hit the ball away 5 meters in front of the goal. In the end, the two teams tied 1-1.

AC Milan had bad luck in the first game this season, missing out on the Serie A title, and in the Champions League, a beautiful goal by Sheva was mistakenly called a foul, and Barcelona made it to the Champions League final.