Gattuso's avengers alert to a Rafa repeat

League tables may not lie but can occasionally obscure the whole truth. The Serie A standings this morning say that even if Milan were reimbursed the eight points deducted for their part in Italy's match-fixing scandal, they would be an inferior team to Roma; Manchester United know better. Liverpool, on the other hand, trail as far behind United as ever in the Premiership; Milan's midfield rottweiler Gennaro Gattuso believes they will be the trickier opposition of the two.

But it is not domestic football that Milan's jubilant followers will have in mind as they make their way through the urban sprawl surrounding the San Siro stadium this afternoon for a home game with Fiorentina. The Italian title was long ago destined for their hated fellow tenants Internazionale (with Roma runners-up), rendered a no-contest once Juventus were demoted and Milan punished by loss of points. No, the Champions' League was the only place the red-and-blacks were going to stamp an impression this season, and so emphatically has that mark been made that they will be favourites to take revenge on Liverpool in the final on 23 May.

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Winning five successive League matches has even added an insurance policy virtually guaranteeing a Champions' League place again next season. Nobody at the San Siro believes they will need it, and watching the pitiless demolition of United's dreams it was difficult to disagree. If there is the tiniest doubt in Milanese minds it stems from only two possible sources: the memory of Istanbul 2005; and the fact that Liverpool are not United.

As Gattuso put it late on Wednesday night, looking more like street urchin than stylish Italian in his beany hat and trainers: "It is very different to Manchester, who are a real footballing team. Liverpool are like an Italian team of 10 years ago. All they try to do is defend together, with everybody behind the ball."

The point behind this crude characterisation was that opponents with Milan's combination of flair and organisation would rather take their chance (and chances) against Sir Alex Ferguson's team than Rafa Benitez's.

Take them they did, at Old Trafford and the San Siro. Kaka's two glorious breaks in the first leg meant that even when Milan lost Paolo Maldini, Gattuso and much of their authority in the second half, Wayne Rooney's goals in response represented an advantage that was more psychological than mathematical.

United's players and management insisted they had matured as a team since losing both legs 1-0 to Milan in 2005, but the evidence of it from the 3-2 win was washed away in the driving Lombardy rain, when their more experienced players were as lost as the younger ones.

The absence of defenders such as Patrice Evra (to a self-inflicted suspension), Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand clearly did not help, though their presence on Wednesday night might merely have delayed the eventual outcome rather than prevented it. Ferguson's resigned acceptance of the defeat, although it was significantly more gracious than Jose Mourinho's, suggested he felt the same way.

So ineffective were Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and the isolated Rooney individually and as an attacking unit that it was impossible to say whether Milan's defensive changes over the past couple of years (only Alessandro Nesta from the 2005 final lined up on Wednesday) have weakened them or not.

Two years ago, the Italians eventually found Liverpool more trouble than United. The wound inflicted in that scarcely believable second half in Istanbul has never really healed, and the scar offers Benitez's team their best hope, together with the knowledge that he has an improved squad at his disposal. He will still, of course, need to get his selection of it right for the start of the first half this time around (no more Harry Kewell) as well as the second.

There will be no Hernan Crespo and Andriy Shevchenko to torment his defence, but Kaka, along with two years' more experience, is even more dangerous as a support striker, which allows Carlo Ancelotti the protection of playing an extra midfielder in Massimo Ambrosini alongside the creative Andrea Pirlo and the destructive Gattuso.

Ancelotti, the Juventus coach when United came from 2-0 down to knock them out in the Roy Keane semi-final of 1999, must feel he has exorcised that ghost; now the task is to do the same to Liverpool.

Final Specialists: Dutch trio carve their names in Milanese history

1963: Milan 2 Benfica 1

Two goals from the Brazil and Italy international Jose Altafini at Wembley ended Benfica's bid for a third consecutive title. Milan included Cesare Maldini, Paolo's father, and Giovanni Trapattoni.

1969: Milan 4 Ajax 1

Pierino Prati's hat-trick in Madrid was the first in a final since Ferenc Puskas in 1962. Giovanni Sormani was the other scorer. Milan, who won the Cup-Winners' Cup the year before, had Carlo Cudicini's father Fabio in goal.

1989: Milan 4 Steaua Bucharest 0

The Dutch trio Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard brought Milan their first title in 20 years in Barcelona, the first two scoring two goals each. It was the first time Maldini Jnr lifted the trophy in a team that also included their current manager, Carlo Ancelotti.

1990: Milan 1 Benfica 0

In the year Italy hosted the World Cup, Italian teams won all three European trophies. Back-to-back titles for Milan in Vienna; this time it was Rijkaard's turn to score.

1994: Milan 4 Barcelona 0

Milan recovered from the previous year's defeat by Marseille with a sublime display - without Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta, both suspended. Daniele Massaro scored twice, Dejan Savicevic and Marcel Desailly once each.

2003: Milan 0 Juventus 0 (Milan won on penalties)

The first ever all-Italian final unsurprisingly ended in stalemate at Old Trafford. Milan featured eight players who helped beat Manchester United last week, as well as Andriy Shevchenko.

Andrew Tong