Pato Scores As Milan Share Spoils With Dinamo Kiev

Dinamo Kiev celebrated their 80th anniversary by playing a friendly against European champions AC Milan, which finished 2-2.

Milan came from two goals down to secure a draw against Dynamo Kiev in the friendly to mark the 80th anniversary of the Ukrainian club.

With former Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko watching from the sidelines, much-hyped Brazilian wonder-kid Alexandre Pato made an impressive debut, even scoring a goal.

The Milan defence had serious difficulties at the start, as Dinamo opened the scoring after only six minutes with a header by Artem Milevskiy, who was found all alone inside the area.

After some more chances for the home side, with Brazilian defender Digao making a crucial goal line clearance, Pato fashioned a chance for Milan out of nothing in the 19th minute.

However, his assist found Alberto Gilardino in an offside position, so his 'goal' was called off.

Two minutes after that, it was 2-0 for the home side, as Goran Gavrancic fired a precise diagonal shot after a scrappy move.

Following the second goal Milan improved, and Pato had his first shot on goal, a left-footer which required the goalkeeper to make a good save, in the 23rd minute.

Shortly thereafter, Pato was again in the spotlight, as he played a nice one-two with Pierre Aubameyang, but fired his shot wide from a good position.

The impressive young Brazilian finally got his reward just before half-time, as he headed in a cross from the right by Daniele Bonera to give Milan a lifeline going into the second half.

Only five minutes into the restart, Gilardino finally got his long-awaited goal, as he controlled the ball with his chest, before dribbling past the goalkeeper and slotting into an empty net.

There were to be no more goals after this equaliser, although Pato continued to impress, distributing precise passes and showing strong overall technique. There were also some moments of glory for long-time Milan substitute keeper Valerio Fiori, who was on hand to prevent Dinamo making 3-2 on several occasions in the final part of the game.

In the final minutes, there was even some room for coach Carlo Ancelotti's son Davide, who plays with the Milan youth team and came in two minutes before the end of this match.


Starting Formations:

DINAMO KIEV (4-4-2): Rybka; Fedorov, Ghioane, Shatskikh, Milevskiy, Vaschchuk, Gavrancic, Ninkovic, Yussuf, Marcovic, Maikl.
COACH: Demyanenko.
AVAILABLE: Garmashi, Klèber, Belkevich, Aliev, Lutsenko, Eschhenko, Rodrigo.

MILAN (4-4-2): Kalac; Bonera, Nesta, Digao, Favalli; Cafu, Brocchi, Emerson, W. Aubameyang; Pato, Gilardino.
COACH: Ancelotti.
AVAILABLE: Fiori, D. Ancelotti, Furlan, Caraglia, Rampinini, Cosner, P. Aubameyang.