Ancelotti left dreaming of glory

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was keen to draw parallels with the 2002/03 season after a late Filippo Inzaghi goal kept the Rossoneri on course for their second successive UEFA Champions League final appearance. The veteran pounced on a loose ball with two minutes remaining to give the home team a 2-1 lead against Olympique Lyonnais, before Andriy Shevchenko sealed their place in the last four with a third goal in added time. Inzaghi had earlier set Milan on course for the win before Mahamadou Diarra equalised for Lyon, and Ancelotti saw comparisons with the 2003 quarter-final, where Jon Dahl Tomasson's strike earned a last-gasp victory over AFC Ajax in a competition they went on to win.

Carlo Ancelotti, Milan coach
At this stage in the competition, experience and attitude are more important than quality. We went through because we fought until the end. Inzaghi's goal was similar to the one he scored against Ajax three years ago. He has great experience and is always motivated. He can score right up until the final whistle. We're so good up front that we can always score, even when we play badly. And we didn't perform well. The game was finely balanced and it was all decided in the final few minutes. We had the small advantage of playing at home and fully exploited it. We never stopped believing in our progress.

Gérard Houllier, Lyon coach
I'm extremely disappointed. We performed really well, probably better than Milan, but I'm proud of our players anyway. We created several chances and my only regret is our having failed to take them. I'm a bit disappointed we couldn't fight until the end. Milan were reduced to the counterattack, they had three chances and scored three times. We played badly for just nine minutes and were punished. It's a shame as we had a great campaign until now, and I'd like to thank the fans. There were 10,000 Lyon supporters out there tonight which is unusual, so we must now focus on our two remaining goals [Ligue 1 and the French Cup] for them.