WORK IN PROGRESS

MILAN - There were plenty of talking points at the end of Milan's defeat on penalties to Bayern Munich.

MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI
"It would have been nice to have reached the final but penalties are a lottery. Some of the players did well and some less so. I feel there is still plenty of room for improvement. For the first outing I have to be satisfied but we could have defended better after going a goal ahead and we had another good chance through Cassano. We definitely need to improve our physical condition. Schweinsteiger was the difference for Bayern."

ALESSANDRO NESTA
"We came up against a Bayern side that were further ahead in their preparation than us. We lacked speed and it's a pity we didn't make it 2-0. Matches like his help in terms of speed and getting into the tempo of a match. We'll improve this aspect through the second half of pre-season training."

DANIELE BONERA
"It's a pity it ended in just a draw but we know where we are in our preparation, Bayern have ambitions to win the Champions League. We are not worried ahead of August 6th, we will be ready."

FLAMINI: SOLID WEEK IN TRAINING

Volunteer for a week. Mathieu Flamini has been in Myanmar with Milan Foundation and Doctors Without Borders and lived seven days with the volunteers. The AC Milan midfielder told Milan Channel: "All we can make our contribution."

MILAN - Mathieu Flamini has spent a week of his vacation as a volunteer in Myanmar, a country severely affected by AIDS, with Milan Foundation and Doctors Without Borders. Exclusively to Milan Channel he recounted his experience.

"I had a chance with Milan Foundation and Doctors Without Borders to go help these people in trouble, I wanted to do this for some time and I did it with pleasure. In Myanmar, there is so much poverty, but people get up every day with a smile, even the sick people, who are undergoing treatment. And this is the thing that struck me most during this trip."

"Every day in the world there are millions of people dying of AIDS, but we can cure it all together. The problem is that the treatments are expensive. But each of us can do something and make a contribution. I did it with the Milan Foundation and Doctors Without Borders but we can all make a gesture and spend some of our time to help these people in need. Let us be united against this disease, together we can defeat it."

The midfielder also talked about pre-season training:
"I feel good after this first week's training. We have worked hard and we hope to make a good start to the season. The team looked good in the friendly, we scored a lot of goals, but this is only the first game. It is important to continue to work hard to get ready for the beginning of the championship.

"I think it's obvious what Milan need to do in the Champions League. It's an important goal for the club and the team. We must try to get as far as possible in this competition.

"It is important to win every year. Last season we won the championship, we have to win it again the next and we always need to go in that direction."

MILAN ON FACEBOOK BREAKS FIVE MILLION

Another landmark for Milan as the official facebook page breaks the 5million fan mark.

MILAN - Milan now has more that 5million fans on its official facebook page.

The Rossoneri social network has become the most famous in the world with daily updates in Italian and English - news, breaking news, photos, videos and exclusive content.

Milan is the team in Italy with the most facebook users and is 8th in world rankings. Other forms of social media used by AC Milan include twitter (twitter.com/acmilan), flickr(http://www.flickr.com/photos/acmilanofficial/sets/) and youtube (www.youtube.com/milanchannel).

DJOKOVIC VISITS MILANELLO

Nole Djokovic, who is a huge Milan fan, was at Milanello today to meet and greet the players.

MILANO - This morning at 11.40 Nole Djokovic paid a visit to Milanello to meet the players of his team. The world number one tennis player, fresh from his victory at Wimbledon, spoke exclusively to Milan Channel. This is what he said:

"It is a very special day for me, I'll never forget it. I have always been a Milan fan and this is my first time at Milanello. It is an incredible sports centre, very big and it has everything a top team, the most successful in the world, needs and i have always admired them. My father was a Milan fan and he passed on his passion for the club to me when I was just a kid...
In Dubai, durin Milan's winter training camp, I got to meet Ibrahimovic and we said to each other that if Milan won the scudetto I would have won Wimbledon and it became a reality!
Now both I and Milan have new ambitions. After winning the scudetto the team is now ready for the Champions League and I am ready to remain number one in the world for as long as possible. I am a huge fan of all the players here, not just Ibra who is my idol. Cassano, Pato, Robinho and Seedorf...and even legendary players like Gattuso and Ambrosini, Nesta and Inzaghi. Now that I have met them all there is even more reason for me to keep being a fan of this team. Now that I have had the chance to visit Milanello and I have seen how they work I know why they have such high hopes for the up-coming season and I think they will deinitely win a trophy..." ( acmilan.com )

POSITIVE START

There was a party atmosphere at Solbiate Arno for Milan's first outing of the season as the Rossoneri ran out 12-0 winners and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who looked sharp, socred twice.

(In the photo: Zlatan Ibrahimovic in action at Solbiatese)

MILAN - Milan enjoyed a positive start to their pre-season series of friendlies with a 12-0 against semi-professional side Solbiatese Arno Calcio at the stadio Felice Chinetti di Solbiate Arno. The goalscorers were Seedorf (3'), Viscomi (og, 4'), Cassano (5'), Valoti (11'), Flamini (13'), Ibrahimovic (29') and Ibrahimovic again (40') Paloschi (48'), Zambrotta (59'), Emanuelson (69'), Inzaghi (77'), Comi (84').

Coach Massimiliano Allegri pulled something of a surprise by starting Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Cassno although both players reacted well which is a positive sign ahead of the Italian Super Cup in Beijing on August 6th against Inter.

The Swede, in particular, looked sharp and scored twice in the first half as well as setting up three goals plus the final ball for the own goal and no doubt had benefited from the extra time off, having only come back to training on July 18th.

Allegri used his full ratio of players including youth players Valoti, De Sciglio, Fossati, Ferreira and Comi as well as new signing Taye Taiwo, who looks to have settled into the Milan style of play immediately.

There was a positive showing from Filippo Inzaghi who was returning from a long injury lay-off and the striker also found the back of the net. Overall, it was a good all-round display ahead of the Audi Cup on Tuesday, July 26th at Bayern Munich.

Here are the Milan line-ups from the match:

First half: Abbiati (Amelia), Antonini, Nesta, Oddo, Taiwo, Flamini, Van Bommel, Seedorf, Valoti, Ibrahimovic, Cassano.

Second half: Amelia (Roma), Abate, Bonera, Ferreira(De Sciglio), Zambrotta (Fossati), Gattuso, Ambrosini, Emanuelson, Boateng, Paloschi (Comi), Inzaghi.