Cagliari Hold AC Milan 0-0

Milan's Brazilian trio of Kaka-Pato-Ronaldinho failed to break down bottom of the table Cagliari, who pick up their first point.

Carlo Ancelotti went from facing the axe to declaring the Rossoneri Scudetto favourites in the space of a fortnight thanks to five straight wins between Serie A and the UEFA Cup. The derby victory further boosted morale and Ronaldinho got off the mark, but they went into this game without Andrea Pirlo, Kakha Kaladze, Alessandro Nesta, Philippe Senderos, Giuseppe Favalli and Marco Borriello. Cagliari, on the other hand, had lost all five of their games this season, hadn't scored since Week 1 and Coach Massimiliano Allegri was hanging by a thread.

Milan created a great chance as Alexandre Pato was sent clear by a smart ball over the top, but Marchetti came tearing out to close him down from eight yards. After the restart Ambrosini attempted an audacious shot on the bounce from almost 40 metres, forcing Marchetti to backpedal and fingertip it out from under the bar. From the resultin corner Marchetti smothered a Marek Jankulovski snapshot.

Kaka also had a go from distance and skimmed the woodwork and Ronaldinho did a series of tricks and nutmegs in quick succession before he was hacked down by Daniele Conti. Pato's glancing header whistled wide as he got between the central defenders, but moments later Dinho sent Pato down the left channel and his angled drive brought a splendid save out of Marchetti.

From the resulting corner a Clarence Seedorf scissor-kick from the D was just over, but it was a more open encounter now and Abbiati had his palms stung by a Cossu piledriver. Carlo Ancelotti made a double change, throwing on Andriy Shevchenko and Pippo Inzaghi for Ronaldinho and Pato. Seedorf's free kick was deflected over and from the corner Ambrosini's header into the ground skimmed the upright. Sheva let the ball bounce and that hesitation allowed Marchetti to come out and smother, but in the final minute Fini's counter took a deflection off Paolo Maldini to go over the bar.

Cagliari: Marchetti; Pisano, Lopez, Bianco, Agostini; Fini, Conti, Biondini (Lazzari 89); Cossu; Acquafresca (Matri 76), Larrivey (Jeda 34)

Milan: Abbiati; Zambrotta, Bonera, Maldini, Jankulovski; Ambrosini, Gattuso (Flamini 80), Seedorf; Kaka, Ronaldinho (Shevchenko 73); Pato (Inzaghi 73)

Ref: Rosetti