MILAN - AC Milan are fit and ready to fight Arsenal for a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday after coach Carlo Ancelotti gave his squad a clean bill of health on Monday.
Kaka, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Pirlo had all been doubtful after missing several Serie A games recently, but they all returned to training on Sunday and Ancelotti is counting on all four to take the defending champions through.
"They are all in a good condition to play and have worked excellently this week in training to ensure they would be ready for this game," he said.
Ancelotti's only doubt regards Clarence Seedorf, who limped out of Saturday night's 1-1 draw with Lazio and was unable to train with his team-mates on Sunday.
"He will probably not be available tomorrow, but then you never know," added the Milan coach.
"We will have to see how things go today and decide tomorrow."
The Dutchman would nevertheless have to make do with a place on the bench since there would be no room in the Rossoneri side for two attacking midfielders.
With Kaka available for the first time since damaging his knee against Palermo on February 24 - the last time Milan won - Ancelotti would prefer to play him behind the two strikers Pato and Filippo Inzaghi.
"We will certainly be playing with two strikers because we are at home and, for games like this which you have got to win, you have got to have two forwards on the field."
Milan will therefore play with an attacking system against the Gunners as they bid to win arguably the most important game of their season so far.
With Fiorentina defeating Juventus on Sunday and moving four points clear of Milan in the race for fourth place in Serie A, winning the Champions League may represent the Rossoneri's best chance of returning to the competition next season.
And it is a tournament in which Milan have always been able to find an extra gear in recent years.
"Champions League games have always been important to this club," explained Ancelotti.
"This competition is in the DNA of Milan.
"The most comforting thing is that I know this team very well and I know how to prepare for these games, and that gives me more optimism.
"It is an advantage that we are playing this game at home and we have the conviction of at least making the quarter-finals."
Milan's experience may be another advantage, although Ancelotti likes to think that his players are "more expert than old".
Georgian defender Kakha Kaladze will join Nesta, Maldini and Massimo Oddo in a defence with a combined age of 131, given the task of marshalling Arsenal's 24-year-old hitman Emmanuel Adebayor and, depending on Arsene Wenger's preference, the 18-year-old Theo Walcott.
"Adebayor is a great player, but Arsenal is not only Adebayor," said Kaladze.
"They are young and have lots of players who like to attack, like Adebayor, (Alexander) Hleb and (Cesc) Fabregas and we have a huge level of respect for them.
"They are a complete team, but we have seen lots of strong teams come to the San Siro and have difficulty."
Manchester United are just one of those teams Kaladze was alluding to and Ancelotti would give anything for his side to repeat the performance against the Red Devils from the semi-final at the San Siro last season.
Milan won 3-0 to overturn a 3-2 deficit from the away leg to reach the final last May.
"We always dream of playing like we did against Manchester United," said Ancelotti.
"That even came as a shock to us and I always want us to play like that.
"It is not impossible for us to repeat that game tomorrow."
