GREECE: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - Milan players and fans arrive in Greece for the Champions League final

AC Milan arrived in Athens on Monday (May 21) under heavy police security before their Champions League final match against Liverpool. The Italian team was cheered by fans outside their hotel in southern Athens where they have been located for security reasons. Milan will carry out training sessions on Tuesday at the Athens Olympic Stadium where the final will be held. Liverpool players arrived earlier in the day and will also carry out training sessions on Tuesday. Wednesday's final is an encore match for the two teams, who faced each other in 2005 in Istanbul with Liverpool taking home the trophy in a night of drama. On Monday fans began arriving in the Greek capital for the match. Some 35,000 fans from both clubs will watch the game inside the stadium while several thousand more will be arriving without tickets. Those searching for tickets in the city were out in force on Monday, holding up signs in main squares offering to buy the prized piece of paper that is selling for as much as ten times the price on the internet. V arious squares around Athens have been transformed into festival sites for the Champions League final, with music, soccer memorabilia and soccer pitches. Fans have already begun congregating there to take in the atmosphere, with a lot of singing, drinking and mingling.

ITN Source | May 22, 2007

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