There was much hype before the WNBA season about the stellar teams in Las Vegas and New York

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The European Cup is approaching its 70th birthday and only one city has produced two clubs who have won it. Not Madrid or Manchester or London. Definitely not Rome or Paris or Berlin, each still awaiting its first, but Milan. Two of the first four winners were AC Milan and Inter. They were two of the four between 2007 and 2010, too. Since then, nothing. As recently as 2015-16, neither was even in Europe. Now they are in the Champions League’s last four, albeit with the caveat that there is a chance neither even finishes in Serie A’s top four. A glamour game this week also has the feel of a throwback fixture. It is the 236th derby di Milano. Four of the previous 235 were in the Champions League: two in the 2005 quarter-finals, two in the 2003 semi-finals. Then Milan were a team with imperial grandeur, with a kind of elegant, aristocratic superiority that meant they didn’t need to run that match. Now manager Stefano Pioli has described Milan as “a project... to invest in young, talented players”. Then it was the natural home of the rich and famous, now Pioli has the youngest team in Serie A. Rewind 20 years and Milan had a relatively young manager, in Carlo Ancelotti, and a side featuring two of his old teammates: at 37, Alessandro Costacurta spent his time pottering about on the halfway line at right-back, as though unaware of the concept of the attacking full-back. He won his fourth Champions League in the final at Old Trafford and got a fifth in 2007, at 41. Paolo Maldini went on to 41, too, having first won the European Cup in the 1980s, playing for Milan for 24 years. There is a forty-something now, but he has a watching brief: Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not registered for the Champions League for the knockout stages. And if he recovered from injury quicker than Milan expected, that omission nevertheless displayed their lack of confidence in their ability to progress beyond the last 16. Ibrahimovic is closer to Maldini and even Costacurta in age than to many of his colleagues. In profile, too: Milan evolved in the 2000s into the natural destination for the big names. At the San Siro, Ancelotti first showed his skill at managing and massaging egos, and not merely owner Silvio Berlusconi’s. The president invariably wanted him to select two strikers; one, Andriy Shevchenko, scored the winning penalty in the 2003 final; another, Hernan Crespo, an oft-forgotten double in the 2005 final defeat; and a third, Filippo Inzaghi, a match-winning double in the 2007 final; his younger brother, current Inter manager Simone, may recall it. The problem in following Berlusconi’s orders was that Milan, with a surfeit of talent, also tended to be well-stocked with No 10s: Rivaldo spent some of the 2002-03 season on the bench, Ronaldinho later spent three seasons at the San Siro, and Kaka won a Ballon d’Or there. Ancelotti had so many playmakers a midfield could include three of four, with Andrea Pirlo anchoring, Clarence Seedorf adding to his collection of Champions Leagues, and Rui Costa providing languid elegance. It was an exaggeration to say the workhorse Gennaro Gattuso had to do the running of four men but he was surrounded by artists. If it was a far cry from the hard-pressing style Arrigo Sacchi had introduced in the late 1980s, the ethos is very different from the modern Milan. The supersized budget is gone. If the greats used to gravitate to Milan, now the search is on for the up-and-coming. Smart scouting involves value for money. The term Galactico was invoked to describe Real Madrid’s stars but, for years, felt equally applicable to Milan’s. Not now. Pierre Kalulu cost €480,000 and has made the second most appearances for them this season. Ismael Bennacer came from relegated Empoli and struck against Napoli in the quarter-finals. Olivier Giroud may be a World Cup winner and a France great but he was picked up for a bargain €1m and was the other scorer against Napoli. Brahim Diaz, borrowed from Real for three seasons, delivered the winner against Tottenham in the last 16. The relatively low-profile Junior Messias, Alexis Saelemaekers, Rade Krunic and Tommaso Pobega help sum up the new Milan. Davide Calabria may follow in the footsteps of Maldini and Franco Baresi by captaining European Cup-winning teams, but he is less celebrated. Charles de Ketelaere is a rare failure in the transfer market but Mike Maignan and Rafael Leao represent coups, match-winners at either end of the pitch. Yet it is notable that even De Ketelaere, the most expensive player in this squad, cost less than Rui Costa did in 2001. The side that started the second leg against Napoli cost around €140m: much less than the combined fees paid for Rui Costa, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Shevchenko and Alessandro Nesta, without even accounting for inflation over the last two decades. If Leao, an injury doubt, does not start on Wednesday, the team of 2023 could be cheaper still. Even if he does, there is far less stardust than in the past. It is AC Milan, but not how we used to know them. But astute business has offered a road back from obscurity. They may prove the least talented, least garlanded Milan team to reach a Champions League final. But the key element is that they may reach a Champions League final. Read More The Milan derby crowns Serie A’s return - but it also means so much more Is AC Milan vs Inter on TV? 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Lewis Hamilton said he was honoured to be fighting two world champions after finishing behind Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso at the Canadian Grand Prix. In his newly revamped Mercedes machine, Hamilton claimed his second podium in succession, a fortnight after he finished runner-up to Verstappen at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. “It is quite an honour to be up there with two world champions,” said Hamilton. “I was really excited to be third, and just trying to be in that mix. “We didn’t have the pace today. We knew this would not be our strongest circuit because we struggle in the low-speed corners, and that was where I was losing time to Fernando and Max. “But we are chipping away and I do believe we will get there at some stage. Our pace was better today so we are going in the right direction.” Hamilton scored just one top-three finish in the opening six rounds of the year but the seven-time world champion will now head to the next round in Austria on July 2 with the momentum of two strong showings in Barcelona and Montreal. The 38-year-old started third, and was up to second at the opening corner after he breezed past a slow-starting Alonso. Hamilton kept ahead of Alonso at the first round of pit stops, but he could do little to prevent the evergreen Spaniard from regaining second place on lap 22 of 70. “Aston Martin took a step ahead of us this weekend with their upgrades but we are working on bringing more upgrades to move forward,” added Hamilton. “It is great to have this consistency and to be up on the podium.” For Verstappen, the Red Bull man completed an emphatic lights-to-flag victory to finish 9.5 seconds clear of Alonso and move 69 points clear at the summit of the world championship. It marked the Dutch driver’s 41st win in Formula One – to draw him level with triple world champion Ayrton Senna – and a century for Red Bull. “To win the 100th grand prix for the team is incredible,” he said. “It is amazing and I never expected to be on these kind of numbers for myself, too.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Max Verstappen claims pole position during rain-hit qualifying for Canadian GP Lewis Hamilton fastest as practice for Canadian Grand Prix finally gets started Max Verstappen closes in on ‘amazing achievement’ of matching Ayrton Senna

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