Nesta: 'I never score!'

Alessandro Nesta admits this was an extraordinary evening for him with his first Serie A brace. “I never score!”

The defender had not hit the back of the net for two years and never bagged two in one game, but he completed the late comeback as Milan won 2-1 at Chievo.

“It's a wonderful night and a new thing for me - I never score! We had to win tonight to latch on to fourth place, so it all went well,” smiled the veteran.

“I think we're on the right track now and have won a series of important games. We have players who need to attack in order to give their best, so the others must work a bit harder.

“We do need to work on our starts, as we always concede early and have to use up a lot of energy to fight back.”

Nelson Dida was the other unexpected hero, making up for his Bernabeu howler with an extraordinary stoppage-time save to deny Pablo Granoche.

“Dida was fantastic, he saved the game for us tonight. If we'd conceded then, we would've lost, no doubt.”

With his splendid form, many are calling for Nesta to reconsider his international retirement for the 2010 World Cup.

“I have already said I won't go back to the Nazionale. I spent a horrible year on the sidelines and if straining my body too much will lead to another season like that, I just won't do it.

“Besides, [Marcello] Lippi knows what I think and vice versa, we don't even need to discuss it.”

Football Italia