Clarence Seedorf _ who won the title in 1995 with Ajax, in 1998 with Real Madrid, and in 2003 with Milan _ was in tears Wednesday after the "Rossoneri" beat Manchester United at the San Siro to advance to the May 23 final against Liverpool in Athens.

"I cried because I haven't forgotten where we started this season," said the Dutch midfielder, who scored the second goal in Milan's 3-0 second-leg win in the semifinals to advance 5-3 on aggregate¹.

Milan had to qualify for this season's Champions League after being implicated² in the Italian match-fixing scandal. Many critics had said the team shouldn't have been allowed in the competition at all.

In the Serie A, Milan began the season with an eight-point penalty from the scandal.

With nearly half the squad³ injured midway through the season, Milan seemed stalled in the middle of the table and was eliminated from the Italian Cup by AS Roma in January.

Now, with nearly all of the injured players back, Milan has climbed to third in Serie A and has a chance at winning the only trophy⁴ it still can this season _ the Champions League.

"Between November and December, we weren't well and everyone was criticizing us. Maybe we didn't even think we could get this far," Seedorf said.

"But over 180 minutes against Manchester, Milan showed it was superior. Even in the first leg we controlled the game, we only stupidly let them come back in the final minutes. Here we massacred them in the first half."

Seedorf's header set up Kaka for Milan's first goal in the 11th minute Wednesday. He made it 2-0 in the 30th, controlling a cross from the right with his chest and evading⁵ two defenders⁶ before shooting past United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

Substitute Alberto Gilardino scored Milan's third goal in the 78th.

It wasn't that long ago that Seedorf was jeered⁷ by Milan supporters. Until his decisive goal against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals, he was the scapegoat⁸ for the team's below-par league form.

"If you win 3-0 against (United manager Alex) Ferguson's squad then you really can't say anything else," Seedorf said. "I'm happy for all of Milan's fans _ but also for all Italians."

The final against Liverpool is a rematch of the memorable⁹ 2005 game.

Two years ago, Milan led Liverpool 3-0 at halftime in Istanbul, Turkey, but the English team scored three times in the second half and eventually won 3-2 on penalties.

"This will be entirely¹⁰ different," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We won't have any pressure and I don't think Liverpool will have a psychological advantage after having won in 2005.

"They're a very well organized squad in defense¹¹, and they certainly won't allow us to attack with the space Manchester conceded."

Six players on Milan's roster¹² were on Italy's team that won the World Cup in Germany last year: Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Massimo Oddo, Filippo Inzaghi, Gilardino and Gennaro Gattuso.

"The Azzurri jersey¹³ provides emotions that you can't compare anything to," Gattuso said. "An emotion like that has no equal. They're two different things that you can't compare."

But Gattuso is proud of have far Milan has come since the scandal.

"With the way this season started, reaching the final is tremendous," he said. "Nobody would have bet even one Lira on us."