Italian soccer team AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said that Tuesday's (Aug 22nd) Champions League clash with Red Star Belgrade as the "crossroads" of his team's season.

The six-time European Cup winners go into the qualification-round encounter in the Serb capital with a 1-0 advantage from the home leg two weeks ago.

So they only need a draw to reach the group stage of the competition.

But Monday Ancelotti said the lead was too slender to allow Milan the luxury of letting Red Star have the initiative.

"We won't play to defend our one-goal advantage," he explained.

"We'll try to attack and wrap things up as soon as possible because the Champions League is so important for us".

Ancelotti is still without injured defenders Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta and Kakha Kaladze, the local media reported.

So he is expected to use the same back-four he fielded in the first leg, with Brazilians Cafu and Serginho at full back and Croatia's Dario Simic in the center alongside 40-year-old stopper Alessandro Costacurta.

The coach confirmed that he will play with two strikers.

These are expected to be Azzurri stars Alberto Gilardino and Filippo Inzaghi, who scored the winner two weeks ago - his 53rd goal in European club competition, reports said.

Ancelotti stressed that his men are much nearer to full match fitness than they were in the first leg, when many stars had only just come back from their post-World Cup summer holidays.

Italian other club in the third Champions League qualification round, Chievo Verona, have a huge challenge ahead of them Wednesday after losing 2-0 at Levski Sofia two weeks ago.

But Chievo boss Giuseppe Pillon has not lost hope.

"If we manage to create as many chances as we did in the first leg, we'll have hope, although this time we'll have to take advantage of our opportunities better," Pillon said.

"If we can score at least one goal in the first hour, we'll be able to go for it in the final stages of the game."

Editor: Donald