'I never imagined I would play on the same pitch as a team like them'
Kitchee's players got the perfect pick-me-up after losing Sunday's FA Cup final, as their club confirmed the long-rumoured exhibition match with Italian super club AC Milan would be staged at the Hong Kong Stadium on May 30.
Yesterday's announcement brought smiles back to the faces of a squad who had been glumly replaying the disappointment of missing out on the club's first trophy in 40 years just 24 hours earlier.
'I'm really delighted. It's like a dream,' said Kitchee's 25-year-old goalkeeper Xiao Guoji, of the prospect of facing the newly crowned Serie A champions. 'I never imagined I would play on the same pitch as an Italian team, a team like AC Milan. Many of their players were my idols when I was a boy - Roberto Baggio, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard - I used to watch them all the time. They're equal to Real Madrid. They're a big team, a giant team in Europe.'
Even the more seasoned travellers in the Kitchee squad were unable to hide their excitement. Serbian Mihailo Jovanovic counts several current and former Serie A players among his personal friends from his native Yugoslavia, including Sampdoria's Bratislav Zivkovic, Inter Milan's Dejan Stankovic and former Juventus player Zoran Mirkovic, but the 28-year-old playmaker was still thrilled at the prospect of taking the field against the famous Rossoneri (red and blacks).
'I'm very honoured to play against the biggest team in the world. My teammates and I can't wait to play,' Jovanovic said. 'It will be great. It's the dream of all players, of all young kids who start to play football, to play against such a great club. For me it's the first time and I hope it's not the last. We'll do our best not to lose by six or seven goals. Our aim will be to score a goal. If we can score it will be the same as winning.'