Despite the plethora of Champions League games available to me this week I flicked my sports channel over to the game in Milan to see whether the Milanistas could re-create their spectacular victory in the Bernabeu two weeks ago. And, despite their failure to upset the football betting odds and re-enact their Madrid heroics following 90 scrappy but passionate minutes, there were still signs that they have turned the corner.

A few weeks ago, the axe was looming menacingly above the head of coach Leonardo, but a sharp upturn in form, sparked off by that win in Spain, has seen the club climb the table. Victories over Roma, Chievo and Parma, as well as the draw with Napoli, has seen them rise into the top four and the point gained last night puts them top of their group and they now have a great opportunity to qualify for the Champions League knock-out stages.

There were continued glimpses of the Milan of old in the San Siro last night, principally from Ronaldinho. Once the best player in the world, the mercurial Brazilian has failed to live up to those expectations of late but has turned on the style in recent weeks; a goal against Atalanta, a goal and an assist against Roma, two assists against Parma and then an unstoppable penalty to level things up last night is much more like it.

His fellow Brazilians, Dida and Alexandre Pato, also impressed. The keeper, another player much maligned of late, made several crucial stops, most notably from Raul in the dying seconds. Pato was also unlucky to have a goal chalked off for a push by the striker on Alvaro Arbeloa moments before he shot beyond Iker Casillas.

I think Pato may have been a victim of the referee’s earlier decision (awarding Milan the crucial penalty that was soft in the extreme). He may have been seeking to even things up, given the Madrid players’ complaints following the spot kick.

In the end, after a tepid second half, the draw was a fair result. But given their win in Madrid, Milan can still count themselves as overall winners. A result against Marseille in the next round of games should see them through as group winners, something that looked highly unlikely a few weeks ago.