Milan's Brazilian trio of Kaka-Pato-Ronaldinho failed to break down bottom of the table Cagliari, who pick up their first point.

Carlo Ancelotti went from facing the axe to declaring the Rossoneri Scudetto favourites in the space of a fortnight thanks to five straight wins between Serie A and the UEFA Cup. The derby victory further boosted morale and Ronaldinho got off the mark, but they went into this game without Andrea Pirlo, Kakha Kaladze, Alessandro Nesta, Philippe Senderos, Giuseppe Favalli and Marco Borriello. Cagliari, on the other hand, had lost all five of their games this season, hadn't scored since Week 1 and Coach Massimiliano Allegri was hanging by a thread.

The Sardinians had won only four of the previous 31 meetings here, the most recent in 1998-99. They got off to a strong start and Marek Jankulovski deflected Michele Fini's cross to bounce around in front of the box, but nobody managed to get the final touch. Moments later Christian Abbiati turned Andrea Cossu's effort out for a corner.

Milan created a great chance as Alexandre Pato was sent clear by a smart ball over the top, but Marchetti came tearing out to close him down from eight yards.

Cagliari should've taken the lead on 20 minutes. Cossu managed to squeeze the ball through for Joaquin Larrivey and Abbiati went to ground, but he ballooned off target seven yards from an open goal!

Massimo Ambrosini scuffed a promising Kaka cutback. Larrivey picked up an injury and made way for Jeda and Davide Biondini's header from a Cossu cross was deflected out for a corner.

After the restart Ambrosini attempted an audacious shot on the bounce from almost 40 metres, forcing Marchetti to backpedal and fingertip it out from under the bar. From the resultin corner Marchetti smothered a Marek Jankulovski snapshot.

Kaka also had a go from distance and skimmed the woodwork and Ronaldinho did a series of tricks and nutmegs in quick succession before he was hacked down by Daniele Conti.

Cagliari caused a major scare when Jeda rolled out for the unmarked Michele Fini down the right channel, but he blasted over with his right foot.

The Sardinians were continuing to waste chances and Agostini sprung the offside trap thanks to a ricochet off Gennaro Gattuso, but Abbiati stood his ground and the defender hit the side-netting.

Pato's glancing header whistled wide as he got between the central defenders, but moments later Dinho sent Pato down the left channel and his angled drive brought a splendid save out of Marchetti.

From the resulting corner a Clarence Seedorf scissor-kick from the D was just over, but it was a more open encounter now and Abbiati had his palms stung by a Cossu piledriver.

Carlo Ancelotti made a double change, throwing on Andriy Shevchenko and Pippo Inzaghi for Ronaldinho and Pato. Seedorf's free kick was deflected over and from the corner Ambrosini's header into the ground skimmed the upright.

Sheva let the ball bounce and that hesitation allowed Marchetti to come out and smother, but in the final minute Fini's counter took a deflection off Paolo Maldini to go over the bar.

Conti incredibly failed to score when allowed a free header from a corner, as he lost his balance from six yards and nodded wide.