The Italian city of Milan welcomed back the all-European conquering members of the AC Milan squad overnite while newspapers around the world have all had their say.

AC Milan was universally praised for its Champions League final victory over Liverpool in Athens that saw the glamour club conquer Europe for a seventh time.

"Splendid Revenge" is the headline in Milan's Gazzetta dello Sport after the 2-1 success.

Pre-match coverage centred on the Rossoneri's defeat to Liverpool on penalties two years ago in Istanbul, a contest the Italian team had led 3-0 at half-time.

Milan's Corriere della Sera salutes the Italian giants' two-goal hero Filippo Inzaghi with a headline "Inzaghi takes Milan to the top of Europe".

The 33-year-old Inzaghi is singled out by French paper Le Figaro, which called him "The hunter of the night".

Turin's La Stampa connects Milan's triumph to Athens, where the match was played, with a headline "Milan and the Cup of the Gods".

Gazzettino, the popular publication in the north-eastern part of Italy near Milan, wrote the headline "Milan get the Cup back after throwing it away in Istanbul".

Back in France, sports paper L'Equipe says "Milan is immortal" while Le Figaro calls the victory "Revenge the Italian Way."

L'Equipe also talks about the "hard skin" of Italian soccer as it refers to Milan's triumph coming in the same season the club was docked points for match-fixing.

In Spain, Marca focuses on Milan cutting into Real Madrid's lead in European Cups.

"Milan 7 Real 9" says a headline, with the sports paper then writing: "Italians gain revenge against Liverpool".

El Pais, Spain's national newspaper, says "Milan enriches its history"

Liverpool had Javier Mascherano of Argentina and Milan Kaka of Brazil, so the press was watching events closely back in South America.

Argentina's sports paper Ole says: "Another King of Cups - there wasn't a happy ending for Mascherano" while Jornal do Brasil shows a large photo of Kaka holding the Champions League trophy with the headline "A New King".

Jamie Carragher's cold assessment of Liverpool's failure in Athens was brutally clear: "We were just not good enough."

Anfield's lion-hearted defender saw AC Milan grab their opener from a free-kick deflected past Jose Reina by Filippo Inzaghi's arm before a late break through the Reds' defence by the same striker as Liverpool were pressing desperately for an equaliser.

Dirk Kuyt's late effort was not enough to haul the final into extra-time and Carragher said: "The honest truth is that we were not good enough.

PA SPORT

In Italian: Milan sul bus, Milano in delirio

Tripudio rossonero in piazza Duomo: i giocatori con la Coppa travolti dall'affetto dei tifosi.

Festa continua. I tifosi rossoneri, letteralmente impazziti dopo il trionfo di Atene, si sono dati appuntamento in via Mario Pagano, da dove i giocatori reduci da Atene hanno iniziato a sfilare su un autobus scoperto a due piani. I giocatori del Milan, tutti in maglietta rossa celebrativa e bandiere rossonere, mostrano la Coppa dalle grandi orecchie e lanciano magliette. Un boato da parte delle migliaia di tifosi ha accolto, alle 19.55, la partenza.