AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani admits they were almost trumped by Manchester City for Ronaldinho.

He revealed yesterday: "I remember well the difficulty of negotiating with Barcelona, Joan Laporta, the president considered the matter over, but I pushed for us to sit down again.

"Then we had Manchester City ready to offer £22 million, but I was determined to take the player after our meeting. Who knows what I would have told the fans if I had come back empty-handed?"