Post Match Review: FC Barcelona vs. AC Milan

The crowd at the San Siro was deafening. It had to be. AC Milan beat FC Barcelona 2-0 in the first leg of UEFA Champions League Round of 16, in a performance that would surprise Massimiliano Allegri himself.

If there were two words which could describe the Italian giants’ performance, it would be – ‘Tactically Perfect’. Milan played a brilliant foil to Barcelona’s possession game, and emerged victorious with two goals from Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari.

Allegri was forced to start without Mario Balotelli, who was having a dream run for Milan, because he had already played for Manchester City in the Champions League. Replacing him was Giampaolo Pazzini, who did perform up to the expectations of the coach. Barça started with the star-studded yet expected trio of Iniesta, Messi, and Pedro but failed to trouble the Milan defense. The start was channeled heavily by the Full-Backs, with both Jordi Alba and Daniel Alves getting involved in attack as well as defense. There was some pressure on the Catalans around the 10 minute mark, resulting in two corners, but neither of them were on target. The game continued to be very exciting, with both teams getting half chances, but failing to capitalize.

Philippe Mexes nearly headed the ball into his own net from a cross by Daniel Alves, but the ball went wide of the post, and the offside flag was raised in any case. Stefan El Shaarawy had a good opportunity to start the scoring but his touch which was a bit heavy which resulted in Puyol’s clearance, resulting in a corner. Kevin-Prince Boateng nearly scored from the resulting corner, when his volley went just wide of the far post.

The game continued to be exciting with Barça dominating possession and Milan counter-attacking. The next chance came at around 35 minutes, when a diagonal ball from Boateng was just inches away from El Shaarawy’s feet. Thus, the game remained goalless as we headed into half-time. Milan were looking the better side at half-time, and Barcelona were finding it difficult to find spaces to come near the penalty box, therefore resulting in almost no chances to score.

The game started slowly in the second-half, thanks to the disciplined defending from Milan. 11 minuted into the half, the noise at the San Siro doubled as Kevin Prince-Boateng struck a fortuitous goal, giving them the lead against, arguably the best club in the world. The goal came from a free kick which took a deflection off Zapata’s body, onto his outstretched arm and fell for Boateng, who made no mistake hitting the volley with his left foot, putting it past Valdes into the bottom left corner of Barça’s goal. The visitors protested the goal for offside, which actually resulted in a yellow card for centre-back Gerard Pique. The goal stood, and the hosts were jubilant, to say the least. Andres Iniesta almost levelled with an effort from 30-yards out, which was heading towards the far post, but unfortunately always curling away from it.

Sulley Muntari made matters worse for the Spanish giants with a brilliant left foot volley 10 minutes from time. It was a very well-constructed goal, with an fantastic reverse pass which was well picked and held up by Niang, before rolling it to El Shaarawy, who flicked it up to Muntari, who in turn volleyed home.

The rest of the game was all about trying to keep a clean sheet, and that is what the Italian powerhouse did, never allowing Barca to get near the penalty box.

The final whistle blew, and the jubilant San Siro crowd rejoiced, ’cause AC Milan had defeated FC Barcelona 2-0, the first time the Italians defeated the Catalans in 8 games.

It was a fantastic game, with AC Milan finding the perfect foil for Barca’s tiki-taki game. Their strikers were too fast for the Catalans, with El Shaarawy helping in defencse and running to attack in very little time. Barcelona were not able to put any attempt on target and the trio of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Pedro Rodriguez failed badly. AC Milan have a great advantage going in to the second leg to be held at Camp Nou on the 12th of March. FC Barcelona have to buck up if they have to win the game.

Final Result: AC Milan (Kevin Prince Boateng 56′ , Sulley Mantari 81′) 2 – 0 FC Barcelona