Well Drilled Milan Stifle Barcelona In 0-0 Draw
I believe it was Spiderman’s uncle that said “With great power comes great responsibility” in a work of fiction pitting the pantomime hero against an over-exaggerated evil. Fitting, then, that little Leo Messi, with stars in his eyes and unprecedented expectations on his shoulders, felt the weight of responsibility last night.
In a noisy Milanese stadium, the Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro, an AC Milan defense harried and shoved at Barcelona until they walked off the pitch, dejected. It was the first time since late 2009 that Barcelona had failed to score in the Champions League. They were quelled this time round by an AC team so compact and disciplined that you could have thrown a blanket over it and still the square would move as one, trying to spring an offside trap.
Messi and his band of merry jugglers did of course create space in this game. In the first half a pass put Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez through and despite a push in the back he tried to step round AC goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. Abbiati clattered into his side, holding both hands aloft like any professional giving away a deliberate foul, and Sanchez fell to the ground expecting a penalty. None was forthcoming.
The game went like this. Neat triangles of passing were set up by Barcelona as they pranced into their familiar tiki-taka style of soccer. In the final third, though, the hardy midfield of Milan had pulled back and a white wall of players stalked the box.
Iniesta and Xavi looked comfortable with the ball, passing it past Milan’s Nocerino and Ambrosini. They even got a swashbuckling Daniel Alves peeling up the right flank. Yet when these players got within shooting range they struggled to make it count.
In this area veteran Milan centre-back Allesandro Nesta pulled men into place. At his side 34-year-old Ambrosini and left-back Luca Antonini filed in and blocked and slid so that no shots troubled the goal.
Antonini, the game’s stand out, blocked a Sanchez shot at the end of the first half and then, in the second half, Ambrosini put in an inch perfect slide tackle on Messi. By the time Antonini had thrown his body in to block another shot and then gotten up to fist pump the air, screaming at the crowd, you knew Milan where happy with killing this game at 0-0 and keeping Messi from making headlines.
Milan did, of course, create their own chances. In the first half Robinho broke into a chance, but he flashed his shot over the bar. He was replaced only minutes into the second half. His partner, the emotional and unpredictable Zlatan Ibrahimovic, created some space and flicked some nice little passes, but he stood atop the pitch as a target with few support players to hold the ball up for. When he did drive himself or was fed ball by substitute Stephan El Shaarawy he failed to trouble Victor Valdes in Barca’s goal.
In the end it was a diving header, cut in past the post by Carles Puyol, that was the closest it came to being 1-0. Milan earned their 0-0 and now head to the Nou Camp hoping to nick a goal or take the tie to penalties.
Some may say that Messi and his cohorts needed a plan B last night. However, at the Nou Camp there will be an increase in volume –in more ways than one –and most will suspect that the breakthrough for Barca is an inevitability. It should be fascinating.
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