CL Round of 16 (Game 1/2) AC Milan vs. Barcelona @ Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) On 2/20/13 Pic Source: flicker AC Milan 2012/2013 Champions League -> GF = 7 / GA = 6 UEFA Champions Group C AC Milan 0 - Anderlecht 0 Zenit 2 - AC Milan 3 Malaga 1 - AC Milan 0 AC Milan 1 - Malaga 1 Anderlecht 1 - AC Milan 3 AC Milan 0 - Zenit 1 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 AC Milan ^-^ Barcelona Barcelona ^-^ AC Milan Player - Goals El Shaarawy 2, Pato 2 Emanuelson 1, Mexes 1 Hubocan 1 (o.g) Player - Assists El Shaarawy 1, Montolivo 1 Boateng 1, De Sciglio 1, Constant 1 AC Milan 2012/2013 Serie A @ 25a Giornata -> GF = 44 / GA = 31 @ Home: 9W/0D/4L + @ Away: 4W/5D/3L -> 44 pts Recent Results for -> Barcelona .
While I am hopeful Milan can pull off a result, I am reluctant to say it will be tougher than recent times. Our team is in transition, while Barca is arguably the best in the world. Honestly, at this point I'd rather beat Inter, so if SES isn't healthy, dont risk him. Play Robinho/Niang/Boateng top 3 with Flamini/Nocerino/Montolivo in mid. I think the key to beating Barca is tactics. 1v1 their guys are better than ours, so lets not try to match them. Disrupt their midfield and provide pressure on Xavi/Inesta. There forwards/wing play don't scare anybody BUT the center midfield is brutal. Messi/Xavi/Iniesta are the keys to Barca and we need to stop them. Constant pressure will not allow them to pick our defense apart, while maintaing solid shape in the back 4 won't let anyone by us. (Easier said than done, I know). Barca's back 3 aren't the greatest. Puyol/Pique aren't fast and Mascherano tends to make def mistakes. Its not impossible to score, but we are going to have to take our chances and capitalize. I would try to defend this game more than in Camp Nou, and try not to give up an away goal. Than go to Barcelona and play with our stars at forward and attack knowing away goals count more. Play basic/contained/reserved now at home and gring out a positive result. Id say to score atleast 1 goal if we end up losing. 2-1 loss,1-1 tie and a win are all positive results i think.
Berlusconi wants Messi man-marked By Football Italia staff Milan President Silvio Berlusconi believes Barcelona’s Lionel Messi needs to be man-marked in the Champions League this week. World Player of the Year Messi and Co will arrive at San Siro on Wednesday for the first leg of their last 16 encounter. “It will be very difficult to beat Barcelona,” the former Italian Prime Minister told RTL 102.5 on Monday morning. “I still haven’t found the time to talk to boss Massimiliano Allegri, but I won’t tell him what side to pick – I’ve never done that. “I know the role of the President and that of the Coach – I respect those – but a President has the right to give advice to his Coach. “On this occasion my suggestion would be that Messi is man-marked.” Berlusconi, who is no stranger to giving tactical advice to his Coaches, also confirmed that Allegri would remain on the Diavolo bench next season. “If a President doesn’t agree with a Coach then he fires him, but Allegri is still here and has a contract for another year,” Berlusconi added. Probable line up: Abbiati; De Sciglio, Zapata, Mexes, Constant; Montolivo, Ambrosini, Flamini; Boateng, Niang, El Sharaawy.
I'm really looking forward to this match. AC Milan have always had players that I have admired and enjoyed to watch, and despite losing so many of them in the past two seasons, Milan still have exciting players that thrill me more than Arsenal's current crop. The first CL Final game that I ever got to watch live and fully, was Milan's win over Juve in 2003. Since then, AC Milan have always been held in the highest regard by me, as you can imagine and expect. Anyhow, I'd bloody love it if Milan could pull one off against these Barca clowns.
so flamini and nocerino are out due to injuries. this makes our already lackluster midfield paper-thin. i would almost be inclined to play a 3-4-3 with three CBs, abate/de sciglio on the right constant on the left, montolivo and muntari in the middle. the SES-pazzini-niang. SES and niang are good about helping out in defense so when we dont have the ball (probably like 70-75% of the time) our formation would look like a 5-4-1. not conceding away goals should be the prime objective in this leg
There is some controversy on whether Niang will start or not which I hope is just a case of someone screwing around with his twitter account. Robinho seems to be injured and so our attacking options are pretty much Bojan only if we're just looking at the bench. I expect the worse but after watching Arsenal get man handled in their own stadium and seeing their fans react I suppose I'm emotionally ready by now.
I think 0-0 draw would be perfect result for us at this point. I think with SES and Niang, if he plays, we have a shot at a fast counter attack, otherwise we will just need to bunker down
Sheesh, did you read my mind? I dont know how well our team will do switching formation unless we have been practicing it for weeks and understand the difference. Id rather play a 4-5-1 with SES as our lone striker. Beating Barca is tough but it is possible. We need to keep our shape in defense and spread out and block the passing lanes. I don't agree with man marking Messi but I do to an extent. Whenever Barca has the ball he has to be found and marked, no space given. The thing is that Barca dont have any "target men", but they all roam around so its hard to "mark". Playing a zone in the back and than having your midfielders(nocerino/Flamini) disrupt the Barca midfield every chance and dont let them look up and make passes. Losing Nocerino/Flamini is shitty because those are perfect work horses. We will need to defend well, but also attack with speed. Busquets is decent in midfield BUT Puyol/Pique/Mascherano are slow. Feed SES/Niang(I hope he plays) down the flanks and let them attack. Add in another midfielders to help and we can spring counter attacks quickly. I think we can do it and suprise the world. Everyone has counted us out from training camp so lets show em. We might not be the same Milan as always but we are still Milan. The crowd is sold out and this will be a real coming out party.I say start the game balanced and withdrawn and attack when given the chance. Asses the game at HT . Wear down their defense and perhaps bring Niang on as a sub to really be able to provide that speed attack. I like Pazzini, but think he will be wasted up top tomorrow. In a 3 man attack he works good as a target guy, but we need guys that can win 1v1 battles OR back track and help defense. He will be useful in 2nd game in Nou Camp if we need a goal in late stages. My lineup: Abbiatti Abate-Mexes-Zapata-Constant Montolivo-Ambro--Muntari --------Boateng---- ---Bojan-----SES Bring Niang as a sub for tired midfielder. Drop Boateng to MF and Bojan to trequartista. Than no idea where else to go. All I know is we could have used Nocerino/Flamini big time. I hope we can salvage some sort of decent result and bring it back to Nou Camp with a shot. Enjoy the game everyone. Forza Milan!
MILAN: Abbiati; Abate, Mexes, Zapata, Constant; Montolivo, Ambrosini, Muntari; Boateng, Pazzini, El Shaarawy. A disp.: Amelia, Yepes, De Sciglio, Cristante, Troré, Bojan, Niang. All.: Allegri Barcelona line-up (official): Valdes - Alves Pique Puyol Alba - Xavi Busquets Cesc - Pedro Messi Iniesta Bench Barcelona: Pinto, Montoya, Mascherano, Song, Thiago, Alexis, Tello
hard to see milan getting anything more than a draw tonight, midfield isnt strong enough, hopefully though they can put a stop to barca's tme wasting possesion football
Bartha playing their tiki-taka 1000+1 passes in middle of the pitch...Keep pressing Milan, keep pressing!
milan looking better than i thought they would, if the game continues in this pattern its anyones game