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by PAM
FC Barcelona vs. AC Milan
UEFA Champions League Quarter-final tie, 2nd leg
3rd April 2012, Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
Of course, Lionel Messi weaved his amazing magic again at Camp Nou to keep
Italy's best meet World's best. Game on!FC Barcelona's hope to retain the Champions League title in the Catalan capital alive and well. He did it via amazing runs and a brace of goals - this time, both from the spot. The two goals pushed Barça to an early lead in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarter-final tie with AC Milan. And it was a happy, happy, happy thing, especially that one of those goals was record-setting! While that was pure Messi awesomeness, I think it was Don Andrés Iniesta who lighted the fireworks of brilliance on the pitch this time around! The "pale assassin" slotted in the third goal that provided the necessary cushion to Barça's precarious 2-1 lead in the first-half of their match with the visitors from San Siro! Iniesta's sublime goal, a remnant from a Messi attempt, brought the scoreline to 3-1, on aggregate, against the Italian Serie A's best to ensure a place for Barça in the UCL semi-final round.
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Off to a flying start!
As expected, the match kicked off with both sides at full speed. I thought Dani Alves fouled Clarence Seedorf twice with
Gerard Piqué and Ibra...tower-ful both.harder-than-necessary push, but only the second one was called. Gerard Piqué did great intercepting Zlatan Ibrahimović's early runs for the Barça goal.
At 4:38 minutes of play, Messi did a great run against three Milan defenders, getting through impressively - as usual - but Christian Abbiati did a fine save. Awesome job - for both men! And that was going to be the theme of the match, actually.
At 6:13 minutes, Dani Alves sent a nice cross to Cesc Fàbregas, who was behind Messi. Fàb flicked the ball beautifully in one touch to Messi in front of the Milan goal. Messi, with two Milan defenders on both his sides, stopped the ball with his chest and attempted to send a volley over Abbiati's head... but missed! "He's human after all," was all the stunned commentator could utter in disbelief. Then again, one cannot discount the Rossoneri defenders around Messi.
At 8:54 minutes of play, there was a commotion between Barça's captain, Carles Puyol, and Alessandro Nesta - battle of muscles... aaaw!
At about 9:30 min, there was a big Barcelona run... Messi was running against two Milan defenders, he kicked the ball to the speeding Xavi, who miscalculated his control of the ball... but saved the ball and quickly returned it to
Leo Messi celebrating goal #1 with Cesc Fàbregas.Messi, who was still finding his position. But Messi quickly got the ball to position for a sure goal as Abbiati was still paying Xavi, and Dani Alves behind him, his divided attention. Nesta and Luca Antonini did what they had to do: threw and entangled themselves with the speeding Messi, who was thrown down - mostly by Antonini's impact. Penalty! The little "magic man" himself took the shot... and it resulted to Messi's 50th goal in the UCL. Therefore, La Pulga became the youngest player (at 24 years) to reach a half century of goals in the Champions League! Aaawww, brilliant! :) More importantly for Camp Nou, Barça pushed through in front to take the early lead, 1-0. Awesomeness! :)
The next how many minutes were relatively calmer run from Barça, just trying to make some chances to cushion their lead... and a more tactically disciplined run from Milan, especially defensively, trying to stop Barça from scoring more. The result was a treat for football fans all around the globe! Both teams did fantastic in a fast-moving game, tactic vs. tactic runs, trying to outwit each other in a great execution of the 'beautiful game'. Oy!
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Taking the match up a notch!
There was that corner from Xavi, which was read very nicely by Puyol... and the Barça captain quickly got away from his Milan man to chase the throw-in for a tap-in to the
Alves and Abbiati in bone-splitting action.Milan goal... missed it by just an inch! Dang! Nice to see Gerard Piqué getting back to his "former" sharpness and highly committed self on the pitch, too... hooking up at the back with Javier Mascherano to lock horns with Ibra and Robinho, determined to keep the two from scoring goals, and they were quite successful, too, as the two Rossoneri could not produce goals.
At about the 26th min, Alves ran against Antonini, who lost Alves... only for Alves to be intercepted by the awesome Nesta... but Alves was being his "slippery" self, and Abiatti had to lend a hand to the Milan defense crew to stop him. Apparently, the Milan GK had to lend more... all limbs, and a few bones at stake, too, to stop Alves. Three bodies on the ground... all in pain! Whew!
Massimo Ambrosini and Fàbregas wrestled to the ground... penalty, which resulted in a free kick, taken by Xavi, but to no avail.
At 31:59 minute, Robinho was walled-in by three Barça shirts, found a way to kick the ball
Antonio Nocerino equalizes for Milan. to Ibra, who saw Antonio Nocerino running unmarked from the left of Barça's goal, his man, Mascherano, was busy helping out to hold-off Robinho from getting anywhere near the Catalan goal. Ibra flicked the ball to Nocerino, really smartly I must add! Nocerino, without so much of a pause and without nothing to lose, made a run for it! Just before the Barça defense could get back to position, Nocerino kicked the ball home! Victor Valdes seemed mesmerized by it all... and reacted too late! Mascherano arrived too late, too. Equalizer, 1-1! Yaikks!
The next few minutes were more spirited runs from Barça, and aptly so to! If the score was left at 1-1, Milan would win the match on away goal. Therefore, it was truly a reason to worry about for Barça. At one point, Ibra was running for a goal... chased by Piqué, but the Catalan was beaten. Good thing Masche came back and put the ball back to safety. I'm not sure if Valdes had already gotten back to his senses at that point, therefore, good thing Masche came to Piqué's rescue. Now, I could forgive Masche for that Nocerino goal earlier.
At about the 40th minute, there was a shirt-pulling incident between Nesta and Sergio Busquets, which resulted in a penalty - spot kick. Aww! Messi took the shot, and... most naturally brought the score to 2-1! Uhm-huhm, as the commentator said, that was "a gift" to Barça in that really crucial moment.
Leo Messi, celebrating goal #2.Man, I can imagine José Mourinho deliriously squirming in his "Special Throne" with his mouth foaming. ;)
Big runs followed... Fàbregas being thrown down a few times, making him the most "physically maligned" player on the pitch in this match... and Messi coming in as close second - and understandably so, because the Rossoneri, obviously, had to stop the magic man! But Messi was no 'crybaby'... which is more than I could say about Cesc. Tsk! Aw, c'mon Fàb, why are you allowing yourself to be a punching bag like that... like a second-rate player in a second-rate Ball Club? Man up, dude! You're with Barça now!
As if Fàb heard my yelling, Messi nearly brought home another goal via a fabulous Fàbregas pass if not for the very alert reaction from Abiatti. The Milan GK is just awesome, I have to give it to him. It would've been a Milan trashing by Barça if not for his sharpness and quick reactions... he should be given a "bonus" just by saving Milan's reputation alone! He sure is one of the very best GK out there today.
Oh, and then it was Milan's turn for a free kick... Ibra took it, but cannot get it through the wall, the ball bounced off Piqué's chest. Nesta recovered the ball, bless him, and put it back into play, passing it back to Ibra, who was a few feet away from Valdes's near post this time, but the awesome Iniesta headed the ball for an fantastic interception. I found it funny whenever Ibra was beaten in the air by small guys like Masche and Iniesta! =)
Half-time.
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Half the time, double the action!
And the second-half was off, with the men kicking hard - the ball a lot, and each other some! Whew, intensity, you "light up" our world!!
And then Messi was brought down again, this time by Kevin-Prince Boateng. Free kick, taken this time by Xavi... very close, but a miss nevertheless. Relief for the visitors... 'cause the lead remained within reach... or so they thought.
At about 49:40 minutes of play... I found it interesting to see the four Milan defenders in straight line formation in front of the Milan goal as Barça was carrying the ball on an attack. Very solid back there, the Rossoneris were. Very impressive!
And then at about 53rd minute, Messi was "bee-walled" by three Milan shirts, and two more around the wall. The little man kicked the
Goal #3 via Andrés Iniesta's smooth magic! ball in front anyway, and it was deflected by a Milan shirt. The "other magic man" in Blaugrana shirt, coming out of nowhere like, uhm, magic (!), saw the ball fly, caught it, and quickly kicked it to the Milan goal before the Milan players could take their eyes away from Messi. Smack- in! 3-1... and in his awesome cooler-than-cool 2010 World Cup "pale assassin" fashion, Don Andrés just pulled his team through to the semi-final stage. As Barça and most of Camp Nou celebrated noisily, the visitors seemed to be asking themselves still, "where the heck did he condense from?" Actually, I was asking myself the same question, too... the only difference is, I didn't really care very much where! :) All I cared about was Iniesta's awesomeness! Aaawww! Gracias, Don Andrés! :)
More running, more big chances from Barça, spoiled each time by the fabulous Milan defense. The whole time, Ibra looked lost... probably wondering why was he not playing for Barça anymore! Aaaw! Ahahaha....
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Slowing down... just enjoying the ride to the semis.
I thought that the real danger was over, so I took a little break, and heated something to eat. ;) When I got back, an injured Piqué was being substituted by Adriano. Ow!
With the margin of goals safely drawn, Iniesta showed his dribbling grit... tiki-taka, baby! :) And then he was knocked down by Robinho. Ow!
Brilliance in 3 variants: Xavi, Iniesta, Messi.Pep Guardiola doing his funny animated gestures once again on the side line... good sign? Good sign! :) Fàb was next to be susbstituted, by Seydou Keita this time, and then Xavi was relieved by Thiago Alcantara. Hmmm, 'smelled' like semi-final now. ;)
Lots of running, running, running... the last 10 minutes was a show of Barça's tiki-taka, four yellow cards shown the players - one to Barça and three to Milan - and three more big exciting chances created by Barça, with Messi playing an important role in each of them... but to no avail. The Rossoneri's defense was simply superb - pure strategy, no violence or foul play intended (unlike the Mourinho-coached Real Madrid's)... until the very end! For sure, if there was anything that I envied about Milan, it's their defense line-up and defensive strategy - too good! Kudos and respect to their big boss, Massimiliano Allegri - you play the 'beautiful game' beautifully, too, sir.
And then the final whistle sounded... and Barça were off to the semis... a step closer to Munich! Camp Nou erupted! Woohoo! Woooot! :)
Alright, I have enough energy to get a few things done in the lab now... nevermind that most people are already on vacation. I'll have mine later - big time! :)
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| And they moved on to the semi-final round! Visca, el Barça! :) |
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Photo credits: All photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks! :)
