AC Milan vs FC Barcelona: Goals have to wait till the Camp Nou (0-0)

Milan (FCB).- It’s all square after the first leg in Milan, with Barça undoubtedly the winners on points – having dominated, particularly in the first half and making the chances – with three good penalty shouts ignored. However, in football it’s goals that count and FC Barcelona weren’t quite able to get on the scoresheet on Wednesday evening, leaving the Camp Nou to decide who gets through to the Champions League semi-final.

Early chance for hosts

Although it was Barça who dominated throughout the first half, Milan had the first chance, when Robinho failed to put away a good chance after just 2 minutes after AC Milan had pressed the FC Barcelona defence to get possession. Messi’s genius soon began to come through though and after about ten minutes the Catalans began to settle and threaten Abbiati - who committed what looked to be a clear penalty on Alexis on 15 minutes.

Barça lay siege to Milan goal

Barça now began to take control – despite the poor state of the pitch – whilst Milan were forced back and tried to hit the visitors on the break, with Valdes making a good stop from one such counter when Ibrahimovic got through. It was becoming an all action game though, played at a hectic pace which really didn’t suit Barça’s game plan.

But FC Barcelona were not to be held back and they soon imposed themselves, with Xavi coming close to repeating his goal in the 2-3 result in the Group stage, only for Abbiati to push his effort wide. The AC Milan fans were whistling at the extended periods of possession Barça were enjoying, as Guardiola’s men began to lay siege to the Milanese area, forcing the Italians to sit ever deeper.

Stalemate

Milan brought on El Shaarawy for Robinho soon after the break and that seemed to give them an extra boost, as they opened up a little, only to come up against an impeccable back four. The game entered a rather less exciting phase now and Guardiola brought on Tello on 64 minutes to inject a little more penetration.

Barça denied

With the youngster out on the left, the team certainly recovered some of their sharpness and only some good covering denied Leo Messi on 77 minutes, with Puyol getting on the end of the resulting corner and also looking to be fouled. Milan’s defence was never going to be easy to break down though and they appeared to accept the draw as a good result as they withdrew even further back. A double chance for Messi and Alves and what looked like another penalty committed on the Argentinean nearly ruined the Italians’ game plan, but in the end it’s all to play for next week at the Camp Nou.