Champions League 2012/13

Definitely TSO, definitely.

BTW here's Balo's statement after the match:
"I couldn't play due to UEFA laws, but i really don't know why Messi didn't too?"
 
beachryan said:
What a performance. Almost no shots on goal in the whole match for Barca.

Brilliant stuff from Milan.

Also thought the ref was excellent. It didn't devolve into a non-contact sport, which is what I've typically seen when Barca play in Europe. Will be interesting to see if there is another 'British' ref considered for the other leg.

However, I still think Barca can beat Milan by > 2 goals at the Nou Camp.
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I agree the ref was first class and absolutely fitting of such a high profile fixture. He didnt let the game over-fear him and wasnt star struck and duped by the players which can sometimes happen.

A lot of credit must go to the Milan manager and the back room staff who worked on a perfect game plan to contain Barca. Teams have done it in the past like Chelsea and Inter, but this was probably the best nullification of Barca in recent years. There was a lot of desire and passion from the Milan players, a lot of journalists (especially the Spanish-focused ones here in the UK like Sid Lowe and Graham Hunter) had Milan dead and buried once the draw was made, yet Milan didnt believe the consensus from the so-called media experts and went for the big win. There were some big players in red and black tonight who played immense games and it was like Milan rolling back the years to the 1990s and 2000s and those sensational european nights.

Obviously there is still the second leg and Barca are still a dangerous side, but this a result that gives Milan a great chance. If they score (and they should have chances given how much Barca have to attack to get two goals) then Barca will have to win 4-1, and if they dont score, well then even a 2-0 would still mean extra time and pks. Obviously people will remeber Deportive around 10 years ago and even to an extent Arsenal last year, but both those seemed to be about Milan thinking the tie was already won and I dont think they will be like that with a 2-0 vs Barca. The chances of Milan collapsing 3-0 or 4-1 are not that great barring a key red card or some other incident.
 
Well Edmundo, to give some credit to Sid Lowe, he did predict that Barcelona will not win the CL because they are not good enough at the moment. Also don't forget that Villanova is still in New York, Barcelona are currently without a coach. Surely that is a handicap...

Is Villa injured ?


With the previous i will not take anything away from Milan: great performance, thoroughly deserved win...
 
What would Ibrahimovic do if Milan won the CL title this year :THINK:

Anyway great performance from Milan, props to the management for keeping Allegri despite the bad form early in the season.
 
Bad match from Barca..really bad.. one of the worse I've seen in years.

Milan will be hammered home thats for sure, but most likely Barca needs to score 4, as Milan will get one in. Barcelona has conceided a goal in last 10 matches.. thats way too much.

It will be very strange if Real and Barcelona are out at 1/8 :) I would predict Bayern to take the CL if this happends.

We need to get rid of Sanchez, he is right now worthless for us. Messi had to turn his back to goal when receiving pass, they cut his speed and explosive runs. Good job Milan!

Keep calm and Visca Barca!
 
I have a feeling that Barcelona will not win the Nou Camp match...i'm pretty sure they will concede goals.

Yesterday's match may also have been Messi's weakest match in a very long time...so he is human after all...

Could it be that Barcelona is relying too much on Messi for the good of the team. Most Barca fans will not agree with me, but for the club it would maybe be a good thing of Messi left. I have a feeling that at the moment there is a belief that no matter how bad things are, Messi will score a couple of goals and will make Barcelona win matches. In the long term this is not good for Barcelona (and a litle bit unfair to Messi, even to him).

PS: don't misunderstand me: Messi is still by far the best player in the world...and IMO the best ever.
 
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Messi brought this on himself. He wants them to rely on him.

If he wasn't such a bitch then they'd have Ibra or Villa playing in the middle and helping contribute towards goals, or even another proper central striker but because Messi gets what Messi wants, he's in the middle and they're shunted out wide or out of the club entirely.

He's by far and away the best player in the world but even that won't save him on a bad day.
 
matherto said:
Messi brought this on himself. He wants them to rely on him.

If he wasn't such a bitch then they'd have Ibra or Villa playing in the middle and helping contribute towards goals, or even another proper central striker but because Messi gets what Messi wants, he's in the middle and they're shunted out wide or out of the club entirely.

He's by far and away the best player in the world but even that won't save him on a bad day.
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How do you know he is a bitch? Bitching to Villa for not passing in obvious position is right thing to do. Ibra is bitch himself. I guess scoring 90+ goals and 20+ assists in a year gives you priveleges. Lets see how Barca plays home before making any assumptions about Messi. Ronaldo takes almost 100% of all Real free kicks, but only 5% go in, should Real blaim Ronaldo for being a bitch and ruining chances? Well no, cause he scores, same would apply to Messi I guess.
 
Being a bitch and acting a bitch is different . The work load is brought on himself . He rather lead the line and being the main source bares the responsibility . Messi should play SS behind a ST ,but he seem happier being SS n ST. I love this bit , still the best player in the world. Now, the post is acceptable :LOL:

I predict a red card or 2yellows for a Milan player .
 
He was really bad in the first half. Misplaced a lot of passes in dangerous areas. Still, he was out for almost a year with injury and scored that goal. Fantastic effort from the whole team.

Funny thing, Gazzetta didn't give a rating to two Milan players. Traore cause he came on late and Abbiati cause he had nothing to do all game. :D
 
Galliani is always talking about how he has a picture of Muntari's ghost goal against Juve last season. :LOL:
 
Matherto, i kind of agree with Enzo, although i would have expressed myself more moderated...

I also agree with the fact that Messi should play as a SS behind a real striker and the best i saw at Barcelona is still Samuel Eto'o. IMO they were never better than with him and Messi.

It's a shame Larsson wasn't 10 years younger, he would have been ideal, such an intelligent player...
 
Strange that nobody here talks about a possible handball just before the first Milan goal. Any thoughts about this. IMO if this was a defender it would always have been a penalty (and i don't agree with the new hands rule).

PS: i still think Milan fully deserved the win and 2-0 seemed a logical result to me, whatever handsball (or not) there may have been... so this discussion is not to lesser Milan's merits, it's just academical about the handsball. IMO the ref took the right decision...
 
I have never even been aware of it until some of my friends (who happened to be some crazy Barcelona fanboys in the recent years) cried about the refereeing in the game. I've watched the incident countless times and seemingly, the ball deflects off the Barça defender and hits Zapata's arm while he's protecting his face from the initial shot and that thing happens in just milliseconds. never a handball in a million years. and tbh, I don't see anything academical about it. just some basic interpretation. pretty normal people didn't even take notice.

Edit: oh, right. #17 was Zapata and Boateng was the scorer. :P
 
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It wasn't a handball as it wasn't intentional and he (Zapata) was trying to back-off before the ball hit him, so logically the ref didn't count it as one. The ref was really good all round not just in that situation.
 
Would have been really harsh and I'd argue even less likely to be given to a defender in the same situation. It's not like he was seeking to gain an advantage - which I think is the current wording in the FIFA guidelines.

I thought the ref was very good too. The worst thing that can happen for Milan is that the ref in the return fixture is weak. Because I've seen what happens when Barcelona need a little help - and the match will be utterly ruined if the ref allows them to 'create' fouls with every touch. I've posted this before but I'm 100% convinced it's strategic, and that Barca use that time to rest. I've seen matches where it is literally impossible to touch Alves, Busquets etc without them going to ground, 'requiring treatment' and drawing inevitable yellow cards.

Also, did anyone else find it funny that when Barca finally clued in that they needed a goal in the last 10 minutes they hauled Pique up front and started pinging in long balls? Turns out direct football isn't really a terrible idea...
 
Fanny Neguesha ?? why I was thinking shes Shakira :LOL:

Milan make my night well done by them I was really happy seeing a team beat them , im tired of seeing Barca wining lol and some of they'r "arrogant" fans who were telling Barca is going to beat everyone so bad , and those bet company giving 1.50 for barca to win away vs Milan ? its not a damn Granada that (with all respect for that team) this things make me sick , so suck it now Barca :D

I think its going to be really hard for Barca to win , and I think Milan is going to score a counter atack over there if this happen barca its going to need 4 goals than !
 
ye barca are dirty, (especially dani alves remember last season was stretchered off then came running back on 2 minutes later) pathetic twat. cant remember who it was against though.. im glad milan done them. they were class. they beat barca without parking the bus aswell, they deserve to go through, they must score the 1st goal in nou camp though or it'l be hard.
 
Dazzlà said:
.....they beat barca without parking the bus aswell......
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you're well good at finding an image that was probably taken just after a corner lol
 
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That's stupid pic , I only seen match from Milan first goal and they were by far errrr than barca and they don't "park the bus" I bet you can find same pic as that one with barca player in defense , Milan deserve them , it's a team that I dislike but try totally deserve and hope they go throught
 
I don't get why people are complaining, rather than saying that Milan's tactics worked to perfection, because they did.
 
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