Game in a sentence
Sort of okay Milan a shadow of their former European selves as they go out against a great-but-not-brilliant Barcelona.
Observations
- Barcelona enjoy a unique rhythm at the Camp Nou, on display as usual here. The only surprise in the opening line-up was the appearance of Cuerca where Alexis Sanchez would normally be. Not that it mattered much.
- Milan on the other hand went with their signature 4-1-2-1-2, and there was some muttering about the effectiveness of starting Robinho alongside Ibrahimovic considering the ‘will never score ever’ impression they gave off in the first leg.
- First, let’s get to the heart of the matter across the ninety minutes of play. Barcelona are a significantly better side than AC Milan. They used the width of the pitch, they moved around the considerable Milan defence on the flanks and through the middle on several occasions, they won free kicks which Messi subsequently missed over and over. They did everything we know they do now thanks to Simon Kuper. Despite the whinging over some refereeing decisions (which I’ll get to below). Milan tired out after Barca’s third and resorted to tepid, over-the-top balls. One team had a total 21 shots, 8 on target, the other had 3 with one on target. There can be no complaints about the final result.
- For the neutral at least, the first forty minutes were highly entertaining. Barcelona dominated early (as expected), with Messi just missing after a dandy play caught Nesta out in the 7th minute. Then Barca forced Milan into a stupid defensive mistake when Mexes lost possession and Antonini hacked down Messi in the box, who scored a penalty in the 10th minute. Antonini was an instant whipping boy, with a 3.8 whoscored.com rating, a defensive error and a penalty conceded.
- Still, Milan kept their composure and Nocerino levelled the score and put Milan ahead on away goals in the 31st after a Barcelona-like move in the final third which saw Ibrahimovic slot brilliantly to the Milanista beardo who put it away. Barca could have defended it better and it was sort of representative of their (minor) problems in La Liga this season.
- Then things got stupid. Referee Bjorn Kuipers awarded Barcelona a penalty after Nesta grabbed a handful of Busquets shirt in the box defending a corner. There was confusion, a whistle was blown, players surrounded the ref and KABLAMMO, penalty. It was legit to be sure, but one of those things that doesn’t usually get awarded. Messi put it away, and from then Milan looked out of it.
- Still, Barca likely did need that third goal and Iniesta provided it after Mexes inadvertantly blocked a Messi shot to the path of Iniesta, who scored in the 53′. Soon after the Camp Nou went quiet, Milan tired out, and interestingly the only player who seemed remotely up for it on the Milan end was Robinho, who was stupidly called for handball after a one-on-one with the keeper (which failed, so, didn’t much matter).
- Only other talking points. Can we get English-speaking announcers who can call a Barcelona game without the constant, empty hyperbole which tells us nothing but just overreaches to underline the warm, wonderful incredible feeling we’re supposed to have watching Barca be Barca? The announcer clearly couldn’t wait to tell us Messi “was human after all” after the striker missed in the 7th minute. We get it.
- Aquilani is a Milanista. He played his 25th game for Milan today after getting subbed on for a very good Clarence Seedorf, which forces them to pay Liverpool for his services. I hope they’re happy!
- Also come on Camp Nou, Barca aren’t going to be this good forever. You’re allowed to make noise now and again, even stand up.
- Poor, poor Pato. Subbed on for Boateng in the 69th minute, he was subbed off again after what appeared to be an injury in the 83rd for Maxi Lopez. Looks like Paolo’s worst case scenario came true.
- BONUS SHARMAN TWEET:
Maxi Lopez and Phil Jones.You will NEVER see them in the same room at the same time!Extremely suspicious,and would explain their injuries.
— James Sharman (@jamessharman) April 3, 2012
Three Stars
1. Messi
2. Iniesta
3. Busquets
Didn’t see the game. I heard there were horrible giveaways from Milan, but this is the only site I’ve read so far that claims the second penalty was definite. Even the spanish media were saying it was soft. Not saying it would completely changed the game but I have to go with the majority on this one and assume it probably shouldn’t have been given. I guess I’ll know better once I see the hilights.
KJ wrote: ” It was legit to be sure, but one of those things that doesn’t usually get awarded.”
He never said that it was “definite”. I think this is the general sentiment on most of the recaps: This type of penalty is rarely awarded, even though it is technically a foul in the box. It’s a legit penalty. But not a definite.
Check the byline…
Can you imagine how many penatlies would be called every game if this “legit” penalty was callled for this “legit” foul? There’d be a penalty awarded for every single penalty… Not sure I agree. Ususally the ref comes in and talks to the players and asks them to knock it off. That’s only from watching the sport for a few years… About 25.
Puyol grabbed Nesta to stop him from marking busquets, the ref doesn’t see it?
Unbelievable, uefalona at it’s finest.
Still not as bad as the 2009 incident vs chelsea, and let’s not forget the red card to rvp, the red card to motta in 2010, red card to pepe.
The penalty ruined the game, it was soft, no other ref ever calls that. I’ve seen plenty of times barca players holding other players shirts in the box, yet nothing gets called?
I understand what mourihno is talking about now.
I’m beginning to develop a strong dislike of Barcelona. The favourable decisions to that club are becoming tiresome. Here’s hoping they play R Madrid in the final and lose. Busquets is a piece of shit.
Ya, that second penalty call was pretty bad. Nesta absolutely fouled Busquets. No doubt about that and I have no problem with the yellow card. But it only happened because Puyol threw a pick and essentially body checked Nesta, giving Busquets some space, which was just as illegal and also deserving of a card in my opinion. It should have been a free kick for Milan.
Barcelona deserved to win, but I am upset that it happened in large part because of that poor decision. I say that as a guy who enjoys watching both teams.
It’s nice to see others acknowledging what I’ve been saying since for years.
Barca had to win because of 2 penalties…didn’t watch the game and didn’t want to either but I am not surprised about how it all went down.
And when you watch games in Italy…and you see the stadiums half empty…its because people here in Italy are sick of the b.s in the higher leagues. Its a joke. Hope Uefa makes their millions off of Barca…pigs.
It’s funny to see Journalists are still reluctant to admit what has been glaringly obvious for years now in regards to the referee advantage Barcelona receive from UEFA. There are more incidents than I can count, (Chelsea in 2009, red card vs Inter with Busquets rolling on the ground and then peeking to see if his acting got him anything, RVP last year. And that’s not including anything vs. RM). Journalists choose to focus on entertaining ridiculous questions like “Is Messi the best player EVER” and “Is Barcelona the best team in the history of football..” instead of recognizing Barcelona’s constant displays of unsportsmanlike behaviour. And I can only imagine it is due to the fact that they have Messi and that they play football the “beautiful” and “right way”, as Xavi says.
I always hate when fans complain that a certain team is favoured by a football association but it’s hard to deny when you watch year after year, Barcelona getting calls that are rarely ever given. It stops being coincidences and luck at some point.
UEFA’s favouritism towards Barcelona won’t change any time soon and I don’t think the Media will recognize that Barcelona are favoured by UEFA any time soon, either.
That is because Barcelona is the perfect vehicle for UEFA to keep spreading this myth that football is still the people’s game, a sport for the working class average Joe as opposed to the other teams with “questionable” morals (Real, Chelsea, etc)…and Messi is the perfect poster boy for this farce, he is the “Little Boy that could”, the one who made it against all odds…so if he can, so can you, so can your kid…and so on.
Yeah, I’d have to agree. When you have Xavi saying Barcelona are playing “real football”, how can UEFA not back that up?
It is also easy to see why the Media have set Messi as the “poster boy” for football, as you say. He’s short, he’s not that attractive, he doesn’t necessarily have the ‘typical’ body of an athlete and it perpetuates a more relatable image to the male football fan. As oppose to Cristiano Ronaldo, for example – who tans, waxes, and flaunts the fact that he’s rich, has a supermodel girlfriend and has no problem wearing pink shorts and a flower on his ear. It might not be done consciously, but you can kind of see why it’s easier for guys to relate to Messi. I remember Run of Play wrote something about this and argued it way better than I have; but I’ve come to understand that it’s hard for Non-Man United and Non-RM fans, especially male, to relate or even like Cristiano.
Maybe it is because deep down every guy would like to be him, he has it all…however, let’s not lose sight of the fact that he got there through hard work.
Are you joking? You Barcelona haters are ridiculous. If they weren’t the best team in the world, none of you would be talking about UEFA favouring them, but everyone always wants the giants to fall at some point. Barcelona is under the microscope more than any other team in the world, because of how good they are, so if something happens that people don’t like, it’s instantly a “UEFA favours Barcelona” issue. People are tired of seeing Barcelona win and are looking for any way to take away their credit.
For example, look at Real Madrid. How many Ronaldo penalties have been scored this season and last because of a Di Maria dive or a Marcelo dive? How is it possible that Pepe only received his first red card of the season a few weeks ago? Remember when he stomped on Messi’s hand, and there was video evidence, and UEFA did nothing about it? I guess they favour Madrid too, right?
These are the facts: both fouls committed in that Barca/Milan game the other day WERE fouls, and they were committed in the box. There’s no bending the rules for a big game, saying that the refs should “let things go” because there’s a big game on the line. How does that make any sense? Where in the rules of soccer does it state that refereeing should be approached differently in Champions League quarter-finals than another game? If the rules WERE different, then it would encourage teams to just play dirtier the later it gets in the competition, with little fear of getting carded, which would effectively ruin the game. Do you really believe that the more important the game is, the less strict the ref should be? So, a bad team should be allowed to get away with even MORE in order to try to make it a close game against a better team? THE POINT OF THE COMPETITION IS TO SEE WHO IS THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD; NOT TO PLEASE PEOPLE WHO LIKE SEEING UNDERDOGS WIN.
Milan were clearly helpess, out-chanced and out-possessed like crazy. Barcelona passed circles around them in BOTH legs, Milan were scared to attack. Rather than be confident enough in their own excellence and striving to BEAT Barcelona, they chose the boring, typically ineffective defensive shell, where they simply tried to mess with Barcelona’s excellence. And when they couldn’t keep up, they just fouled their players. The Milan players know the rules of soccer. Nesta KNOWS you can’t grab a guy like that in the box, and he did it.
You haters are disgusting. Show some objectivity. If you’re tired of seeing Barcelona win, that’s fine. It’s an understandable feeling. I hated seeing the Detroit Red Wings dominate the NHL all the time when I was a kid…then I grew up and realized I was being unreasonable and just being a hater for no good reason, so I made a decision to change and look at things objectively. You should all consider doing the same.
All we want is for refs to be consistent with their decisions, that’s all.
As an example, the only time I ever saw a ref go for his cards after a foul, and then quickly put the card back in his pocket once he realized who he was about to book , was during a Barcelona game and the player that should have been booked was Messi. When you see things like this, it becomes very easy to imagine other things at work… they may be true, or not.
Regarding that penalty…fine, but refs should not be selective, call them everytime and like I said, we will get about 1 penalty for every 2 corners. I see those fouls in every game and can’t remember tha last time I saw a ref call a penalty on one.
It is very easy to not like Barca because they perch themsleves on top of their own self made moral high horse, even when everybody with half a brain knows every team is the same. When they win, they say “football” won, when they lose they say “football” lost and turn on the sprinklers. They believe that the type of football they play is the way the sport was always meant to be played and when they get beaten by other teams (Inter), they act as if football fans lost out because the team that play “real football” lost.
That’s all.
The better side won, no doubt. But the penalty was soft.