Spurs Through To Final Eight After Scoreless Draw, Advance 1-0 Over Milan

Yet Spurs, having few players with Champions League experience, were able to hold their venerable opponents at bay. William Gallas, one of those Spurs with experience at this stage of the competition, made the most valuable single contribution, saving a Robinho shot off the line in the first half, after which, Spurs seemed to slowly exert more control on the affair. By the second half, the teams were playing a more even match, albeit with drastically different goals.

Milan’s last grasp came in stoppage time, when Robinho played a ball in from the right to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede with his back to goal. The Swede laid the ball off to his left for Robinho, looping in from his wide position. His first-timed ball from 18 yards out went two feel above the crossbar. Had he got it on frame, it would be been almost impossible for Gomes to stop.

We’re into stoppage time now, of which there will be three minutes. Not long, then, for Spurs to survive, and with Milan’s attack rather blunted in the second half the Champions League dream looks like it will be continuing for Tottenham unless something magical happens for Milan. Robinho very nearly provided that after a neat interchange with Ibrahimovic, but the Brazilian’s effort was deflected (just) over the bar for a corner.

This Alexandre Pato fellow is quite good, you know. The Brazilian striker just gave White Hart Lane a collective heart attack by wiggling free of the Spurs defence on the edge of the area to pick up the ball and smack in a shot on the half volley, easily beating Heurelhio Gomes and buzzing the side netting. Half the ground thought the ball was in, but fortunately for the home side it was maybe a foot wide of being the equaliser. It was a very good effort, but Milan are going to have to do better than that to level up the score and take the game to extra time.

There are just about fifteen minutes left for Milan to try to get a goal, but they’ve looked nowhere near as effective in this half - where they were once destroying Tottenham they’re pounding rather uselessly against the back four, with Ibrahimovic in particular disappointing. If the home side can hang on, they’re into the quarter finals.

Mathieu Flamini, who most would argue shouldn’t even be on the pitch for this match after his nasty tackle on Vedran Corluka in the first leg, has just picked up a yellow card for a... rather nasty take on Benoit Assou-Ekotto. This one was never a red card, though - merely a one footed lunge which could have caused the left back some damage. Assou-Ekotto is rather nimbler than Corluka, however, and was able to avoid the brunt of the tackle. The yellow card means that Flamini is suspended for AC Milan’s next match, should the manage to progress here.

Off the free kick, Alexandre Pato was booked for encroachment, but Milan were able to clear. Within a few minutes, they nearly had a goal after Gomes made an appalling clearance and then completely failed to deal with a cross, leaving the ball free at the feet of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and several defenders with Gomes squirming helplessly on the ground. The ball eventually went behind for a goalkick, but that was a nervy moment for the Spurs defence.

Marek Jankulovski’s already booked for pulling down the little winger, and Clarence Seedorf may have committed a handball in the box as he attempted to clear Lennon’s latest delivery, although it would have been a harsh penalty if given. While there hasn’t been a clear-cut goalscoring opportunity since very early in the half, it’s looking a lot better for Tottenham than it did, giving the Spurs defence some breathing room after being under the cosh in the first half.

After the requisite Milan attack in reply, Lennon tried to break down the wing once more, but was cut off by Marek Jankulovski, the defender picking up a yellow card for his troubles, the first booking of the game. It’s promising from Tottenham, who didn’t play anywhere near the required level in the first half. Can they build on their start to the second?

With a 1-0 lead from the previous leg in Italy, it’s not as though Harry Redknapp will be particularly angry with a 0-0 scoreline at half time, but things still don’t look great for Tottenham, who are being played off the pitch by AC Milan. Spurs centreback William Gallas is the only reason the scores are still level, incidentally, having cleared a deflected Robinho shot off the goal line with keeper Heurelhio Gomes completely out of the picture. The match has been a fry cry from the first leg in Milan, where Tottenham were completely comfortable for the first 45 minutes - while they started relatively strongly here that spark died out after the first ten minutes, and the further we’ve progressed into the match the more the visitors have dominated play.

As the game goes on, it’s becoming more and more one-sided. Tottenham can’t get the ball and they appear mostly incapable of dealing with Milan’s front three of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato, and Robinho. Milan’s latest attack saw them run through the Spurs defence like it wasn’t there, with Pato drawing a good save from Heurelhio Gomes - fortunately for the home side a white shirt got to the rebound before one of the Rossoneri could pounce.

Tottenham still have their 1-0 aggregate lead, but they have William Gallas to thank for that, the French centre back clearing off the line for Spurs after Alexandre Pato turned the back line - and Heurelhio Gomes - inside out after bursting onto a long ball. Gallas was unable to keep up with the pace of the forward, and Gomes came out to challenge only to see Pato skip around him like he wasn’t there, leaving the net almost completely unguarded.

When Tottenham break, they break pretty quickly, and AC Milan aren’t defending in the sort of numbers really needed to keep them out. With their front three more or less disinterested in doing any defending, the defence is having to do a lot of heavy lifting and nearly made a bad mistake when an attempted clearance by Alessandro Nesta only fell to Rafael van der Vaart on the edge of the box - Nesta made up for his error by quickly charging down the resultant volley, which was deflected behind for a (wasted) corner.

At the other end of the pitch, Alexandre Pato ripped through the Spurs defence to send in a cross of his own, but while the ball managed to make it through into some dangerous positions in front of Huerelhio Gomes’ goal, there were no red shirts able to meet it. Right now we’ve got an immensely open game - both teams are attacking in numbers making transitions very exciting.

It’s game on at White Hart Lane, as AC Milan in their traditional red and black shirts get us started, with Tottenham wearing their home whites. The first action of the match is Zlatan Ibrahimovich being caught offside, followed up by Spurs making slow progress down the right flank. Neither side’s pressing looks that impressive early on, which means we’re seeing fairly long spells of possession from both teams, which have resulted in half-chances for both Rafael van der Vaart and Ibrahimovich.

Subs: Cudicini, Hutton, Bale, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, King.

At the back, Christian Abbiati will be protected by a defense of (right-to-left) Ignazio Abate, Alessandro Nesta, Thiago Silva, and Marek jankulovski. In midfield, Mathieu Flamini and Clarence Seedorf join Kevin Prince Boateng, who until recently was a doubt with an ankle problem. Up top, Allegri’s choices were also restricted, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho, and Alexandre Pato forming the obvious trio.

On the bench there are no surprises, though it is noteworthy that Luca Antonini has been selected. The defender was a injury doubt coming into today’s match.

Today, Milanistas can take some solace in Boateng’s expected return. Per the club’s website, Prince went through full training yesterday prior to the team’s flight to London. Today, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Boateng is expected to start in a wide midfield role, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Alexandre Pato comprising Allegri’s attack.

In the midfield along with Boateng, Allegri is likely to choose Clarence Seedorf and Mathieu Flamini, though moving Thiago Silva into midfield is another option. Alexander Merkel is also an option, as is the forgotten Rodney Strasser.

Well, since he apologised, everything is now hunky-dory. Did you know that apologies have magical healing powers and that Corluka is now fully fit? His ankle is totally fine now, right? Right? What more could you do, Mathieu? You could think, hey, maybe going in two footed in the air on someone isn’t a very good idea as it’s a) illegal and thus not going to win the ball and b) how the opposition player gets hurt. Call me crazy, but I think some introspection would be a good idea here.

The question is, will he see playing time? Bale came on to play the last 20 minutes on Sunday, but Harry Rednapp has promised not to play him if he’s not 100%. However, Rednapp has said that he’ll leave the decision up to Bale himself, and it seems highly unlikely that the winger will let this opportunity pass him by.