AC Milan's victory over Arsenal in the last round of the UEFA Champions League is a quarterfinal tie against Barcelona. That's generally been a death sentence for European teams - in the last three seasons the only side that's been able to get past the Catalans has been Inter Milan under Jose Mourinho. Barcelona are favourites in this tie and the smart money is probably on them winning the whole thing, and that means that Milan are being written off in advance.
AC Milan Vs. Barcelona, 2012 Champions League: Write Off Milan At Your Peril
If you’re a Milan fan, that must be frustrating. The Rossoneri are a genuinely good side. They won the Scudetto in the 2010/11 season. They absolutely annihilated Arsenal in the first leg of their knockout-round tie, winning 4-0 at the San Siro, and lest anyone forget, they’ve already played Barcelona this season, losing 5-4 on aggregate but earning a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou in the process. They’re too good a team to simply write off here, and Gianfranco at the AC Milan Offside is frustrated that the world at large is doing just that.
[In] the first CL final I remember, I had to listen to pundits laud Cruyff’s Barca and that Milan had no chance. I had to hear how Milan couldn’t compete because Baresi was out injured or that our team couldn’t handle the free flowing football. Now, seventeen years later it is the same old song and dance. Silva is hurt probably won’t play, Milan is to old and slow to compete. Don’t you think people would learn a bit from history? I am not saying it is going to be easy, in fact I am not even saying it is possible, but I sure as hell am not going to roll over and concede this tie
Milan aren’t favourites, or anything particularly close, but there’s no reason that they’ll fold like APOEL Nicosia did against Real Madrid. The last time Barcelona went to the San Siro in a knockout game, they were beaten 3-1 by unfancied Inter and then eliminated in the reverse fixture. Can we honestly say that there’s no way Milan can do the same?
We’ll have live coverage of the game in our UEFA Champions League Wednesday StoryStream. For more on the two teams, head over to Barcelona blog Barca Blaugranes and The AC Milan Offside.
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