AC Milan vs. Barcelona, 2013 UEFA Champions League: Rossoneri grab famous 2-0 win

There was much talk in the run up to this most recent round of Champions League football about the shift in power. Showing its customary tardiness, the British media woke up to the fact that English clubs are no longer all that where European competition is concerned. There was some hand wringing about England’s having fallen behind not just the new-old powerhouses in Spain but also the re-risen German powers and maybe even the so-recently-joke-worthy Old Ladies of Italy. There was talk, then, about the cyclical nature (and blogging, probably, about the dialectical development) of footballing dominance.

The last fortnight’s action seems to have confirmed those fears - managerial phenomenon Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United may have held their own against Real Madrid, may well knock the nouveau galacticos out and have reached three finals since 2008, but they didn’t even make it out of their traditionally lightweight group last year. English clubs are no longer dominant in Europe’s top competitions (Europa League representation is down to three now, too); but to describe the change as a power shift is too stark. A much more subtle force is at work: simply, there are only ever five or six really top teams and these are taken from a global semi-elite of around 12 clubs who fluctuate in and out of the elite group independently of national parameters.

If you didn’t watch the match itself you might be wondering just what in the heck happened at the San Siro. It’s a fair question and one that I’ve been rolling around in my head since the match ended. I’m still not exactly sure what I witnessed but I know it was important for a few reasons.

Let’s start with Milan’s performance because they deserve plenty of credit for pulling off that shocking result. I also want to ensure that no one starts writing snarky comments about how I’m ignoring Milan and making excuses for Barcelona. The Blaugrana don’t need anyone making excuses for their performance, especially me. They know they sucked but we’ll get to that in a minute.

It wasn’t and won’t be the last time Barcelona have failed in this task, but the defeat still prompts questions about the potency of their attack. Such is their reputation for ball hogging and intricate interchange of short passing in tight areas, they are always going to compete in these kind of ‘one-sided’ affairs. The degree of impotency they displayed only exaggerated what was a basic problem.

Stretching the active playing zone is a natural way to combat a team playing deep -- by playing with width, you stretch the defence in lateral areas, which forces them to concede compactness. More space is created, and the more space there is, the more room there is to exploit.

AC Milan were fantastic on Wednesday night, pulling out a stellar 2-0 victory over Barcelona at the San Siro. They now head into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie against the Blaugrana holding a significant advantage that few thought they’d be able to earn. I sat down with SB Nation Soccer lead editor Graham MacAree, contributing editor Ryan Rosenblatt and contributor Zito Madu to discuss what went wrong for Barca.

Graham: I swear, half of Barca’s passes just bounced off defenders.

The Blaugrana immediately tried to up the tempo, throwing Alexis Sanchez on for the ineffective Cesc Fabregas. It didn’t help much, and by the time the 75th minute rolled around the visitors still had just the one shot on target. Andres Iniesta came close to making it two -- and notching the equalizer as well -- with a well-struck effort from outside the box which beat Abbiati but drifted wide of the far post, but they still weren’t creating anything against a Milan defense that wasn’t even having to work very hard.

It was no less than the hosts deserved for a superb display, although they were made to hold on as the visitors buzzed furiously forward in search of an away goal that would make the tie manageable. Puyol came close to making up for his error on the second goal, but directed a free header wide on a corner. Five minutes of injury time came and went with no real chances.

Wonderful play by Milan and the San Siro is going bonkers as it appears that Milan will be heading to Spain with a massive 2-goal advantage. Of course, this is still Barcelona and there’s still time for them to get an important away goal. No matter what happens, it’s been a tremendous performance by Milan in a match nobody have them a chance to get a result from.

Iniesta did finally do something positive in the 76th minute, playing a nice one-two on the edge of the box before hammering a shot just wide of the Milan goal. That’s the closest Barcelona have come all game.

It’s a confusing performance to say the least and while Milan deserve plenty of credit, Barcelona have been about as awful as I’ve seen then in the past few years.

While Barca is certainly trying it’s a testament to Milan that they’re making them look so poor, compared to their normal high level of performance.

It was a clear handball by Zapata that led to the goal and despite the furious protest of Barcelona players, referee Craig Thompson refused to change his mind and the goal stood.

Barcelona started off the match a bit sloppy but as the minutes ticked away, their usual massive possession advantage started to be the norm. Despite having a lot of the ball though, Milan did an excellent job of staying defensively organized and being intelligently aggressive, frustrating Barca’s attempts to break through in the final third.

As the match crept towards halftime, Barcelona began to press Milan deeper and deeper into their defensive zone as they began to get closer to unlocking the Milan defense.

Certainly not the most scintillating soccer in the first ten minutes but Barcelona were in no hurry to make a mistake and gift Milan anything. Thing picked up a bit when Barca side got back-to-back corners in the 10th minute but failed to threaten Milan’s defense too much with either set piece. Gerard Piqué did get a header off on the second corner but it was blocked away by Milan and led to a counter attack chance for the Rossoneri.

Poor Milan. They’ve done well to get back into a Champions League place in Serie A, but their injuries and the absence of Mario Balotelli is going to make it nearly impossible for them to steal a result. Barcelona win, 2-0.

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Xavi Hernandez’s recent hamstring injury has given us a chance to view this current Barcelona side without their wizardly midfield maestro. At the age of 33 there’s no doubt that Xavi still has a few good years left but we all know there are more years behind him than in front of him...probably. This brings up an interesting question: What will this Barcelona team be like once Xavi decides to hang up his boots, or is forced into a secondary role by injury or a drop in productivity?

I decided to crunch the numbers from this season and try to get some idea of how Barca fared statistically with Xavi and without him. I also threw in the matches in which he was a second-half substitute for good measure.