The Kevin Prince Boateng goal succeded in firing up the San Siro crowd and ensuring that Milan would be parking their bus even deeper in front of their goal. It also appeared to fire up Barcelona but that didn't immediately translate into better play. Barca remained sloppy with their possession and continued to give the ball away cheaply on the attack.
AC Milan vs. Barcelona: Milan’s defense continues to stifle Barca
Play stopped momentarily in the 66th minute after Giampaolo Pazzini and Carles Puyol collided awkwardly in the midfield. Puyol was probably luck that they both went down in pain because there's a real chance of Pazzini breaking free on goal if he'd managed to stay on his feet.
Barcelona piled on more and more pressure but they continued to be completely ineffective at doing anything remotely dangerous with it. Everybody has a bad game from time to time but to see so many Barcelona players having bad games at the same time is rare. Lionel Messi has been virtually invisible, Andres Iniesta hasn't been a factor and don't even get me started on Alexis Sanchez.
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.
See More:
