{"id":4635,"date":"2013-02-21T14:35:08","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T14:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/?p=4635"},"modified":"2013-02-21T14:35:08","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T14:35:08","slug":"champions-league-tournament-favourites-barca-crash-todefeat-in-milan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/?p=4635","title":{"rendered":"Champions League &#8211; Tournament favourites Barca crash todefeat in Milan"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 align=\"center\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><br style=\"text-decoration: underline;\" \/><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/boateg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4636\" title=\"boateg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/boateg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/boateg.jpg 599w, http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/boateg-300x178.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kevin-Prince Boateng celebrates scoring for AC Milan against Barcelona<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AC Milan completed their first win over Barcelona since 2004 with a 2-0 first-leg victory at the San Siro that leaves them on the cusp of a place in the Champions League quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p>Massimiliano Allegri&#8217;s side appeared to copy the tactics of Chelsea and Celtic &#8211; the only sides to have beaten Barca in their past 25 matches in Europe &#8211; in soaking up wave after wave of attacks in this last-16 tie before hitting on the break with some gusto.<\/p>\n<p>For the record, it was second-half goals from former Premier League performers Kevin-Prince Boateng (56) and Sulley Muntari (81) that left seven-times European Cup winners Milan in charge before the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 12. They will surely head for Spain in a buoyant mood having reduced Barcelona to a state of hopelessness towards the end of the night before 75,000 fans.<\/p>\n<p>Barca had plenty of possession, but did little with the ball all night long in and around the home area and ultimately paid a heavy price.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish champions-elect need to win by three goals in the second leg in Spain otherwise they will be out of a tournament they have won three times in the past seven seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Milan were rated at 6\/1 to win this match on their home patch with Barca weighing in at 8\/15, but the odds were quickly evened out by Milan&#8217;s doggedness in defence and their opponents&#8217; reluctance to unloads any shots from distance.<\/p>\n<p>Boateng gave the home side the lead when he thumped the ball low and hard into the corner of the net after the ball had broken kindly to him from a Riccardo Montolivo free-kick.<\/p>\n<p>Barca defender Gerard Pique was booked after complaining that Christian Zapata had handled the ball in the build-up to the opening goal as it landed perfectly for Boateng to beat Victor Valdes.<\/p>\n<p>He certainly seemed to have a point, but Milan weren&#8217;t for caring as Barca appealed in vain to Scottish referee Craig Thomson about the perceived injustice.<\/p>\n<p>Muntari ensured Milan of a cushion heading to Barca for the second leg when he slotted a volley into the corner of the net after a lovely composed pass by Stephan El Shaarawy in the heart of the visiting box.<\/p>\n<p>It was Muntari&#8217;s first goal of this Champions League campaign, but what a vital one it may prove to be.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona huffed and puffed late on with Carlos Puyol nodding a Xavi corner wide, but there was never a real sense that they would net the away goal they craved as leading man Lionel Messi was more or less driven to distraction by Milan&#8217;s tactics of hunting in packs.<\/p>\n<p>Time and time again, the little Argentina forward was up against three or four home players, but he was not the only one to suffer an off night in a surprisingly mediocre performance by the world&#8217;s best club side. Barca managed only one shot on target while Messi failed to come up with a single shot at the opposition goal. Poor returns from a side 12 points clear at the summit of La Liga.<\/p>\n<p>MIlan were always dangerous. El Shaarawy enabled Puyol to clear when a better second touch would have enabled him to get a shot away on 14 minutes while Boateng flicked an effort wide from a corner a minute later, but it would prove to be a sign of better things to come for the home side rather than chances spurned.<\/p>\n<p>Andres Iniesta uncorked a shot that flew wide with 15 minutes left, but like team-mate Messi, this would not be his night on a stodgy pitch at the San Siro. Barca &#8211; who claimed their fourth Champions League success at Wembley in 2011 &#8211; suddenly have it all to do in their pursuit of a fifth gong this season.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">MAN OF THE MATCH<\/span><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Riccardo Montolivo &#8211; Milan: Montolivo gets the nod for the manner in which he broke up Barca&#8217;s countless attacks while constructing some superb passing movements on the break.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">PLAYER RATINGS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">AC MILAN:<\/span><\/strong> Abbiati 6, Abate 6, Mexes 6, Zapata 6, Constant 6, Ambrosini 7, Montolivo 8, Muntari 7, Boateng 8, Pazzini 7, El Shaarawy 7. Subs: Traore 6, Niang 6.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">BARCELONA:<\/span><\/strong> Valdes 5, Dani Alves 5, Pique 6, Puyol 6, Jordi Alba 5, Xavi 5, Busquets 5, Fabregas 4, Pedro 5, Messi 5, Iniesta 6. Subs: Mascherano 6, Sanchez 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin-Prince Boateng celebrates scoring for AC Milan against Barcelona AC Milan completed their first win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Champions League - Tournament favourites Barca crash todefeat in Milan -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/?p=4635\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Champions League - Tournament favourites Barca crash todefeat in Milan -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kevin-Prince Boateng celebrates scoring for AC Milan against Barcelona AC Milan completed their first win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/?p=4635\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-21T14:35:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/boateg.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Imo Trumpeta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Imo Trumpeta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.imotrumpeta.com\\\/?p=4635#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.imotrumpeta.com\\\/?p=4635\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Imo Trumpeta\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.imotrumpeta.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7217ef45427a6d98db88e17741167663\"},\"headline\":\"Champions League &#8211; 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