{"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 – Tournament favourites Barca crash todefeat in Milan"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Kevin-Prince Boateng celebrates scoring for AC Milan against Barcelona<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Massimiliano Allegri’s side appeared to copy the tactics of Chelsea and Celtic – the only sides to have beaten Barca in their past 25 matches in Europe – in soaking up wave after wave of attacks in this last-16 tie before hitting on the break with some gusto.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

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’s doggedness in defence and their opponents’ reluctance to unloads any shots from distance.<\/p>\n

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

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

He certainly seemed to have a point, but Milan weren’t for caring as Barca appealed in vain to Scottish referee Craig Thomson about the perceived injustice.<\/p>\n

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

It was Muntari’s first goal of this Champions League campaign, but what a vital one it may prove to be.<\/p>\n

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’s tactics of hunting in packs.<\/p>\n

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’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

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

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 – who claimed their fourth Champions League success at Wembley in 2011 – suddenly have it all to do in their pursuit of a fifth gong this season.<\/p>\n

MAN OF THE MATCH<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Riccardo Montolivo – Milan: Montolivo gets the nod for the manner in which he broke up Barca’s countless attacks while constructing some superb passing movements on the break.<\/p>\n

PLAYER RATINGS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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":"

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"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","elegant-magazine-featured":"","elegant-magazine-medium":"","elegant-magazine-medium-small":"","elegant-magazine-thumbnail-small":""},"author_info":{"info":["Imo Trumpeta"]},"category_info":"Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4637,"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4635\/revisions\/4637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}