Barcelona v AC Milan - 12th March

Barcelona surprisingly lost the first leg 2-0 away at Milan.

They have been having a hard time recently and have also been beaten twice by Real Madrid in just 5 days.

AC Milan are still in very good form and have now moved up to 3rd in Serie A but they won't catch leaders Juve.

Any comments or predictions for this 2nd leg at the Nou Camp?

Can Barcelona come from behind and win the tie or do they have too much to do and AC Milan will hold on to reach the quarters?

Milan will raise their game again and work with a very strong setup defensively and go for pressing and counte rIm sure much like the last game. It will be up to us to change things and really punch hole in that tight defense.

It seems like Messi is back quickly which is great. And it looks like much the same lineup, maybe Sanchez instead of Cesc or something. Xavi we need him back. Iniesta, Alves are no problems. I hope Pedro performs well. We will need to be so on top of our game, just keep attacking and win the ball back quickly when we dont have it. At the same time, make sure we dont concede. It is a very difficult task, but i am still confident!

COME ON BARCA~!!!!

I thinks AC Milan will be able to hold on to win on this round of 16. I don't see them winning the second league, but I think they can slot at least a goal at Camp Nou.

Milan will win on away goals, at the least

Barca are more than capable of turning this around but given what ive seen in recent weeks id be surprised if Milan dont put it to bed with an away goal. Havent had a clean sheet in how many games? Dont see that changing tonight and couple that with the lack of goals in the team at the minute and its all over.
The run had to end sometime I guess.

I agree. If it wasn't for the away goals rule, I'd say Barcelona would win, but the knowledge that all AC Milan need is 1 goal, and then Barca need 4 to stay in the match, will make this very very hard for Barca.

Throw in the fact no team has ever overturned a first leg loss without an away goal and its quite obvious which way this is going.

Did you know that Barcelona have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six knockout games in the Champions League at Camp Nou (four wins, two draws).

Any more comments or predictions?

I'm going for Barcelona to win the 2nd leg 2-1 which will not be enough to get them through!

Xavi should be back in the starting line up for the Catalans but Pazzini is ruled out for the Italians which means Niang could start.

Forza Milano!

Line ups

Barcelona:
Valdés, Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Villa, Messi.

Subs: Alexis, Song, Puyol, Pinto, Fabregas, Tello, Adriano.

Milan:
Abbiati; Abate, Zapata, Mexes, Constant; Flamini, Ambrosini, Montolivo; Niang, Boateng, El Shaarawy.

Subs: Bojan, Nocerino, Sciglio, Amelia, Robinho, Muntari, Bonera.

HT

Barcelona 2-0 Milan

Messi 5' 39'

It looks like Messi is making this a one man mission to qualify Barca for the quarter finals.

I can't see Milan holding on in the 2nd half.

Great first half performance from Barca & Messi in particular.

Absolutely astonishing 1st goal by Messi , unbelievable!

AC milan for me are playing the wrong tactics ,they are not good enough defenders to withstand Barca at home. They should be pushing the attack knowing they only need to score and Barca are quite poor anytime the ball gets anywhere near their box.
I watched AC milan when Balotelli got there and i kept hearing a lot about Alshawaray and Niang being incredible youngsters ,and my initial opinion after the first 4 games i couldn't see what was so special. This game as only strengthened that opinion quite frankly. Absolutely shocking play from both of them in that first half and quite honestly they couldn't carry Balotelli's jock strap in when it comes to ability. How Barca are not scraping this AC milan team is beyond me ,they are flipping crap right now,i guess it more of indication h=of how far Barca have fallen really.

I am guessing AC will have to come out and defend even more now in hopes of containing Barca until late in the game and then putting a load of pressure with about 20 minutes left. A goal then would mean Barca needing at least two ,and if AC do a better job of defending early ,then Barca's spirit may be broken facing the task of having to break a team down tired that they couldn't break when fresh off of the behalf time.

I believe, but I'm not sure, that if the match goes into extra-time, the away goal rule will, if extra-time is a score-draw, count. This is perhaps a bit unfair, since Barca will then have endured more time as the home-team than AC Milan, but I still think this is the way it is (correct me if I'm wrong).

Barca have the momentum after a very successful half, but now this is a very exciting match.

I don't think you are right - Liverpool in the semi-final against Chelsea in 2007 (not 2005, but 2007). I believe they lost 1-0 away, then won 1-0 at home, and won on pens.

Its now 3-0 to Barca!

Villa this time with the finish.

AC Milan now have 30 odd minutes to try and get back into this tie.

They have no choice other than to try and attack.

They know how incredibly nervous Barca will be - one goal and it's turned round. They did it in the last minute to Chelsea in 2009, now they could lose.

Remember, AC Milan are not looking for an equaliser - there is no such thing as an equaliser in this kind of match. They are looking for one goal that would give them the lead.

FT

Barcelona 4-0 AC Milan
1-0 Messi 5'
2-0 Messi 39'
3-0 Villa 55'
4-0 Alba 90'

Congrats to Barcelona for reaching the quarter finals with a brilliant display of non stop attacking football.

That Jordi Alba is just something else! He was up and down the left flank all night and still had energy to score in injury time!

Any comments on tonights result?

Barcelona must be favourites for the CL now.

Barcelona Back in Business ! Incredible team tonight

that week and a half of rest did them good. great to see iniesta in his proper position and villa proved he needed to start

Without an away goal mate.