AC Milan v FC Barcelona - 28th March

The tie of the quarter finals!

AC Milan knocked out Arsenal in the last round 4-3 on aggregate.

The current Serie A champions won the 1st leg 4-0 at the San Siro and lost the 2nd leg 3-0 at the Emirates.

Some say that they deliberately spoiled their pitch before so that the Gunners wouldn't be able to use the wide areas.

Barcelona completely outplayed Bayer Leverkusen in the last round winning 10-2 on aggregate.

Lionel Messi also created history by becoming the first ever to score 5 times in one match in the history of the CL.

Any comments or predictions?

After what Arsenal did to that defense ,i expect Barca to absolutely rip tis team apart. I wonder if AC will get their combine harvesters out to dig up the pitch, like they did before the Arsenal game at the san Siro.

Barca 6 Ac Milan 2

funny to see, spec, you've never resigned yourself to that pitch thing.))

barca wont score six by any means, but two to concede is possible. i think it will be something like 2-2, 2-1 at the end of the day.)

The pitch was just a poor excuse, I might add.
Certainly, AC Milano is not going to underestimate Barca as they did Arsenal in the second game.

Perhaps, it might be one fine game ?

Given theyve played twice already and we had 9 goals I would expect Milan to come out swinging if they stand any chance of progression. Not sure on a score but there will be goals in it.

I do not know whether AC should come out swinging, though.
An open game to play against Barca might be too hazardous.

I read today that AC Milan have said that they aren't going to park the bus against Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Will we be in for an open attacking game?

Almieda if you look at the difference in performance between the two games i think it is obvious that the pitch Ac milan presented was a major factor in that series. There is no question about it ,you just sometimes have to be honest and tell it like it is . I am not excusing and never did at the time Arsenal's failure to put up a better fight at San Siro , but with the midfield that i said was terrible creatively it was only common sense really.

Arsenal have pretty much run things from the wings all season ,AC milan saw this so they took that ability away. You can call it smart ,but i call it cheating and Wenger is an idiot for not making a formal complaint with the information i have presented in this issue.

BUt on to the topic at hand.

Why do you say Barcelona will only score 2 goals ,when Arsenal scored 3 ,with a team of players that area shadow of that Barcelona line up. NOt only that AC milan's best defender is injured!!!!!! I don't know what nefarious tactics AC milan will pull out to try and balance this game out ,but outside of poisoning Barca's water they have no chance of not conceding at least 4 goals. If BArca only score 2 goals i will be in shock i'll tell you that.

The pitch didn't help but we were simply shite on the night, if we had been even slightly good the score may have been 2-0 instead of 4-0 and right now we'd be playing Barcelona.

Both teams played on that pitch or was Arsenal dribbling on it only ?

IF AC MILan had a problem with it they would have made sure that pitch would have been pristine ,i think any fool would understand that. It obviously effected ARsenal more than them so they were fine i with it . You look at the performance of their left and right backs at the emirates and it only reinforces my claim that AC milab sabotaged them flanks .It's as simple as that really. We have all seen Arsenal show more fight in the last 5 games than at any other point consistently under wenger with that pitch no matter how hard you try to rely on your technical advantage it is impossible to do so.

The only reason Arsenal came close in the second game was because AC underestimated your Arsenal.
Any fool should understand that.
The pitch was not the best, I grant you that, but both teams were at disadvantage.

They underestimated Arsenal ? I think not, that;s why they ploughed them flanks and took away the ability to use Walcott and OX. That;s why Ibrahimovich played from the mid field and not up front. That's why Emmanuelson looked like a a world class defensive mid at San Siro and looked like a world class donkey at the emirates. Make no mistake that AC milan don;t have one defender who can withstand ARsenal's wing play and AC knew that.
So to say both teams were at a disadvantage is ignoring those facts. Why would AC milan not do everything in their power in order to play at their best at their home stadium. That is insane talk. I think you underestimate how far desperate teams will go and i think AC banks upon Wenger's naivety in being honest.

The only reason Arsenal came close in the second game was because AC underestimated your Arsenal.
Any fool should understand that.
The pitch was not the best, I grant you that, but both teams were at disadvantage.[/quote] They underestimated Arsenal ? I think not, that;s why they ploughed them flanks and took away the ability to use Walcott and OX. That;s why Ibrahimovich played from the mid field and not up front. That's why Emmanuelson looked like a a world class defensive mid at San Siro and looked like a world class donkey at the emirates. Make no mistake that AC milan don;t have one defender who can withstand ARsenal's wing play and AC knew that.
So to say both teams were at a disadvantage is ignoring those facts. Why would AC milan not do everything in their power in order to play at their best at their home stadium. That is insane talk. I think you underestimate how far desperate teams will go and i think AC banks upon Wenger's naivety in being honest.[/quote]

AC played the worst first half of football seen in ages.
If Arsene did not feel the pitch was to his liking, he should have complained, refused to play & not snivel after the game.

well, by russian measures that pitch was all but ideal, i'll tell you that.....) i dont see them pitches as a key factor to failures save russian kitchen gardens, of course

barca wont score that many because they tend to show a different kind of perfomance away from camp nou. at home they are sure to dispatch half a dozen of goals.)

it's interesting. i like it......)

The teams plays in completely different ways. I know you're just trolling but if you just pay the smallest amount of attention you'll see that Arsenal rely on the flanks for a lot of their positive play, some matches almost all of it has gone via Walcott, hence so many bad games - now go and look at how much of their attacking play came through the middle of the pitch. You don't want to understand these facts though, you just want to needle people.

I've conceded that isn't why we lost over two legs, I've conceded that we were simply terrible in the first leg. Now I've got to stop replying to your childish . because it's not making the board a nice place to be.

Team news

Thiago Silva will be absent for AC tonight.
Right back Abate is also out along with Pato.
Van Bommel is suspended.

Some good news for Milan is that Kevin Prince Boateng should be back.

For Barcelona David Villa is still sidelined along with defender Adriano.

Did you know that AC Milan have won only four of their last 15 Champions League games?

AC won only four out of the last 15 ?
I wonder whom did they beat, then ?

Well, to the game.
On paper, it should be one sided affair for Barca, but AC is a team that may surprise us all.
At least, tonight, I feel. Hopefully, their pitch is well manicured for approval of Arsenal fans.
Personally, I am going to root for AC.