Mighty Barcelona are on the ropes, and only an epic
remontada will make it right.
AC Milan, meanwhile, are on the verge of producing a stunning success in a season that previously seemed destined for mediocrity.
Three weeks ago, Milan stunned Barcelona with a pitch-perfect defensive performance at the San
Siro,
deservedly winning 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League Round
of 16 tie. The second leg is scheduled for Tuesday (3:45 p.m. ET, Fox
Soccer), and it is without doubt the most anticipated European match of
the week.
With their European season at stake, Barcelona's players have spoken extensively about producing a
remontada,
or comeback, against Milan. Champions League winners in 2009 and 2011,
Barcelona have reached at least the semifinals of the competition every
season since 2007-08.
"This generation (of Barcelona players) hasn't made a comeback and we'd like to," said midfielder
Xavi Hernandez (via
FCBarcelona YouTube). Midfielder Andres
Iniesta said he would put his "hand in a fire to get through (to the quarterfinals)."
Added defender Javier
Mascherano: "If we change things, I'm sure we'll turn it around."
It won't be easy, even with Barcelona enjoying home-field advantage at the
Nou Camp. After selling star forward
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and defender
Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germain last summer, Milan started the season in poor form before gaining momentum lately.
Then, as B/R's Sam
Tighe outlined
expertly in his post-match analysis, Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri
produced a brilliant defensive plan in the first leg against Barcelona.
The plan played out in three phases.
Milan's defensive setup for the first 57 minutes of the first leg against Barcelona. Courtesy of Sam Tighe.
First, Milan adopted a defense-first posture akin to the one
Chelsea used successfully against Barcelona in last season's semifinals. Central defenders Philippe
Mexes and Cristian Zapata sat deep and kept their full-backs tight in a flat back-line.
Massimo
Ambrosini, Riccardo
Montolivo and
Sulley Muntari formed what
Tighe called a "triple midfield anchor," with
Muntari shadowing
Barca playmaker
Xaxi Hernandez around the pitch.
Claudio Villa/Getty Images
In the second phase, after Milan took the lead, the
Rossoneri actually advanced their collective position up the pitch, opening space between the defense and midfield.
In
the third phase, after Milan scored their second goal, the entire team
pressured Barcelona as the visitors searched in vain for a potentially
tie-altering consolation strike. Milan's wingers sprinted into central
areas to harry
Xavi and Sergio
Busquets as defenders filled in gaps effectively.
The plan worked remarkably well, but Milan also benefited from a sub-par game from superstar forward Lionel
Messi. The four-time defending
Ballon d'Or winner scored at the weekend as Barcelona won 2-0 at home to
Deportivo La Coruña, and more will be expected from the Argentine on Tuesday.
Barca's clean sheet against
Deportivo snapped a
13-match run of conceding at least one goal. Defender Gerard Pique hinted that a repeat performance is the goal Tuesday as
Barca try to win for manager Tito
Vilanova, who is receiving treatment for throat cancer in New York.
Milan won 2-0 at
Genoa on Friday.
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"We come back to the Camp
Nou two goals down and we have to fight back," said Pique (via
FCBarcelona.com). "We’ll attack from the off—which is our way of doing things—and we hope to win 3-0.”
Beyond Milan's tactics, Barcelona also face an uphill fight against history. According to Reuters (via
The Independent), no Champions League team has reversed a first-leg deficit of two goals or more without scoring an away goal. And as Sid Lowe
writes for
The Guardian, it's
Real Madrid rather than Barcelona who have a history of second-leg comebacks
Barca and Milan played twice at the
Nou
Camp last season. The teams drew 2-2 in a Champions League group-stage
match before Barcelona won 3-1 in the quarterfinals. Milan's only win at
Barcelona was a 2-0 decision in September 2000 (via
SoccerBase).
In team news, Milan forward
Giampaolo Pazzini will not play after suffering a bruised right leg (via
Associated Press). Another forward, Mario
Balotelli, remains cup-tied to
Manchester City. For Barcelona,
Xavi returned to training last week following a thigh injury (via
Sky Sports) but did not play against
Deportivo.
Four clubs—
Juventus,
Borussia Dortmund,
Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain—have already qualified for the
quarterfinals. To join them, Barcelona will need a historic comeback and
a new plan against Milan's stingy defense.
