ACHTUNG! BARCA vs. MILAN

Sasha is on fire, some body stop him before

Sasha is like dr.Jekyll and mr.Hyde please ban him permanently.
Is he stoned or what?

Hey, it was his birthday, he is already 23.

Originally Posted by King tiger

Sasha is like dr.Jekyll and mr.Hyde please ban him permanently.
Is he stoned or what?

We've banned him, we've PMed him, and Rez looked into an IP ban on him. He's a jerk, he wants to play games. If you can, fellow members, just ignore his stupidity until he gets the hint that he's not welcome.

Originally Posted by Debs

We've banned him, we've PMed him, and Rez looked into an IP ban on him. He's a jerk, he wants to play games. If you can, fellow members, just ignore his stupidity until he gets the hint that he's not welcome.

Funny, but I cannot see Shurik22 and Sasha23 posts, I see only people's reference (quotes) to those. Hmm.

I can't quite comprehend how Arsenal got through that match, they were completely outplayed, i don't think they even had a shot on goal. Villareal should have had 3 before the penalty ... and then Riquelme misses it (i had a feeling he would, you just knew it would be Arsenal's night) ... grrrrr

One thing about Villareal though, they passed and moved the ball like it was on a string, amazing stuff from them. Their midfielders/full-backs did everything tonight, they tracked back when they lost the ball, they were aggressive, they were quick and mobile ... all the things our midfield lacks.

I long for the day when we can get some steel, pace and tracking into our midfield.

Lol he has iq around 75, every new nick that he choses has 23 on the end.No sash nobody will ever get that.

That's because he's been banned and all his posts deleted

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

I can't quite comprehend how Arsenal got through that match, they were completely outplayed, i don't think they even had a shot on goal. Villareal should have had 3 before the penalty ... and then Riquelme misses it (i had a feeling he would, you just knew it would be Arsenal's night) ... grrrrr

One thing about Villareal though, they passed and moved the ball like it was on a string, amazing stuff from them. Their midfielders/full-backs did everything tonight, they tracked back when they lost the ball, they were aggressive, they were quick and mobile ... all the things our midfield lacks.

True, they totally outplayed Arsenal whose only memorable shot on goal came into stoppage time when Henry missed against the Villa keeper.
I am pretty sure that Arsenal have no idea as well how they managed to get away with this but Villarreal can blame themsleves only as they missed a ton of chances throughout the game and even a PK in the 89th/90th minute.
In the end of the day, if you can't score a goal in two 1/2-final matches and can't take edvantage even of a late PK, then I guess you have no place in the final.
Forza Milaaaaaaan !!!!!!!! Let's kick us some blaugrana butts tomorrow.

Arsenal has had a streak 10 games w/o allowing a goal in the Euro competitions.

I hope your words Zlantanov don't come back to haunt us also

OK here goes, I'll be brave enough to be called the worst of names for what i'm about to say. Some might call me loco, stupid, and even worse an Inter fan, but i got to let it out.
Here goes, I'm resigned to the fact that Milan will lose tomorrow. After the first leg, I was all gung ho that Milan would win at the Nou Camp, and go on to win, which will see us in the city of light. But as the game approaches, all the sirens to Milan losing have been ringing in my head, like crazy.
Firstly, let me tell you guys why I believed Milan would win this years CL. In comparison to Bayern in 1999, when they lost at the death, I felt they were unlucky as Milan were last year. And as Bayern came back in 2001, albeit two years later after their dramatic loss, I strongly believed lady luck would finally shine on the Rossoneri.
Secondly, I don't think Milan has lost a CL semi final, in the last 20 years, and I wanted to believe that this trend would continue.
Lastly, which is my strongest and most validated point, was that Milan was and is simply the best team in Europe, and by virtue of being the best team in Europe the
last 4 years I was sure they would be in Paris.
But something happened on the way to Paris, this last few days(beginning Friday 21st), that has me very worried. Firstly, I feel that Milan need luck more than anything to win tomorrow because of how well Milan and Barca matchup. And I feel we just don't have it.
Secondly, which is the weirdest feeling of all is this: My wife whom I have indoctrinated to be a Milan fan, has a crazy knack of picking winners for me. From NBA basketball, NFL(american football), important Champions league matches, Serie A, Premier league and La Liga matches, she's got a way of picking winners.
A few stats: she has picked the last 3 out of 4 CL winners. Her only miss was picking Monaco over Porto a few years back. She picked Liverpool last year, and I told her she was categorically wrong and crazy. After six minutes of madness, I didn't speak with her for a week. For Americans and anybody who follows American football; she went 75% last season in Monday Night games.Picking 12 out of 16 games is no easy feat.
So back to Milan and the Champions League, she predicted that it would be villareal and Barcelona in the final, I've been gnashing my teeth in disgust since.Villareal are out, so that gave me a ray of hope. For the San Siro tie she predicted it would be a tie, and she was wrong, God do i hope she is wrong for tomorrow.
Guys and gals I'm holding that slim chance(from my quirky feelings) that the gods smile our way tomorrow, because for the sake of my sanity, I cannot take Milan losing tomorrow. And then again why I' m i at peace, and not anxious like I am usually b4 a big tie?
Somebody get me out of this funk!!!!!

No one with any level of sanity would label you as an Interista for saying what you feel. I totally understand your feelings...let me share this one with you:

Last nite, I couldnt stop scoring goals in my regular Monday nite football match...I mean, in two games of 6 goals, I must have scored 7 or 8 easily (I stopped counting when it got too easy)...I was in my full Milan kit, from Predator boots, black and red socks, to a Sheva jersey....I thought this was a good omen for tomorrow´s game...

Then I go home, and go to sleep (after bathing of course)...and dream that Barca defeated us 7-0 in the Nou Camp.....

7-0...and woke up feeling as if I had lost my right leg or something...(then I looked into my 10 month old´s eyes, and he smiled, and all was right with the world...talk about a reality check!)

This is just our nerves and brain playing with us...and since your wife was already wrong about this final, I think she may just have gotten it completely wrong...so why worry?

UEFA Champions League: 2005-6

Semi-Final - Second Leg

FC Barcelona vs. A.C. Milan


Estadio Camp Nou, Barcelona - ESPAÑA

Capacity: 98,771

1st Leg: Milan vs. Barcelona -> 0-1 [Giuly 57']











Wednesday [April 26, 2006]

Kick-off -> 19:45 (UK Time): Sky Sports

PREVIEW
=======

The tie of this UCL comes to a conclusion tomorrow night in a game packed with drama, thrills and awe-inspiring moves by some of the world's best players. The only shame in the tie is that some of the world's top talents may still be missing to take some shine off this otherwise glamour packed tie. Both teams have had their injury woes with Messi, Xavi and Deco missing from the first leg while Marquez just barely came in. Milan was missing Inzaghi in the first leg but they will be heading out with some real concerns as to how fit Kaka, Sheva and Nesta might be presuming that all will start in a desperate attempt to try to get their best players to participate in the match.

Nevertheless, no matter what team is playing on either side, it promises ... let me rephrase ... it guarantees to be a grand spectacle in a great stadium .... the gigantic CAMP NOU in Catalunya's capital ... Barcelona!

The objectives are fairly simple for either side with no mathematics involved this time around.


-> Barcelona needs to at least get a draw be it scoreless or scoring to book a ticket to St. Denis that is an outskirt of Paris in the Stade de France.

-> Milan needs to win the game by any margin to make the final.


Barcelona will definitely not risk going for the draw because it is not in them! They are a historically attack minded team that believes in playing football and tries to execute that philosophy on the pitch irrespective of the result. Some argue that that is also a reason why they have faltered in this competition in the past. Barcelona will still not go all out tomorrow night as they are not the ones to do it all. They've done their hard work and got a fantastic result in Milano. They need to build on it now to qualify.

Milan on the other hand have to do it all again and try to improve from the last outing. Milan could have capitalized and done serious damage in the first half but teams pay a price for poor finishing in this competition and that is what Milan had to do with the genius of the "The Freak Show" to conjure something out of nothing with Giuly's accurate finish to defeat Milan in the San Siro.

It is a task that is not even near to being easy especially when Milan is enjoying a good era in its history. Barcelona deserve all the kudos for getting the result no matter how they got it. A team that wins deserves respect in my book as long as it did it playing fair. :thumbsup: to the Blaugrana. Milan is probably one of the very few teams who can make life difficult for Barcelona in the Camp Nou. I am relieved that Barcelona didn't play against Seville at the weekend because I would've been seriously pissed had Barcelona lost that game. :tongue: There is hope and we'll keep believing till the final whistle blows.

Ancelotti and Rijkaard didn't do much wrong in the first leg IMO. They did what they could do and in the end a top game between top teams was decided by a moment of genius by the world's best player. Tomorrow the pressure raises to another level. Lemonade better be on the menu for the players and fans alike!

==================
---> B A R C E L O N A <---
==================

It was a fantastic win by Barcelona to defeat Milan in the Devil's Den. It was not comforting for the magnificent fans (words are simply not enough) in the San Siro or the team itself. Barcelona may not have thought of getting the win when they arrived in Milano but now they would be thinking of why they didn't bury the tie when they had the chance to do it. Milan paid heavily for the mistake in poor finishing and we will only know after some time how much Barcelona have to pay for that missed opportunity. They still have the upper hand in this tie and that cannot be doubted or discredited. If they play it smart and keep a cool head throughout, they can make it to the final. Barcelona IMO had a very rough first half and then started to grow in the second half as Milan's momentum started to slow down. Barcelona then had a very strong 25 mins or so where they could've literally walked away with the tie but they didn't and they allowed Milan to come at them as Barcelona RIGHTLY went for preserving the golden result they had at the time. The credit goes to Rijkaard for bringing patience to his team.

Iniesta had a very strong game as did Puyol who kept Shevchenko quiet for long periods. Ronaldinho doesn't need to be awesome for 90 mins because it would be game over for the opposition if he was on fire from start to finish. I admire his generosity for not turning up for the whole 90.

Edmilson also had a very strong presence keeping Kaka quiet for most of the game until the end when Kaka started to make inroads into that Barcelona defence. The Barcelona defence is not average as opposed to the wider opinion but then again lots of false opinion floats around.

Eto'o was very poor and low on confidence in the first leg. He'll have to step up in his home stadium and he usually is better in the Camp Nou on European nights so he is important for Barcelona to get the goals and kill off the tie.

Rijkaard can bring back Deco to further boost up his midfield while MvB can sit out. Deco's presence in the middle of the park will add more possession to the Barcelona team and a better build-up play.

============
---> M I L A N <---
============

Milan has a tough job to go for the win. It is a very clear objective and the slight benefit of this situation if ever there was one, is that Milan is going to have a real go at Barcelona in the Camp Nou which they might not have done if Milan had a 2-0 first leg lead going into the game. Milan "failed" in the first leg result wise as the Rossoneri were favourites to take the win. Failed is actually a very harsh word because I didn't have any complaints as such from the team except poor finishing and that can happen to any team on any night. The reason I am saying is that once again Ancelotti's side slipped in Europe when we were favourites. Now the tables have turned and Milan are heavy underdogs in this tie as they have to win away from home and Ancelotti's side has traditionally done well when being the underdogs in a situation. It may be a minute situation that favours this team's mentality. We can only go by the pattern of the results to make this reading.

I must say that the fans present to see off the team for Spain at the airport, the accompanying 6000+ fans travelling to support the team and the management are all in very calm mood and full of belief that we can turn this around. That's the exact spirit needed to over-turn such a situation. This game is 95 mins at least with the possiblity of extra-time and perhaps penalties. Therefore the team has to fight until the final whistle no matter how bad it is going. You can never say never in this type of situation. The objective is to win the game. 1, 2 or 3 goals is inconsequential. Going down to 10 men, penalty not given, wrong offside call is inconsequential. The team can either start thinking about that DURING the match or totally ignore that and remain focused on the objective.

It is for that reason that I believe that this is a game played in the minds more than on the field. Cool heads, calm minds and focus. Skill can take a back seat for this one as that won't win games like these. Huge balls, determination and focus on the objective will win the tie.



Probable Starting Line-Up(s)
=======================

----------------------
---> Barcelona <---
----------------------

Formation: 4-3-3

---------------------------- Valdes ------------------------------

-- Belletti ----------- Puyol --------- Marquez ------------- Gio --

--------------------------- Edmilson -----------------------------
----------- Deco -------------------------------- Iniesta --------

------------- Giuly ------------------------ Ronaldinho -----------
---------------------------- Eto'o -------------------------------


----------------------------------
--- Rijkaard [B A R C E L O N A] ---
----------------------------------

1. Puyol, Marquez and MvB are on a yellow and hence they need to tread carefully or they could miss the final if booked. It is also an interesting scenario as both are central defenders and Milan will be gunning for the win so the central defence have to be inch perfect to prevent Milan from scoring and also not get cautioned in trying to achieve that. The same thing applies to Milan as well who have Gattuso, Inzaghi, Maldini and Nesta on yellows and one mistake from either will prevent the player from missing the next game. Milan right now won't even think about the final or bookings as the aim would be to over-turn this first and foremost.

2. Edmilson did a very good job on Kaka in the first leg and he will be asked to do the same again. Kaka might be playing on the right wing to spread out the play and also avoid Edmilson as he did that vs. Juve in the San Siro to avoid Emerson and Vieira. It worked that time so it might be tried by Milan. Right now I don't even know if he will be fit enough to play but I think he will start.

3. Eto'o will be far more pro-active this time around. He wasted quite a few opening and his shooting was below average. His goal scoring threat will be important for Barcelona and Rijkaard would've had a word with him on what aspects to work on.

4. Ronnie, Iniesta and Deco would be the trio where Rijkaard would rely on most because those three together can do the most damage to the Milan side. Rijkaard didnot agree that Barcelona would play like they did versus Chelsea as Milan are a different type of team. That would be true to an extent but Barcelona will probably start cautiously to get a feel of what Milan is throwing at them. On the other hand they might just go for the kill from the word go like Lippi's Juve side did vs. Real in the epic semi 2nd leg and surprised quite a few on-lookers!!

5. Rijkaard will know that his team will get better chances and better play from his team as they are at home and he will want the team to utilize that.

---------------
---> Milan <---
---------------

Formation: 4-3-1-2

---------------------------- Dida ----------------------------------

-- Cafu -------- Nesta/Maldini ------ Kaladze ----------- Serginho --


-------- Gattuso ----------- Pirlo ------------- Seedorf ------------

--------------------------- Kaka ----------------------------------

----------------- Inzaghi ----------- Shevchenko -----------------



---------------------------
--- Ancelotti [M I L A N] ---
---------------------------

1. Injuries are a concern. Messina played really dirty. Serie C1 is their destination. They can wage their battle over there in a couple of years time. Ambrosini is out so Vogel better be up for it as he will be needed at some point in the game. I don't think he will start. Ancelotti will persist with Pirlo. I would play him but Pirlo looks really tired nowadays. Maybe starting Vogel is the way to go but then again starting Pirlo is giving yourselves a chance of an assist and a brilliant FK. A simple kick in the nuts would be enough to wake him up. It always works.

2. Stam might slot to the centre as Cafu is likely to start on the right. His comments suggested that he may start from the bench but I think he and Serginho should both start. Let's go for it and use the flanks to open up the Barcelona team and provide more room for Kaka and Sheva that way through the middle. Maldini or Stam will move to the centre if Nesta is absent. I hope he makes it but his strain is a very tricky injury that doesn't go away so quickly. The key in any case is for Milan to score plenty of goals and win the game. Keeping a clean sheet is not the aim.


3. Rui will start if Kaka is not fit. He's hardly started games this season and might be leaving. But his vision and creativity is there. Kaka is more direct, more pacy and more lethal in front of the goal. Rui is slower and less potent in front of goal but he has the creativity to unlock a defence and he works well with Pippo for some odd reason.


4. Milan must try to shoot more on goal even from distance and even at acute angles. Milan have done that in the past but they didn't do that in the first leg. When the objective is to score goals you take shots at the goal at every opportunity and half chance.

KEY BATTLES
==========

1. Eto'o vs. Nesta / Stam / Maldini

2. Deco vs. Seedorf

3. Ronaldinho vs. Gattuso

4. Edmilson vs. Kaka / Rui

5. Puyol vs. Shevchenko

6. Marquez vs. Inzaghi


KEY MEN
=======

Kaka

All great away wins have had a midfielder who has risen to the occasion on the night. I see Seedorf, Pirlo and Rui as good players who can turn it on from time to time. The difference between them and "The Prodigy" is that he can turn it on when the chips are down and is a match-winner. He is very important for Milan's cause IMO. More so than any other player. If he is absent then the other three midfielders named have to put in very good performances to cover up for Kaka's absence. Kaka should hopefully make it and hopefully be fully fit. He needs to take shots on goal at every chance he gets and go for goal. Become a gun player on the night. A Gloc to be precise.


Eto'o

I think Eto'o is the main man in this game. Milan will be concentrating on The Freak Show for obvious reasons and maybe keep an eye on Giuly as well due to the heartache he caused in the first leg so that gives Eto'o the little edge he needs to do his thing. If he is on song and scoring then Barcelona are practically in the final to face Arsenal. Eto'o will also be gearing up to give his contribution in his tie as he didn't do much in the first leg.


Hero Watch
==============

From the QF onwards, I keep a watch on the heroes for teams as these players start to pick up their game and slowly start to shift gears to peak for a probable final. The list is updated as the games go by so it is not stagnant.

Milan ==>> Nesta, Kaka, Inzaghi, Shevchenko

Barcelona ==>> Ronaldinho, Iniesta, Eto'o & Puyol

PREDICTION

Utd. went down 2-0 to Juve after 18 mins and needed to win that game to play the final. They ended up winning that game miraculously because they didn't give up. It is a game of the mind and mental pressure will take its toll on some while it will spur others even more. Milan can't wait for things to happen and can't be distracted or demoralized if things are not going well because they won't for the whole 90. They need to try and keep trying and bring the game to Barcelona NO MATTER WHAT IS HAPPENING. Costacurta has to feature in the game at some point IMO. It is imperative because he has the biggest balls in the Milan squad. Shevchenko needs to take a shower, shave and brush his hair so he looks like he came out to play an important football match instead of his messy self that is coming out for the past handful of games.

Barcelona are undefeated in Europe this season. Barcelona are undefeated at home in Europe for 3 years or so. Not even a hanful of sides have over-turned a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. I think only one team has over-turned that deficit in the SF and that was Ajax in 1996. I'm somebody who takes the law of averages way too seriously. It is the perfect setting for a miracle IMO. It all depends on how the team reacts to bad stuff. I'll keep believing until I hear the final whistle from referee Markus Merk.

--->>> That long undefeated streak has to end some time and Milan are in an ideal position to do just that. Milan to win in the Camp Nou.

It should be added that Markus Merk has refereed Milan three times in the past, and all those matches have ended with Milan winning.