AC Milan vs. Barca (1/2 CL, 1st leg)

our priority shud be to keep our 'a' squad as fresh as possible.

Mrki, surely that quick interplay that Zaragoza used, made Barca suffer, and that is part of our bread and butter. Quick question, after we win the first leg, would be wise to man mark Ronaldinho with Gattuso and with help from Stam in the second leg?
In the second leg if use Ambro instead of Pirlo, let him Marshall the middle, and have Gattusso track Ronaldinho with help from Stam, would that be a wise tactic?

I like it how you are saying that Ambro if not Vogel should play in the second leg at the Camp Nou: As Pirlo has not preformed well once in this seasons champions league away from home. The frist leg is so important that we do not concede a goal cause if we do we will need to score at least 3 to take a good lead to the camp nou with the form Dida is in we need him at his best or we will concede as they will test him.

I hope that Rafa Marquez is out for both of the legs as he is Barca's best defender not Puyol and Sheva and Kaka can really torment Oleguer with there pace. Messi i think will be back as he was only a doubt for the Benfica game that is telling me he is close to fitness.
The key to our win is for Kaka, Dida, Gattuso and Sheva to all have great games as they will be the players that we will need the most in action. Am looking forward to a great game and a win for the Rossonero

Originally Posted by rahul.acm

dude the way we played against lyon was not good! and also barca has gr8 players. we all might be thinkng to score against them away but its going to be very difficult! this is not the barca sheva (dynamo kiev) played against or the barca which was managed by johan cruyff!

they have youngsters who can kick any1's a$$ messi is brilliant. puyol in the defence! also valdes is doing good too. eto'o yesterday was unstoppable. they will probably be the most difficult opponents to beat in ucl! they hold the upper hand considering the second leg to be played away! they played with such a pace against benfica they were cool and got the goals! one away goal of barca will jeopardize our chances! we have to get a 2 goal lead like arsenal and defend really well in the second leg!

the reason why I am scared is because it was very difficult for me to point out any1's name in our team who played well against lyon ( other than pippo) with that performance we will definitely lose against barca! but i am confident that carlo will work his magic! fingers crossed

you, and some other people, keep treating Lyon like their are some 3rd class team of messina's level. We have to finally realize that Lyon, along with Milan was probably the most balanced team at the 1/4 finals and they were for me the most dangerous opponent we could have gotten, even more dangerous than an inform Juve or Barca. Why, because Lyon don't lack in any department, they don't suffer from Juve's lack of imagination and plan B 'cause once they are behind, they just have no idea how to get back in the game, and Lyon don't have Barca's frailties in defense because barca not only have crappy players at the back, they are a team that doesn't know how to move back to organized defending once they have gone all attack, this was well pointed out by Rosso6, I think. You put Gattuso on Dinho, keep an eye on Eto'o, stiffle the creative midfielders like Deco, or iniesta, or van Bommel (they won't play all at once) and barca would be like a headless chicken. In lyon;s case who do you stiffle, who do you keep an eye on when danger comes in all forms and shapes and from all directions? yet, we beat that team fair and square and if they think they deserved more than a bon voayage in the 88th minute, well, that's their problem, they shouldn't have forgotten that it's Milan they are playing.
I honestly don't understand why people still think that just because we didn't beat Lyon like we beat Udinese or whatever team we went through like they were on a vacation, we are a team that's performing bad, playing idea-free and cumbersome football and have next to no chance of stopping the free-flowing barcelona, who beat but also suffered against a well organized team like Benfica but let's not forget who Benfica are - a team that's plwying it's first year under a good coach like Koeman and for the past 10 years have lived in the shadow of Porto; a team of nobodies, who only thanks to Koeman reached thus far in the CL. But still no matter how good a coach you are, you can't build a palace with ****-bricks, right. And who are Lyon? Well, all of Europe's so called ellite is after every single player, including the reserves, on their team ... forgetting that Lyon now isn't some ****ty French club that plays it's home games in front of 3000 hard working villagers but is already part of Europe's ellite and sell their players for 10s of millions of euros and they do it cause that's what they want to do and not because they have to do it trying to somehow fix their budget for the next year.
You say we played bad vs Lyon, well, let me tell you would have happened to barca if they played Lyon - they would be out of the CL, eating salsa and trying to figure out how the magical Dinho couldn't beat a team of French villagers all by himself. Well, i can tell them why - cause lyon is a team and not travelling circus that tries to wow the crowd with pointless and unnecessary tricks. Because Diarra and company would have taken Deco, Dinho and Eto'o out of the game right from the start and wouldn't even care who's who and who's not who.
Well, we did beat that team, we beat them and now they are the ones who are trying to figure out what just hit them. Was it a dance for us, no it wasn't but we beat them and that's what matters for would that have been barca in our place, they would have had their legs broken after dancing with Lyon, and not just get away from it with a couple of bruises here and there.

EDIT: on Barca having young players - well, so did manU but they were the quitest of all on the field. Off course our defense will have problems catching up with Eto'o, Messi, Dinho, Iniesta in a 100m race. But the idea of zonal defending is to not let that happen i.e. close the space down before they have had the time to take you on a race or something. Messi isn't quicker than C. Ronaldo per say, but we all know how useless he was against a slow, but experienced defence like ours. yeah, I would prefer a 30 yo maldini on the left vs Messi, but a 37 yo would still do the job.

On how I think Barca could be stopped, well I think several good suggestions have been made so far, especially by Rosso6 and mrki. What I could say that would be different is that i think you beat a team like Barca away and not at home ... actually, what I meant by "beat" was "eliminate", hence using the away goal rule.
For me the most important thing would be to not allow away goals at the SS, even if that means not scoring any for us - a 0-0 draw can be a deadly result at this level of football and this stage of the CL tournament. I think we will need to be patient and for me the best possible tactic against this Barcelona side is a X-tree formation, especially at home, with Serginho and Kaka behind Sheva. I don't have to tell you how quick and devastating their counter would be given Barca's problems to quickly regroup in defence once they have started one of their mind-twisting, 10min long attacking adventures.
We just need to be patient and let them play around the ball making them believe that they are in control of the game. But we need to do so without conceding them much space, especially in the vicinity of our PA- basically, what they call "keep them at bay".
I am not sure who's gonna miss the game from Barca but for sure Deco is out - too bad as I think he would useless when pressured by our midfielders. Probably messi will be in for the first game, but I would expect him to be easy pray for maldini/Seedorf on the left, especially with him being out for a month or so and won't be at his very best. Gattuso should be more than able to keep Dinho quiet but in case he misses his pray, I would like to see cafu on the right - for that reason we have to make sure that he gets his match fitness back in the remaining days till the game. I prefer cafu over Stam or Billy because if their's someone on this team who knows how Dinho plays, that's cafu.
I would probably start the game with Pirlo in the middle but in the later stages would introduce either Ambro or Vogel 'cause Pirlo tends to fall off after the 60th-70th minute. So basically, my idea is to have Sergio and Kaka behind Sheva but also moving to the wings when we defend, especially Sergio, so that Seedorf could move inwards to hel Pirlo and Gattuso, stiffle the creative heart of their midfield - van Bommel, Deco, Iniesta (I think Motta is injured and will miss both games, but could be wrong on this - not sure when I read this one). As others said, cut the supply from midfield, have Gattuso pay soem special attention on Dinho, and Nesta on Eto'o and Barca will have a hell of a time on the pitch. But above all be patient and don't forget that task #1 is to keep a clean sheet at home. I doubt we will see any high-scoring results in these games, so most probably it would be away goals that will make the difference in this tie.
Biggest problem for me is how do you play a X-tree without that Philosopher we have for a president making himself being heard, yet again, in front of the media ... just imagine what it would be like if we end up being eliminated ... crazy like hell.
Another major issue for me are two very stupid YK Sergio and maldini got themselves vs Lyon. Should we lose Sergio, the whole plan for swift counters changes and we will have to revert to a 2-men attack but this time we will miss Sergio's runs on the left ... hope cafu gets into full fitness by then.
Just incase that someone didn't want to read the novel above, can't blame them really , here is my team:
Dida
cafu Nesta Kakha maldini
Gattuso Pirlo Seedorf
Kaka Sergio
Sheva

Edit: The team above would be best IMO for the home game at the SS, in Barcelona, I think we could afford to be more adventurous and play our usual formation with 2 forwards - Sheva and Pippo - as our goals would count for two over there.

i think we must play Pippo again for his experience, and because he will be so important.. Barca have a bad goalie that always makes mistakes, and their defence isnt better than alot of teams we have faced.. this will be a game for Pippo..

bad news is that stam is out for 3 weeks and will miss both legs.. i really hope Pirlo will find his form sooner or later..

How do u know that Stam is out for 3 weeks? Is it official??

Jaap Stam is likely to miss the Champions League semi-final clashes with Barcelona


http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...lia/apr6l.html

Yup Stam is out which has thrown a real spanner in the works. Now if we have Cafu playing at right back we cant really afford to have Serghinio playing at leftback. Kaladze would be a solid choice given his good form allowing Maldini to tuck in with Nesta.

I agree, Serghinio should play upfront with Sheva, but it wont happen because Berlusconi wont allow it to happen. Hes playing aswel as anyone else though so he must start. The reason Iv put Seedorf on the right in place of Gatusso is I think he can keep Gaucho tired if he is told to like he did against Wiltord. I think we could keep alot of possesion with this midfield which wouldnt be possible with Rino. We may lose some energy though so I think Sergio should start with either Rino or Seedorf being sacrificed.

Cafu--Nesta--Maldini--Kaladze _____OR_____Cafu--Nesta--Maldini--Kaladze
-Seedorf----Pirlo---serghinio-_____________---Rino----Pirlo---serghinio---
------------Kaka------------_____________------------Kaka------------
-------Sheva----Pippo-------_____________-------Sheva----Pippo-------

Many of you think that Barca can cimply outclass Milan. This is a bunch of BS.

I remember how Milan played and I know how Milan can play. Remember the 1st half of last year's CL finals. Or how about the first 15 minutes of the Milan-Lyon game?

If the guys play like they can - beautifully and effectively Barca will be humiliated! No matter how Ronaldinho or Deco or whoever can play - they wont! because they wont get the ball!!!

I believe we can beat those basturds!

i think barca are a different team in the nou camp, i think ronaldinho needs 2 players on him, last thing we need is messi back, i just hope whoever is marking ronladinho doesnt give him the chance to touch the ball, his passes are scary, i also think we need to get a healthy win at the SS, like 2 or 3-0, make sure we dont concede, then we can counter attack with one striker upfront in the nou camp and hope to score an away goal

you all can predict how milan would play against barca by the Lyon games? that is rubbish IMO. Lyon is a very physical team that defended very very well. we have problems finding our way thru thus making us look bad. i am 100% sure milan would play 2 great games and goes thru against barca. i hate our team meeting very physical team like Lyon, all their players are physically much strong than ours and can bump our players off the ball. Playing barca would be a very different ball game altogether. Like some said, Lyon is probably the most difficult opponent we could have and we pass the worst so it can only get better.

it seem like a lot of people prefer us to play defensive at home to keep a clean sheet but i can't agree with that. We are at our best when we attack, thus giving up the best part of our game just to try to keep barca at bay doesn't sound right to me. so many people go crazy about barca attack, saying how well they are but forgot the fact that Milan have a attack that can at least match them or surpass them. if we play like a cowards at home, i am sure we would be punished for that. we should approach this game without fear and play like we should, which is to bring the game to them. we need to be confident and believe in our own abilities rather than worry about others.

i suggest we play our normal game with the same players, with nesta and maldini in the centre, we should be safe. i am hoping that cafu would be back to take the RB position, with Gatusso at the right side of MF, i ain't scared of Ronaldinho. The worrying part should be the LB position, with a speedy Messi down that flank, we need to use kaladze down there to stop him but we would have to give up serginho who have been playing really well and can cause a lot of problems for barca themselves. i am sure our attack would have an easier task after playing against Lyon. If our attack can breach Lyon's defense, we can breach any defense. Sheva, inzaghi and kaka should be able to come up with at least 2-3 goals minimum for the home game.

the previous time we played them at san siro last year, we won the game 2-1. The ideal result for us should be 2-0 but i predict a 2-1 or 3-1 to make the second leg very interesting.

They will miss Deco in the first leg, and have some players injured..
I still hope Stam will be back in time, such an important player, I think some one should open a thread dedicated to Stam, just to point out how significant he is to us. I think it's a mistake to let him go this summer, we won't find any replacement for him, simply because there isn't any. I just heard Real offered 14 mil for Chivu, I suspect Milan won't compete with that.

Like oh my god! what hell is rong whit you people? Barcelona aint better what the **** are u all barca fans tryng to act like milan fans here or what are u ?

They got ronaldinio,deco,eto ..so what? sheva-kaka-pippo and will kick there srry asses from here to cataluna or what ever there region name is.

2-0 at the san siro ,1-0 at camp nou,FORTZA MILAN !

Originally Posted by zlatanov

you, and some other people, keep treating Lyon like their are some 3rd class team of messina's level. We have to finally realize that Lyon, along with Milan was probably the most balanced team at the 1/4 finals and they were for me the most dangerous opponent we could have gotten, even more dangerous than an inform Juve or Barca. Why, because Lyon don't lack in any department, they don't suffer from Juve's lack of imagination and plan B 'cause once they are behind, they just have no idea how to get back in the game, and Lyon don't have Barca's frailties in defense because barca not only have crappy players at the back, they are a team that doesn't know how to move back to organized defending once they have gone all attack, this was well pointed out by Rosso6, I think. You put Gattuso on Dinho, keep an eye on Eto'o, stiffle the creative midfielders like Deco, or iniesta, or van Bommel (they won't play all at once) and barca would be like a headless chicken. In lyon;s case who do you stiffle, who do you keep an eye on when danger comes in all forms and shapes and from all directions? yet, we beat that team fair and square and if they think they deserved more than a bon voayage in the 88th minute, well, that's their problem, they shouldn't have forgotten that it's Milan they are playing.
I honestly don't understand why people still think that just because we didn't beat Lyon like we beat Udinese or whatever team we went through like they were on a vacation, we are a team that's performing bad, playing idea-free and cumbersome football and have next to no chance of stopping the free-flowing barcelona, who beat but also suffered against a well organized team like Benfica but let's not forget who Benfica are - a team that's plwying it's first year under a good coach like Koeman and for the past 10 years have lived in the shadow of Porto; a team of nobodies, who only thanks to Koeman reached thus far in the CL. But still no matter how good a coach you are, you can't build a palace with ****-bricks, right. And who are Lyon? Well, all of Europe's so called ellite is after every single player, including the reserves, on their team ... forgetting that Lyon now isn't some ****ty French club that plays it's home games in front of 3000 hard working villagers but is already part of Europe's ellite and sell their players for 10s of millions of euros and they do it cause that's what they want to do and not because they have to do it trying to somehow fix their budget for the next year.
You say we played bad vs Lyon, well, let me tell you would have happened to barca if they played Lyon - they would be out of the CL, eating salsa and trying to figure out how the magical Dinho couldn't beat a team of French villagers all by himself. Well, i can tell them why - cause lyon is a team and not travelling circus that tries to wow the crowd with pointless and unnecessary tricks. Because Diarra and company would have taken Deco, Dinho and Eto'o out of the game right from the start and wouldn't even care who's who and who's not who.
Well, we did beat that team, we beat them and now they are the ones who are trying to figure out what just hit them. Was it a dance for us, no it wasn't but we beat them and that's what matters for would that have been barca in our place, they would have had their legs broken after dancing with Lyon, and not just get away from it with a couple of bruises here and there.

EDIT: on Barca having young players - well, so did manU but they were the quitest of all on the field. Off course our defense will have problems catching up with Eto'o, Messi, Dinho, Iniesta in a 100m race. But the idea of zonal defending is to not let that happen i.e. close the space down before they have had the time to take you on a race or something. Messi isn't quicker than C. Ronaldo per say, but we all know how useless he was against a slow, but experienced defence like ours. yeah, I would prefer a 30 yo maldini on the left vs Messi, but a 37 yo would still do the job.

first of all who the fuk is telling that lyon is not a good team? they were and are a good team, capable enough to beat the $hit outta any team!

second, we did play bad against lyon! I'm comparing this performance to the one against bayern! on what basis are u trying to say that lyon wud have had kicked barca out!

third: u r saying we beat them comfortably! if inzaghi wudn't have scored th goal we wud out of ucl. his goal came at the 88th minute and we were very lucky to have the ball come on pippo's feet. we were 'LUCKY'

i think u r trying to brand me wid some1( u know who it is) u hate coz we think the same. i'm starting to know how this forum works!

I reques u not to ban me coz i know its all in ur hands. i want to stay a part of this gr8 forum forever!