I can comfortably beat my chest to say that this is the best Milan performance (with all the odds against them) I have witnessed since Capello’s Milan destroyed Johan Cryuff’s Barcelona Dream Team in 1994, correct me if I am wrong; it was an absolutely professional performance by the Rossoneri.
It is widely believed and acclaimed that this Barcelona side are the best since the history of club football, I do not necessarily agree with this conclusion, but then this team has swept all that have been put before them and currently lead La Liga by 12 Points and are currently 16points ahead of its fiercest rivals Real Madrid. So it was no surprise going into this game that Barcelona were overwhelming favorites to make light work of a depleted (sale and retirement of its top players in the summer)Milan side also missing its marquee signing in the January window; Mario Ballotelli who was cup tied due to his involvement in the tournament for Manchester City.
Some may attribute this performance to the great catenaccio systems of Helenio Herrera’s Inter side of the 1960’s; this was vintage Milan; absolutely priceless. I cannot even believe myself that I am waxing lyrical about Milan’s performance when even on this blog I had pitched for a Barcelona win and I know a the self styled Africa’s number one Milanista (@jefferyhustle) would let me know it; that the great Milan has risen once again.
To the actual game itself; I think we have all been here before with this Barcelona team; last season against Chelsea and against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan in 2010. I will look at the key elements of the game and why Milan was so glorious.
Football is a team sport
You may have the best collection of individuals best known to man; but it never changes the fact that football is a team sport and it takes the combination of efforts, individuals pulling together all in the same direction; joined together by a chord not looking for it to break at anytime. This is exactly how the Milan team was; united under one goal and motive. The best team performance I have seen this year and I mean that.
Failure to make adjustments
Like I said earlier; we have been here before with the Catalans; their continued lack of a plan B has been well documented and has remained unresolved and unattended to. For instance, stats show that on the average Barcelona make 30 touches in the penalty area per match as against 10 touches in this entire match.
Usually, when Barcelona boss games; they boss with penetration and expansion, utilizing the entire width of the pitch. In this game, they were not allowed to do this as Milan blocked off all the outlets and inlets; Milan’s midfield stopped Barca from playing between the lines; narrowing the spaces, closing the gaps and pressing very well. Barcelona simply did not adjust to this and failed to get the ball into the box as they are accustomed to and late on sent Pique forward and tried to play the long ball; this was somewhat predictable as its been shown time and time again by Barca in games of this nature. The adjustments were simple, a much more direct passing approach with great tempo and not the triangular short passes that the Milan midfield and defense were equipped to stand up to. Secondly, the use of width was quite limited and this happened to be a major tool used from time to time by Barcelona; they really should have explored this more
4-3-3 evolved to 4-6-0
Milan lined up in a 4-3-3 formation as the team sheet was released; but as the game progressed and Barcelona exerted controlled; the front three dropped into midfield and joined the midfield three to make six in midfield to overpower and outnumber Barcelona’s midfield trio of Fabregas, Xavi and Busquets ; blocking off the spaces even stopping Busquets from initiating the progress from defense to midfield. It was so bad that Messi had to drop deep too frequently just to have a sniff of the ball. Allegri has definitely bought himself a lot of time with this win and warmed the hearts of many a Milanista.
Counter Attacking at its best
Despite all of Barcelona’s possession; they lacked penetration and despite all this Milan had the better chances all game with the pace of El Sharawy and the guile of Kevin Prince Boateng. Everytime Milan regained possession, they looked for outlets; El Sharawy, Pazzini and Boateng were always ready to spring loose into the wide areas especially due to the gaps left by the attacking full backs of Barcelona. The second goal particularly was a demonstration of calmness personified especially with that controlled delicate lob pass by El Sharawy to Muntari for the second goal with Milan outnumbered 5 to 3 in Barcelona’s box; the use of spaces and running into that space was crucial.
Man marking was given a new name
It is commonly believed that players like Cristano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi cannot be man marked because they are all over the place and never occupy and real defined position; but yesterday showed it’s possible as Ambrosini was all over Messi, shadowing the spaces he would ordinarily occupy or run into just the same way United deployed Phil Jones against Real Madrid to nullify the threat of Ronaldo; that may not have been totally as successful as Milan’s approach. Ambrosini had Messi in his back pocket; I never thought I would ever say this.
Barcelona have it all to do to progress to the next round of this season’s champion’s league; it would be difficult to get 3 goals passed this inspired Milan team; but then 3 weeks is a long time in football and Milan may just be a different team and may be suffering from a loss of form at that time. The second leg will be a really intriguing affair; I look forward to it earnestly and I hope I am not getting carried away.
