Barcelona beat AC Milan with 4:0 yesterday in the second leg of the Champions League round of the last 16. The goals came from Lionel Messi, David Villa and Jordi Alba and make Barcelona the first side to overturn a two-goal first-leg deficit without help from an away goal.
Barcelona hosted AC Milan at the Nou Camp last night in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, with Barcelona needing three goals in order to progress after being defeated 2-0 by Milan in the first leg.
The deficit would be a great challenge for many clubs, but Barca have continuously dispatched of many teams by breaking them down with their fascinating style of “tiki-taka” football and last night was no exception on the biggest stage of all. It took the home side just five minutes to break the deadlock with that man, Lionel Messi, curling a beautiful shot into the top right-hand corner with his left foot. Barcelona also had a penalty shout turned down. Iniesta then struck a brilliant effort on the half volley which forced Milan keeper Christian Abbiati into a brilliant save, with Messi putting the rebound header into the side netting. The Catalan side continued, dominating possession and picking Milan apart, seeing shot after shot go either just wide or brilliantly saved by Abbiati. M’Baye Niang should have evened the scores when he found himself one on one with Victor Valdes but his dragged shot came agonisingly off of the post. Messi scored again and levelled the aggregate score just before half time when he found a gap in the defence and struck the ball low into the back of the net.
The second half was more of the same and Barcelona took the lead on aggregate ten minutes in when Milan defender Constant failed to intercept a pass aimed at David Villa, after which the Spaniard collected the ball and curled it inside Abbiati’s far post. Milan did little to trouble the home team whilst Barca carried on with the onslaught. Alexis Sanchez rounded Abbiati and slotted the ball into the net, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Milan then responded when Robinho had a chance to get a goal back but Jordi Alba put in an excellent tackle to stop the Brazilian scoring. The defender then well and truly killed the tie off in injury time when Barca surged up the field after an interception from a very poor Robinho free-kick. Sanchez whipped the ball across, Alba latched on and Abbiati failed to stop the ball sliding underneath him – 4-0 Barcelona, exceptional!
The brilliant Barcelona victory not only placed Tito’s team in the quarter-finals, but Barca also made history. Barcelona is the first team that turned around a 2 goal deficit without the help of an away goal. It was also AC Milan’s highest loss in the Champions League competition and Barcelona’s 20th home victory in the Champions League.
The Champions League draw for the quarter-final is on Friday, March 15th.
