Barca's Lionel Messi tussles with Clarence Seeforf of AC Milan during their first leg at the San Siro
The clash between European nobles Barcelona and AC Milan looks the only
wide-open Champions League quarter-final second leg this week with Real
Madrid and Bayern Munich all but through and Chelsea in good shape.
Holders Barca drew 0-0 in Milan in the first match last week and Pep
Guardiola’s side remain favourites to advance but a score draw for the
Serie A champions on Tuesday would cause a right royal upset.
Fellow European gentry Bayern will be highly confident of progressing
on Tuesday against Olympique Marseille having won 2-0 in France last
week while possible semi-final opponents Real welcome APOEL Nicosia on
Wednesday holding a 3-0 lead.
Chelsea are 1-0 up with a home game to come against Benfica on
Wednesday and the London team’s improvement under interim coach Roberto
Di Matteo, with even Fernando Torres creating and scoring goals,
suggests they ought to go through.
Most eyes are therefore focused on the Nou Camp where Barca - lauded by
many pundits as the greatest club side of all - take on seven-times
European champions Milan and former striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Milan looked like the away side for much of last week’s game at the San
Siro but they kept Barca and World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi at
bay while also going close through Ibrahimovic and Brazilian Robinho.
“It is the most important match of the year and at the same time the
most beautiful one,” Guardiola told reporters after a 2-0 home win over
Athletic Bilbao in La Liga at the weekend.
“Bilbao don’t defend, they come at you. It’s completely different from Milan, it’s like night and day.”
Milan boss, Massimiliano Allegri vowed to attack Barca last week but it
did not turn out that way as the old Italian defensive traits shone
through.
He said they should go for goals in the second leg and with the
prospect of Barca drawing a blank in two straight Champions League games
unthinkable, Allegri’s assertion makes sense if his side listen to him
this time and do not try for a 0-0 result and penalties.
Sweden striker, Ibrahimovic would dearly love to score at the Nou Camp
and eliminate his former team having left Barca under a cloud 18 months
ago when falling out with Guardiola.
Torres looked to have fallen out with football after an extended spell
of poor form but he expertly set up Salomon Kalou for the winner at
Benfica and then scored in the weekend Premier League triumph at Aston
Villa.
The Spaniard hopes to keep his place on Wednesday with Didier Drogba
troubled by a foot problem. Former Benfica defender, David Luiz is also a
doubt.
Benfica must believe they can turn the tie around but Marseille and
Cypriot underdogs APOEL, overwhelmed just to have reached this stage,
are ready to kiss the competition goodnight.
Didier Deschamps’s Marseille performed a near-miracle in making the
knockout stages thanks to a late goal in their 3-2 victory at Borussia
Dortmund, their second group win over the Bundesliga champions.
However, the last 16 conquerors of 2010 winners Inter Milan face a
seemingly impossible task against another German side given they need to
win 3-0 at Bayern who are in fine form thanks to the recent brilliance
of Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben.
Jupp Heynckes’s side are also desperate to reach May’s final in their own stadium.
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