CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Barcelona (0) v AC Milan (0):BARCELONA RETURN to home comforts but they do not expect it to be comfortable. A 0-0 draw in the first leg at San Siro has left their passage to a fifth consecutive Champions League semi-final on edge.
But if there was a doubt about whether they would seek to score goals or stop them – twist or stick – Pep Guardiola was adamant here. “I have the feeling,” he said, “that Milan will score.”
Barcelona, then, must score twice at least. Leading by a solitary goal with the clock ticking down is a position in which the Barcelona coach does not wish to find himself.
He has learnt from hard experience. When these sides met in the group stage a last-minute header from Thiago Silva cost Barcelona a win; the same result would deny them the chance to defend their European title.
“We will have to work to find the right way of attacking their defence,” Guardiola said. “They have a very powerful counterattack. We must attack them as best we can, creating as many chances as possible. Milan will score; our objective is to create chances. We will need to be well positioned, impose intensity on the ball and move them round as much as possible, circulating the ball rapidly.”
Barcelona may have to do so without Xavi Hernandez: the midfielder was included in the squad but will undergo a test this morning after he missed yesterday’s session with a calf-achilles problem. “It has caused him a few problems over the last few days,” Guardiola said, “but we have included him because we hope he can play. No one wants to miss these kinds of games, Xavi least of all.”
Creating chances will not be simple. Reminded that Leo Messi has scored only one goal – a penalty – in nine hours against Italian teams, Guardiola laughed: “It’s not easy scoring against Italian defences; if they have to put eight men on the penalty spot, they will. And if you’re saying he doesn’t score against Italian defenders, watch out!”
As for Barcelona, they must watch out for Messi’s former striker partner, a man forced from the Camp Nou. The threat is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Towering over 6ft, a brooding and menacing presence, he casts a long shadow here.
The manner of his dethroning and his departure, his bitterness since, has given this game edge and intrigue. It also gives Barcelona’s defence a challenge. The Swede was no failure in his only season in Spain – he scored 22 times – but Messi’s progression meant his eclipse. He has a score to settle.
Milan will wait for their chance to pounce and the man they will look for is the man Barcelona know so well.
“We have to be ready for anything,” Carles Puyol said. “You never know, they might try to attack but they are comfortable waiting for their opportunity to break. They are very dangerous when they do, with Ibra[himovic], Robinho and Pato. Ibra is almost impossible to stop when it comes to a battle, body to body. He’s physically very strong, difficult to mark. We have to make sure the ball doesn’t reach him.”
Guardiola went further. “If the ball goes up in the sky, it’s his,” the Barcelona coach said. “He’s taller than us, he’s stronger than us, we can forget it – that ball up in the air is his. You’d need a step-ladder to defend him. And when that ball’s in the area, he is very dangerous. We have to keep him as far away as possible.”
Much was made of Barcelona’s difficulties in the first leg, with the San Siro pitch proving extremely slippery. Barcelona made a formal complaint after the game. But Puyol excused the Italians.
“I don’t think it was their fault,” he said. “The stadium is very closed and I was talking to [Mark] van Bommel before the game and he says they are forced to change it six or seven times a season. We have had problems with our pitch before too. But now it is perfect and allows us to play our best football.”
Barcelona may need it.
Guardian Service
Bayern taking nothing for granted despite cushion
Bayern Munich (2) v Olympique Marseille (0)(Allianz Arena, 7.45pm) On TV: Setanta Ireland, Sky Sports 4
Bayern's bid to reach their second semi-final in three seasons will not be a simple matter despite their 2-0 win at Marseille last week, coach Jupp Heynckes warned yesterday.
We will play to win as if we have played 1-1 in the first game, Heynckes told reporters.
Heynckes said he would not rest any of his key players, despite having four of them – Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller, Jerome Boateng and Luiz Gustavo –being a booking away from a suspension that could then see them miss what looks like a semi-final clash against Real Madrid.
