Gutting Lose for Barca

This one hurt...a lot.

Milan had the field like a cabbage patch.  Barca was slow passing it around and Milan was faster and able to recover and parked the bus very well.  Milan’s attacks were all diagonal long balls.  The pitch can’t slow the ball down when it’s in the air.  They mounted 4 serious attacks and scored on 2.

The first goal was a clear hand ball.  The ref was awful not to call it.  It wasn’t intentional, but play should have stopped.  You could have seen it from the 900 level.  Awful call, but you are going to have to suffer those to win a competition like this at some point.

The second goal was well worked and it was attributed to Puyol being a mess because he got gashed in the head.  A well-deserved goal.

Barca felt hard done after the first goal and never emotionally recovered.  Instead of getting motivated they got more frustrated by the pitch and the trapping of Milan.

Allegri is a great coach.

Barca’s starting 11 bothers me.  I hate when they start Inesta up front.  They lose a little in the midfield and they have one less true striker, so it becomes harder for Messi and Pedro.  Usually teams let Pedro do what he wants.  Against average Spanish sides this lineup works, but not against World Class competition.

Bringing in Alexis was pointless.  He doesn’t shoot form distance and he’s off form mentally right now.  His pace added something, but they needed that from the opening whistle.

Tello must have slept with someone’s wife because he almost never plays since the first few weeks and he was just what Barca needed last night, a fast pace striker who can score from distance.  At worst he opens the game up for Messi and Pedro a little.

Xavi was not fully recovered.  If you pay close attention he was actually playing the holding midfield role and Sergio was playing higher up.  Xavi was struggling to complete passes on the pitch and was off target when he tried to overpower the ball.  Barca would have been better served to drop Cesc and Inesta into midfield and start Alexis or Tello upfront. 

Milan defensively played awesome.  Milan are playing a lot better as of late unbeaten in seven in league and all the way up to 3^rd in the table.  Probably can’t win the league, but not out of the UCL spots.  10 weeks ago that didn't look likely.

Barca had a really bad game.  They got beat they did not lose.  Even I will admit that.

They have had an amazing season, but they haven’t beaten anyone including Madrid this year(Spanish Super Cup Aside).  Their premium win has been against Altetico.  Otherwise they have drawn Real twice.  They need this return leg tie or the season starts to take on a different meaning all together. 

The commentators were hard on Messi, but how much can you do when you touch the ball and 4 or 5 class defenders are surrounding you.  I'm not going to say he didn't have his best game, but his supporting cast was more to blame.

If Barca get knocked out of the UCL the season for them is basically over in early March.  The Copa second leg is next week.  After that they play Real Saturday (really a meaningless game) and then two weeks the return leg against Milan.  Win or lose to Real in the Copa semi the final is a long way off.  The UCL would be over and the league is decided.  They will have nothing to play for.

I made the comment they needed to smash AC Milan to put the fear in the rest of Europe.  They didn't do that and they inspired every team that’s still alive.  2-0 is not impossible, but I have a hard time believing they won’t allow at least one goal.  They need to score 4 to safely move one.  On the home pitch with all players rested and Real behind them I see them getting through about 70% of the time.  They should never have put themselves in that position, but they did.  It's added some drama to the a first round that is going to be remembered as one of the best ever.