AC Milan's double punch has Barcelona on the ropes: A 5 point analysis

Tactically astute Milan leave no gaps for Barcelona to exploit

In recent years, Barcelona have generally succumbed to either a mastermind tactician, or a superhuman performances from someone from the opposition. Coming into this game, Milan seemed to be lacking on both fronts, as a 13-player exodus in the summer had left them searching for a new identity for themselves, and the workman-like approach of Max Allegri hadn’t quite always left witnesses much to get excited about.

This game saw Allegri masterminding and out-adjusting Jordi Roura coming into the second half, as Barca found little or no room to maneuver the ball in the middle of the park, which was kept tight by the trio of Ambrosini, Montolivo and Sulley Muntari.

Not only them, but the two wide men in Kevin Prince-Boateng and El-Shaarawy galloped back admirably time and again to thwart the forward runs of Jordi Alba and Dani Alves on either flank.

El Shaarawy looks the real deal

For a 20-year kid talked up as the future of Italian football, this was the first big test in El Shaarawy’s short career so far, and the Italian came through the test with no harm done to his reputation. Growing up in a city like Milan, in a club as big as AC Milan, and with the riches of the world in his hands, the world is quite tempting for any young man just leaving his teens to do just the “wrong things”.

With influences like Robinho and the ever-volatile Mario Balotelli in the dressing room, it’s easy to get carried away, but the kid seems to have his mind in the right place. Milan tried time and again to release the dangerous El Shaarawy on their left, and he did quite well when you take into account that the fancy-haired youngster really didn’t get much support from Pazzini or left-back Kevin Constant, who stuck duly to his defensive duties.

A few heavy touches every now and then were the only blemishes in El Shaarawy’s display at the San Siro, but he never let that get to his head, as he was a ever-present when Constant needed help down the left-hand side, thwarting Messi and co. in their efforts to unlock the “Milan lock”.

The icing on the cake of his display came in the dying minutes, when he showed a maturity beyond his years to coolly dink the ball to his left for the onrushing Sulley Manutari to drive home, giving the Milanisti a decisive advantage heading into the second leg at Nou Camp.

Tiki Taka is the not be all and end all in football

Barcelona have redefined football in recent times, as teams have taken to their style of passing football with great vigour and have developed similar schemes to define their own footballing styles.

The modern game has seen a dearth of natural wingers. Men who can put in a quality ball from the flanks after creating that litle space to swing one in instead of cutting in or trying to beat the full back for pace are tough to find. In turn, strikers once revered for their prowess in the air are hard to come by as well.

However, as the times go on, teams find out the loopholes in any system, and no system in the world of football has withstood the test of time. Football is ever-changing. What we conceive to be conventional and basic wasn’t so just a few years back. The well-known 4-4-2 formation itself is no more than 40 years old. The World Cup in 1966 was won by England, who played a 4-2-4. The Catenaccio was a different ball game all together. India, a powerhouse in the 1950s and 60s, never operated with more than 2 defenders in their heyday. The Dutch then brought about total football, which changed the face of the game altogether.

The Blaugrana showed us once again that our beloved game can be played in a very different, yet attractive way. The Milanisti showed how an incisively-organised team with a dogged determination to carry out the coach’s plans can nullify the tiki-taka of Barcelona, much like Chelsea did in last year’s competition. The tactics might not always be the prettiest to watch, but its effective, and in years to come when we look back at the past, it’s the results rather than the tactics that come through.

“It’s not beautiful, but they force you to play like that,” said Milan skipper Massimo Ambrosini after the game. The following picture is reminiscent of the dogged challenge that Milan threw towards the Spanish giants.

Barcelona’s Plan-B??

Once their plan went astray, they went to the…… Oh wait! They don’t have a plan B. For the second consecutive year, a lack of adjustment and personnel to change it up for the Catalans may have cost them their place in Europe’s biggest competition.

In the final moments of the match, Barcelona resorted to long balls into Gerard Pique, who had moved up to play as a forward, and attempts to find crosses from the flanks by exploiting the pace of Pedro and the lacklustre Alexis Sanchez, but to no avail.

With all that said, Barcelona have had great success with the system, as it has brought to effect one of the the most glorious periods in the club’s illustrious history. It has seen them appear in the semi-finals of each of the past five seasons of the Champions League, and winning an astounding 31 of the 40 games they have played this season.

With such a massive success rate, you wouldn’t bet against them figuring out their shortcomings, and turning it around in the second leg.

The turning point, and football’s failure to embrace technology

With all that said and done, the turning point of the game came when an AC Milan freekick ricocheted off Jordi Alba’s back to hit on-loan Villarreal defender Cristián Zapata on the arm to delightfully set up Kevin Prince-Boateng to slot in the opener.

Boateng still had a lot do, but the opportunity wouldn’t have presented itself if the ball hadn’t blatantly hit Zapata’s arm. Even after employing five referees, the UEFA couldn’t get the all-important decision right. It’s not always possible for the human eye to catch all things important, and I do sympathize with the officials, but for the governing bodies that look over the game, the crisis is now hitting breaking point.

With other sports embracing technology and common-sense, UEFA’s statements, distancing themselves from the use of technology, defies logic. The NFL uses replays on every scoring play, while tennis gives a certain number of reviews to each of the players. Both can be incorporated into football as well, but somehow, somewhere, someone is not thinking straight.

Was it a handball? FIFA’s law clearly states that the player has to make a decisive move towards the ball. Montolivo’s shot, which deflected off Alba’s arm (who was taking evasive action to protect himself) to that of Zapata’s, who to his credit was trying to move his arm away from the ball, remains a judgement call of the referee.

But how much would it harm UEFA to help the referees on this front?