Aquilani coming on made a lot of difference as well imo and he should have been the first one on when we made changes.

Urby was more invisable then Cassano, while Ambro was invisable aside from when he was hacking people down.

Urby is just not good enough for a game like this, while Ambro has completely lost the plot. Aquilani I think would have made a big impact on the midfield should he have been given the time.

His runs and passing were key into us moving the ball forward more then a step, at one point he was sarrounded by 2 or 3 players, took a couple of quick touches and swept a pass to Seedorf on the other side which released him. This is what we needed, cool heads, not Ambro passing the ball to Abate and getting him into trouble in our area.

Also, Boateng in the AM position should seriously be reconsiderd by Allegri, he's so much better in a deeper position, he gets the ball in a great spot and doesn't know what to do with it when he's so far up the pitch, at the start of the match he could have scored and released Pato and on both occasions made the wrong decisions.

Our midfield diamon should look like this from now on

Agreed. Nice to see all these players were recently signed, I meant no more Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf ...

@ x-off. I think the mids not pressing was mostly the tactic deployed by Allegri, on the right side you could clearly see what the machenics of it were, Abate pressed while we were deep and once he moved forward Nocerino retreated into his position, I think this was mostly done so that they don't get in behind the defence.

This is why I think we need 5 mids in there, a lot of the midfield was so busy forming a compact Unit with the defence that pressing them higher up was completely unmanagable. Had we had 2 other mids available (Boateng and Aqui) then we'd have had the extra man to press them higher up.

I still prefer Boateng as AM, because he can make the important runs and also track back when necessary. Aquilani is needed a bit deep-lying in order to organize the game and launch our strikers. But either way, that must be at all cost our starting midfield from now onwards. I agree that when Aquilani came in tonight, things started to change a bit for us. Please no more Seedorf and Ambrosini against fast teams!

Agreed. I believe so as well.

Good post han!

Good point, but still, letting Barça attack for the whole 90 minutes is not something nice to watch when you're a Milan fan. I'm hoping for a completely different game at the San Siro. I think we can beat them if we believe in ourselves.

Seedorf was good imo, I have nothing against his performance tonight, he lost it a bit once Prince went off and he was moved into the AM position.

Also, Boateng can make his runs from deeper, in fact I think that would make more sense since he'd be even harder to track. In the AM position he just doesn't have any cutting edge to support the strikers as an AM should. While Aquilani is just perfect for that.

I think we'd be ok with that industrial 3 man midfield, especially against big sides. Maybe Seedorf could be played on the left when we face small Serie A teams that are hard to break down

I think it's fair to say Seedorf had moments of genius where he was also able to make great use of his experience.

On the other hand, Ambrosini didn't!

He looking reckless & clumsy (as he so often does), flustered and as far from clam as possible.

They were in no way on the same level.

Ambrosini for me, was by far the WORST player out there tonight.

He needs to be used as a rotation player now and nothing more. That much is certain!

Completely agree with you, and this is why I am slightly disappointed despite the great result and not as happy with Allegri as some seem to be.

We could and should have done better given the fragility at the back Barca were experiancing, had we used the ball well to release Pato when the occasion came, we could have scored a couple easy. Sergio and Macherano simply didn't know how to handle him and we could have utilised that had we had more then one player who could properly distribute the ball.

One other remark about the defence, I loved the way they moved as a cohesive unit to deploy the offside trap, they kept a perfect line and you could clearly see them move up when a Barca player made a run behind them. It was great to watch and would love to see us working on it more in the future.

Completely agreed.

It was a pleasure to see that sort of cohesion, and there is no excuse why we could have done it today, but not otherwise, I'd love to see more of that.

It reminded me of rugby (if anyone here watches, I'm sure you'd agree)

Agreed. I would play the same mids as han, but I would put Prince as AM. Because of Boateng's pace and runs he supports our forwards very well. He can't do that enough when playing deeper, and someone like Seedorf or Aquilani can't do that as good as Boateng. Also Seedorf or Aquilani should create the attack (often), then Boateng gets involved (so is more forward anyway) along the other attackers, and hopefully a goal as a result.

About Seedorf today. Meh, I am slightly disappointed, I expected more, but he was not bad, but not good enough to play instead of Aquilani. I had high expactations from Seedorf since it's CL vs a big team and he have been great recently / in 2011. Anywho, for those who don't wanna read, my preferred midfield:

Our away kit looks so much better then the home one...

@ chu, Boateng really does not provide the best support for the forwards, and this is showing a lot this season where teams have figured him out. I'd prefer someone who could make a final pass behind the strikers then Boateng, who can still make his runs from deeper

@ han, Aquilani also can make runs forward and then give his final pass. And already mentioned Boateng will track back. So there will be position swapping during the match itself. Maybe we're discussing something that doesn't really matter much. In the end the right tactics and players completing eachother matter more than how it looks on paper.

Yes, Allegri deserves the credit. He wasn't perfect, but who really is?

But Milan had the chance to play better IMO; Barcelonas terrible defending should have give us more freedom - but our terrible midfield provided the counterbalance. Seedorf however did good. He's not speedy enough, that's sure, but at least he could hold the ball for a longer period and from time to time make a correct pass. Ambro was awful, as was the rest of our midfielder.

Yes han, Nesta gave them a lecture. Vidic my @ss

Congrats all around guys...it's "just a draw" but it's against the best team in the world atm and at their home AND with us missing our other key attacker - Robinho

Fantastic defense...even though sometimes my heart was in my throat...Excellent by the oldies (Zambro, Nesta and MVB) and the young guys. I'm soooo happy with Nocerino thus far...he isn't world class by any means but he is very valuable and useful.

Pato played well and by his own admission could have done better. If his first touch becomes just a bit more refined - WATCH OUT WORLD!!!

I think it's kinda worrisome that Pato and iBra seem not to be able to shine in the same match but I won't cry worlf as yet. We tossed up too much posession but with a team not 100% with new members, key absences I must hand a lot of credit to allegri for instilling such a compact mentality in our team.... and truth be told even if Pippo was fit and ready to play I couldn't have seen him doing much bar scoring that wonderful goal Silva did (probably with his ribs or something )

Oh and once again......remove "you know who" from the team and Milan goes to doing well on the big stage in the CL

You got a point there, he was unlucky with his first touch a few times.

Imagine the danger of Pato when playing aside of the full of energy hard working mister movement speedy dribbling Robinho instead of Cassano who completely disappeared vs Barça? Pato did it kinda on his own now. Awesome, and I'm so glad with his appearance. This was what I was hoping to see now without Ibrahimovic.

Brazil '82 was arguably the best team ever, at least one of the very best of all time. Way ahead of their days, they used to play football of today three decades back. Even though they were not lucky enough to go all the way, but then again, that's not all that matters. For genuine entertainment and pure gameplay value, look no further.

I'm not a betting man, but if my life depended on it, I'd put my faith in that team. They can take on two times the Barcelona of today and still come out laughing, I kid you not. Heck, if they were playing today, they would surely have decimated this Barcelona team (with it's makeshift weak defense) 4-0, 6-0. I can understand where Altobelli is coming from, and I agree with him, but I just had to say this as a fan. I'm in love with Brazil 2002, but '82 was the real deal. But then again, heroes live in moments, not gold medals. And that team had plenty of moments.

The fact remains that outside of the opening and closing minute we did not even try. Cassano was no where to be seen on the television and neither was Pato most of the time. Let alone the Barcelona GK, who only came up as flashes for a couple of minutes most. Most of the game was played in our half. Sure I'm more happy than I've ever been - heck I was the fool who was rooting for Barcelona this year, whether in the group stages of knockouts, and well Pato/Silva/Nesta made my day today! But no one should mess with this team. Ever. LOL. Feast your eyes, and see the "Art of Football", as it is meant to be seen:

Brasil 1982 - The 11 Greatest Goals of Brasil 1982's Magic 11
Brazil 1982 - A tribute to the art of football

If my life depended on it, I'd put my faith in Milan of 88-90. Not as flashy but with the best defense ever.
-----------------------------

Stats:

Pato: I saw a gap and ran at it



Alexandre Pato explains what he was thinking when he scored the fifth fastest Champions League goal ever.

The Brazilian hitman netted just 24 seconds into the 2-2 draw between Milan and Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

“As soon as the game kicked off, I saw a gap and I ran at it,” he grinned on Mediaset Premium. “Barcelona are a very strong side, so we’re perfectly happy with this result.

“It was difficult to play and we wanted to have more time on the ball. At the end, when Antonio Cassano went off, I was too isolated in attack.

“Fortunately Thiago Silva scored that goal and got us a deserved equaliser. Now we can look ahead to Serie A and Napoli.

“Everyone was tired, but I only played 10 minutes against Lazio on Friday, so I wasn’t terribly match fit.”

source: pato7.net

So would I, but club football is a totally different animal. These guys have years and years to gel together. Look at how Silva made direct passes to Pato when no one else did. That's rapport, friendship, and understanding that comes with club football. National teams are different, you have players (good players) from all over the world.

There could have been better teams in the years gone by, and well Brazil 2002 could score goals at will, Milan of the late 80s and early 90s was in a word epic. This Barcelona clicks, and I am sure a German team from the past decimated everything that came their way. And let's not forget about the Dutch artists that played Total Football.

But still, Brazil of 1982 will always have a special place in my heart. I've been lucky enough to see a lot of their matches, recorded, but full matches, and I know when I say this that they were way ahead of their time. I mean Zico is still, to this day, Brazil's favorite son! And that's saying something. Pele won them more, Ronaldo scored more goals, but Zico is the guy that the general public just loves. Same goes for Leonardo, though he's not nearly as loved as much as Zico, but still, he has an aura about him back in his home country, that when he speaks, people listen.

But yeah, Milan 88-90. Best defense ever. And I'm fairly certain, it will never be matched again.

Awesome Stats man.

Where'd you get this from? It's so very well detailed.

Does it have one for Barca's complete stats as well?

Saw it on some other Milan fan site, don't know where it's from.

Damn!

I always wish to see a complete list of stats after games, but never know where they can be viewed.

Thanks anyway for posting.

My ratings:

Abbiati: 7 Amazing goal keeping when called upon. Could not do anything on either of those goals.


Abate: 6 solid for the most part, but shouldn't have let messi get by him so easily.

Nesta: 9 I've watched Barcelona play against alot of teams, and I've never seen Messi marked so well by a center back before. Nesta did the world a favor today, he showed everyone how to stop messi. A world class display today from the Commanding center back.

Silva: 8 Had a very good game, its good to see he is regaining some of his form. Quality header for the equalizer.

Zambrotta: 6.5 Did a good job defensively, much better than most expected but his age is catching up to him.


Nocerino: 6.5 Quality display from someone whose never played champions league before. Clean, smart and tactically aware. Could have pressed their midfield a little more.

Van bommel: 7 Did his job and more when asked upon. Left messi a little too open at times, but other than that covered xavi and iniesta very effieciently.

Seedorf: 6 He played football for about 30 minutes today but in those 30 minutes he was quality. He's just too slow to keep up at this pace and level. Shame but age is catching up to him.

Boateng: 6 Didn't really see much from him, but showed energy and determination. Its a shame he came off so early.

Pato: 7 Scored a goal, could have had 2 more. He was isolated for most of the game with absoloutly no delivery but did good on what he had. Its clear we need a quality AM to help link up play.

Cassano: 5 Wasn't supposed to start as these types of games don't suit his "lazy" style. Invisible for most of the game.

Ambrosini: 4 Wow, I take back what I said. This man is clearly finished. Him and Gattuso should retire at the end of this season.

Emanuelson: n/a didn't really do anything.

Aquilani: n/a didn't really do anything.


Allegri: 9 Tactics were spot on and he got everything right. Had we ibra or robinho, we might have been able to produce a few more chances. He is a quality coach and its clearly evident that our team is much stronger than it was last season.

I think in the absence of Ibra and Robinho Milan did well and dont forget your playing Barca world class team and getting draw ! i see they played well.

i hoped Allegri would play aquellani in the start we need a player who could transfer the ball from the mid field to the front with a blink of an eye.

Over all Milan played well for almost 30 yrs age average.

Nocerino’s persistence resulted in the corner for the goal. He was quite good actually and in my opinion way better than Van Bommel dived in too much and made tackles he didn’t need to. Picking up a booking after 18 minutes for dissent was sheer stupidity when he was up against Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta for the rest of the game.

I've got Zonal Marking on my side

I predicted a 3-1 win for Barca and admittedly they were very close to getting that third goal. we can consider ourselves lucky to snatch a point. not because of the way we scored our goals, but because of the way the game was played overall. they weren't the invincible Barca of last season, but still created many chances and deserved to win. though, had we actually tried to attack more after we went up 1-0 we'd have gotten our second goal as well (and we nearly did). they are far from perfect in the back line. pity our midfield can only defend...

Overall great result for us. but I can't help but feel a bit ashamed. we're not "Inter 'Catenaccio' Milan"...

Btw, two minute 1 goals from Pato against Inter and Barca. isn't that great



Ah come on man of course it was Abate's mistake (though he didn't slip!), but Messi's run through 4 of our players was sublime. I'm amazed you're so biased against him. did he have a great game last night? no. but as always he showed many glimpses of brilliance. like the assist, his FK hitting the bar, etc.






I wanted to tell you that's not the problem before the game and that a goal can come from anywhere, not necessarily through the midfield. both of our goals proved this.



Yeah, right.

Nesta was the AC Milan player completing the most passes v Barcelona, 28; only Valdés made fewer amongst the Blaugrana starters

There's really no need to be ashamed of it. It has nothing to do with Inter; Milan have a rich tradition of good-old Italian defending of their own.

Agreed


Agreed. Seedorf's main problem was that he had no support or options to pass to when he had the ball, so he either punted it in the general direction of Cassano or Pato or lost it. The midfielders were too reluctant to step out of their shell afraid that they'd get caught out should they try to do that. It was the same thing with Cassano, he's the kind of player that needs support and thrives when the team is holding posession, everyone could see before the match was even played that he was not suited for this type of game. An extra mid would have actually helped and wouldn't have made us feel as if we were playing with 10 men, because with 2 strikers, that's what it seemed like.

I know it's not our tradition to play with one striker Galliani, but for this kind of match we needed a compact midfield. Especially when we lost someone like Ibra who could have held up the ball for Pato and Seedorf

Look at the highlights: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl2qsj_bar-2-2-mil_sport

Is it me or Busquets totally dived to get the second goal free kick?

Is that a shock to you?

He definately went down easy, and I immediately thought that when the free-kick was given but didn't say anything at the time

Not surprising, of course, but it wasn't mentioned yesterday.

Naturally. Didn't anyone notice before?

http://youtu.be/CWcKs76VZqM

when he will win a foul without diving then eveyone will notice

And attacking football as well... the lack of which bothered me yesterday. there should be a balance between attacking and defending. I know it was Barca and all, but come on, we should be able to do more than 4 attacks all game long. even without some of our best players.

In the end, I think X-Off got it right, neither team took this very seriously. especially us.

I don't believe that. The players showed a lot of commitment last night and worked their @sses of. Sayng they didn't take it seriously because Barca kept possesion for the entire game is a slap in the face.

Barca also wanted this, you could see that. They're champions and wanted to make a statement in their home ground. Also this is the first time since 97 that they didn't win their opening match of the CL.

Allegri had a gameplane, none of us liked it, least of all me. But the team stuck to it and they got a point off Barca at the Camp Nou, something we would have gladly taken yesterday before the match happened.

Also I'm pretty sure that we'll see the same mindset when we face them at the San Siro, don't forget a draw of 0-0 or 1-1 would give us the advantage over them should we be on the same amount of points

I said "very seriously". of course they took it seriously and professionally, but if it was a KO stage game, I think it'd be a little different.

+1

I actually feel sorry for knocking him so much pre game. He is a good coach no doubt. I think our boys were a bit nervous too, which would translate into more losses of the ball. Seedorf in particular, though I thought was good needed a bit more of his usual composure. Had he thought things through on one of his attacks, he'd have slipped Pato a better ball at the top of the box and not gotten intercepted.

Of course it's easy for me to criticize from the comfort of my computer. One thing I'm very hopeful for though is the potential impact a fit and fast Robinho can make. Having an attacker who can keep up with Pato and pass well is going to be a joy.

Also If Taiwo can do a job comparable to Zambro's quieting of Alves (bar letting Perdo free) we can have a SUPER game....The first goal came with Alves assisting Messi, who dragged three (3) of our boys out left Midget#3 (aka Pedro sneaks in and scores ) Seriously if the two guys following him just stayed with his run the third defender coud have picked up the ball no problem. Sadly he stuck out his feet, missed (went in half hearted I think scoring an OG was a concern) and the rest is history.

Iniesta might be the brain and Xavi might be the spine but the LEGS in attack (also in the league games) is definitely Alves. His runs form a significant % of Messi's overall brilliance.

I think it ridiculous to speak about the level of "seriousness" of the game yesterday. Milan had their minds on Barcelona when facing Lazio, just like Barcelona had theirs on us when they played Sociedad. But I should believe yesterdays match wasn't serious? Good god, I can't buy that even for a second. The moment we scored (30 seconds or so) Barcelona started pressuring, and not just because it's their habit, they wanted to show up, they simply did not want to loose a game at Camp Nou.

If it was a final it would also be different, and if it was the Cup winners Cup it would also be different. There's no point in comparing these "if's".


Not so much as defensive football. Yes, everyone was bothered by that. We made 3 shots on goal! Italy in 80's made more attempts then us!! But that does not mean we should be ashamed of our Catenaccio system. It was the best possible option. With a different midfield we could have played a more compact game, but the players we currently have do not allow us drastically or radical change of plan against such strong opposition.

On one hand it was sad seeing the mighty Milan reduced to a diddy team defending for its life, but in saying that if you try to play Barca at their own game you'll be r@ped ala Arsenal.

We went out with a gameplan, and frankly it worked - pure defence, occasional counter attack, and Nesta having one of the finest games I've seen him play in years. He was a titan.

We offered little in attack, as would be expected with this system, but even basic passes from midfield rarely reached their man up front.

Still, I said before this match I'd be stunned if we managed a draw. And stunned I was - a goal inside 24 seconds and one in the dying seconds - we nicked a valuable point and based on our overall successful gameplan, it was one we deserved.

One thing Allegri has to be praised for is that he build a new mentality into his Milan-system when it comes to motivation and trying. We came back against Lazio with determination after a 0-2 down, we tied in the dying seconds against Barcelona. It sure didn't look that way with Leonardo or Carletto in his last period.

+1000 to Nesta. Magnificent performance.

(Fins up and hi to everyone. Just passing through....)

It's called being champions

We have a champion mentality that we don't take sh!t anymore, and that's built a steely ability to grind out results.

The whole team is to be praised for this - Allegri for building this side up, and the side for harmonising well with his instructions.

It's a shame that we didn't really enhance the team much in the summer, in fact it was a bloody disappointment, and time could tell whether this relatively same squad can still win the league. But yesterday was a good testament to what happens when a plan is well constructed, and accurately executed.

I think Nocerino and Aquilani will be a nice surprise to all of us. From what I've seen of them in just two games, I'm very hopeful.