AC Milan victory breathes new life into Champions League

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February 21, 2013 by Tejmgas

Well, that was unexpected.

If you’d asked any credible football fan who was going to win last night, they all had one team in mind. Yet that team were subjected to a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Italian giants and it remains to be seen if they can overturn such a deficit.

Milan showed us yesterday how to beat the Catalan giants: Take your chances. If you watched the game yesterday you will know Milan only had about 3 or 4 chances while Barca had a whole host of opportunities to go in front. Even the prolific Lionel Messi had an off-day, unable to dominate the game as we have become accustomed to see him doing.

To me, it was reminiscent of Chelsea’s famous victory last year. Opportunistic goals backed up by a solid defensive performance.

If AC Milan do manage to go through, good for them. However, I don’t see them winning the overall competition and what I think this match has really done is given a confidence boost to other, more likely winners.

Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United. All teams who were tipped to go far in the competition, but ultimately fall to Barcelona.

That is, up until now.

Now these teams are suddenly thinking to themselves ‘Hey, maybe we can actually win this thing.’ The aura of invincibility that seemed to surround Barca has gone and even a huge victory in the return leg at the Camp Nou will not bring it back. Suddenly the defence look frail, the midfield unable to do anything, the strikers nervous.

Or maybe, we’re just exaggerating.

Whatever the case, I hope teams will all around the globe will be encouraged by the result and will look to attack the Catalan Giants, instead of sitting back and waiting for the ‘inevitable’.

The 2nd leg beckons.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, was it a fluky win, or are Barca fans right to be nervous?

-Tejmgas