Tonight’s crunch match between Milan and Barcelona at the San Siro can define the future of these two teams in this season’s Champions League.
Although both sides have already secured qualification to the knock-out stages, there is still a pending issue in Group H.
The sporting rivalry between these two great clubs aside, this clash will probably determine who of the two teams will eventually top the group.
Champions League group winners have the benefit of meeting one of the eight runners-up when the draw is made early next year.
Barcelona currently top Group H with 10 points from four matches, two ahead of Milan. This means that the European champions will secure first place if they win tonight while a draw would also keep them in pole position.
Milan must win this match at all costs to overtake Barcelona and their advantage is that tonight they will play in front of their fans.
The two teams come into this Champions League clash on the back of contrasting results in their domestic championships.
On Saturday, despite dominating long stretches of their game at an under-strength Fiorentina, Milan failed to break the deadlock and had to settle for a goalless draw.
This was Milan’s first drawn result after five straight wins.
Barcelona were in sublime form, however, as they thrashed Real Zaragoza 4-0 to stay within sight of early pace-setters Real Madrid who retained a three-point lead at the top.
Milan fought admirably in their 2-2 away draw with Barcelona in their opening group outing in September. So, the Rossoneri must produce another top performance at the San Siro if they are to topple Barcelona.
Pep Guardiola’s champions, along with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, are regarded among the main favourites to win the Champions League next May and thus become the first club to win back-to-back titles since Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan did it in 1988/89 and 1989/90.
Although Barcelona are seen as being technically superior to the Rossoneri, if there is an Italian club that can beat arguably the best team at the moment it is Milan.
In such titanic clashes, experienced players like Alessandro Nesta, Thiago Silva, Mark van Bommel, Clarence Seedorf, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Alexandre Pato can make the big difference.
Today’s match will be the 13th meeting between these two sides in European competitions.
Milan’s home record in five matches against the Catalans is two wins, one draw and two defeats.
Milan last beat Barcelona at the San Siro stadium on October 20, 2004 thanks to an Andriy Shev-chenko goal.
Barca’s last victory over Milan dates back to 2005/06 when Ludo-vic Giuly netted the all-important goal in the first leg of their semi-final.
Serie A statistics
1st win of the season for bottom side Cesena as a late Marco Parolo goal on Sunday was enough for them to claim a valuable away success at fellow strugglers Bologna. For Bologna this was their second successive setback after the 1-3 upset to Palermo. Chievo cruised to their second win on the trot thanks to a hard-fought away victory at Catania. This was Chievo’s second victory in their last three visits to Sicily.
3 draws and three losses are all crisis-hit Cagliari have to show in their last six outings. On Saturday, the Sardinians were floored by Inter for the third year running. For Inter, the 2-1 win was their first since beating Chievo 1-0 on the eighth day. After three successive home upsets to Palermo, Juve broke the jinx with a comprehensive 3-0 victory on Sunday. Juve are the only side still undefeated.
4 penalties from the five awarded by referees last weekend were ably converted. Sebastian Giovinco doubled Parma’s lead against Udinese from the spot and German Denis (Atalanta) and Gaetano D’Agostino (Siena) scored a penalty each in their side’s 2-2 draw in Tuscany. In Catania-Chievo, Sergio Pellissier made no mistake from the penalty mark. Meanwhile, two players – Luca Antonelli (Genoa) and Riccardo Meggiorini (Novara) – received their marching orders.
German Denis – Atalanta.20 goals scored on the 12th day: 13 coming from the hosts and seven from the visitors. There were five home wins and three draws (two goalless). Foreign players contributed with nine goals while there were five first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 259. Atalanta hit-man German Denis grabbed the only brace of the day. The Argentine is the leading marksman with nine goals.
21 points collected by Lazio in their last nine games (six wins and three draws). On Saturday, Edy Reja’s Europa League hopefuls settled for a goalless draw at Napoli. This was the first drawn result between these two sides in two years. Parma brushed Udinese’s early resistance and went on to record their second successive home win. An Udinese win in Parma has been missing since 2006 (3-0).