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La Liga is back in business.
After the first leg of Champions League Round of 16 play, Spanish clubs were winless in four matches. But after Barcelona took a 4-0 victory over Milan Tuesday, La Liga’s lustre has returned. And, should Malaga overturn a one-goal deficit in a home match against PortoWednesday, a third La Liga team will advance to the quarterfinals.
Now, though, the Champions League gets serious. The quarterfinal payout is a minimum 3.9 million euros per team. And the draw on Friday will include mostly heavyweights, with the possibility of Barça and Real Madrid in a Clasico. Other opponents could include Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, likely Bayern Munich.
Milan was certainly a worthy opponent. But the Rossoneri were significantly weakened for the return leg, missing Giampaolo Pazzini. For Milan to work its counterattack, it needed a back-to-goal center forward. With Mario Balotelli cup-tied, Pazzini filled that role in the opening leg.
But Milan simply did not have another “punta.”
And that allowed Barcelona’s defenders to push forward into the attack, enabling theBlaugrana to dominate possession even more than usual.
Defenders moving to the halfway line and beyond, pressing to regain possession, is an fundamental part of Barcelona’s tactics. But this leaves the back line extremely vulernable to counters. And, if Milan’s M’Baye Niang had converted into an open net in the 38th minute, the dynamic of Tuesday’s game would have changed greatly.
But at this level, there is little margin for error. Niang hit the left post, and Lionel Messi scored seconds later for a 2-0 lead.
David Villa capitalized on a missed tackle by Kevin Constant for the third goal in the 55th minute. Milan then went with Bojan Krkic and Robinho in an all-out attempt to score.
But Milan still was lacking a center forward to hold the ball.
In the next round, Barcelona’s opponents will not likely have as weakened a roster as Milan, or be as vulnerable.
Barcelona yet needs to improve defensively and figure out a way to vary its game. But if things are going well for the Blaugrana, it will be difficult to count them out.