Few thought it was possible, but AC Milan pulled off the unthinkable by blanking Barcelona 2-0 in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16.
The Italian giants came into the match as the heavy underdogs to Lionel Messi and company. Blaugrana unsurprisingly dominated possession throughout the match, but only registered seven shots on goal (one on target) in the 90+ minutes. Milan grabbed a 1-0 lead when a broken play inside the box found the foot of Kevin-Prince Boateng and the striker blasted the shot past an unsuspecting Victor Valdes in the 56th minute.
The goal was a controversial one as the ball had taken a bounce off the raised arm of Christian Zapata before finding Boateng. Barcelona's Gerard Pique protested the call and found himself with a yellow card.
Barcelona attempted to draw even, but was constantly suffocated by Milan's airtight defense. The Italian squad eventually doubled the lead when Sulley Muntari finished a brilliant pass from Stephan El Shaarawy.
"(Coach Massimiliano) Allegri was the best player for us tonight. He laid out the perfect plan and instilled the discipline," said Muntari after the match.
Allegri was complimentary of his players for executing a disciplined game plan. "In order to win these games, you need everyone to sacrifice themselves and work hard. We kept Barcelona out of our penalty area and they didn't have a single real shot on goal," said Allegri. "The players deserved this victory without question. We won an important game against Barcelona, which I believed in and nobody else did. "
Even Barcelona had praise for its opponents. ''It was harder than usual for us to score,'' said Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura after the tilt. ''Milan was very organized, very strong in defense and that caused us a lot of problems. We were also playing on a pitch that wasn't worthy of this competition. We controlled in the first half, we didn't create chances but neither did they. Then their first goal really hurt us and it was then even harder.
However, Roura does believe that Barcelona has hope heading into the second leg. ''If there is a team that can come back it is us. This result isn't disastrous. It's really awful to lose 2-0, really bad. But I think this squad deserves faith. We are convinced we can progress, because we are playing at home (next month), because our fans will support us, and because we're playing on our pitch, which is a pitch worthy of this competition," added Roura.
The second leg will be played at the Camp Nou on March 12. Barcelona must win by at least three goals and not concede against Milan. Allegri's squad can play for a 0-0 or even 1-1 draw. More importantly, the team can afford a 1-0 loss against Barcelona.