Ger McCarthy
1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic defies his critics
The Swedish international striker polarises opinion despite a bulging trophy cabinet and multiple individual awards spanning a decade at the top of his profession. One criticism regularly levelled at the AC Milan striker is the fact he tends to go ‘missing’ during important matches, especially against English opponents. Ibrahimovic laid that ghost to rest on Wednesday night with a bullish individual display in the San Siro that tore the Arsenal defence asunder and helped the Rossoneri to a memorable 4-0 victory.
He set up Robinho with a sumptuous cross to head in Milan’s second goal before repeating the move to slip the Brazilian in for the Serie A side’s third and match clinching effort. The Swede then tricked Johan Djourou into conceding a late penalty and demonstrated his arrogant nature by ignoring Robinho’s chance for a hat trick before dispatching the penalty beyond Wojciech Szczesny.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic can no longer be accused of going missing in big matches and similar display in the forthcoming rounds could yet push AC Milan into Champions League contention.
2. APOEL remain in contention
A narrow 1-0 defeat away to Lyon in the Stade Gerland on Tuesday night may look a disappointing result on paper but APOEL will just be delighted to still be in with a fighting chance against the French side ahead of the second leg at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia.
Ivan Jovanovic’s squad travelled to Lyon with the intention of recording a 0-0 draw, as their one shot on target in the entire 90 minutes will testify. Yet APOEL will fancy their chances in the return fixture having already accounted for Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Porto en-route to topping Group G in the opening phase of the tournament.
One of the most prestigious and important nights in Cypriot club football could yet witness the continuing fairytale story of the 2012 Champions League tournament. APOEL possess the firepower and self-belief to progress should Remi Garde’s inconsistent Lyon fail to bring their ‘A-game’.
3. Arsenal’s darkest hour
Arsene Wenger’s honest assessment of his side’s performance following a 4-0 drubbing in the San Siro said it all “shocking”. Theo Walcott was completely anonymous and hauled off at the interval. Midfielders Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky were overrun from the opening minutes and Arsenal’s perceived strongest back four floundered every time AC Milan attacked. Hard to believe that it is nearly a year ago that Arsenal were beating Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium yet not even the introduction of Thierry Henry could ignite the Gunners into any kind of response on Wednesday night.
Even an away goal might have offered the Premier League side a glimmer of hope for the second leg but instead the comments of former Milan and Italian national team Coach Arrigo Sacchi echoed many neutral and no doubt a few Gunners’ fans belief that this is “the worst Arsenal side in a decade”. This weekend’s FA Cup tie away to Sunderland offers the Arsenal players a chance to make up for their dismal Champions League showing. They certainly owe it to their fans, if not their manager, after Wednesday night’s sorry capitulation.
4. San Siro and Stadion Petrovskiy not up to scratch
BOTH AC Milan and Zenit St. Petersburg’s playing surfaces were in horrendous condition for the most important matches of each respective club’s season. Granted AC Milan’s pitch has never been of the highest quality but the Serie A club’s decision to relay both wing sections of the pitch left the surface resembling a bog and made for a poor spectacle. The state of the pitch reflected badly on UEFA who only passed the surface playable early on Tuesday morning.
Elsewhere in the Europe, the midweek sub-zero temperatures in Russia made the Stadion Petrovskiy playing surface looking like a green-tinted ice-rink. In fairness to Zenit St. Petersburg and Benfica, both clubs made light of the conditions and produced a five-goal thriller to warm the crowd. Yet the recent Six Nations debacle in France surely demonstrated that the time has come for UEFA to look at alternative / neutral venues for Eastern bloc countries when poor weather conditions are known to exist the week before a scheduled fixture.
5. Barcelona looks good even in second gear
Barca’s 3-1 result obtained away to Bayer Leverkusen on Valentine’s night was not unexpected but served as a reminder to the rest of the continent that Pep Guardiola’s side is capable of winning in second gear. Leverkusen fought doggedly for the opening 40 minutes and stretched their opponents on occasion without ever threatening Victor Valdes’ goal. Everything changed in the 41st minute once Alexis Sanchis netted Barcelona’s opener. The Bundesliga club were forced to attack (and even managed an equaliser) which allowed the Catalans’ sit back and pick off their opponents twice more on the counter before running out 3-1 winners.
Barcelona’s innate ability to patiently retain possession before quickening the pace to create holes in their opponents defence is taken for granted but remains one of the great spectacles of modern day football.
Worryingly for the remaining Champions League clubs, Barcelona were able to produce such a display on the back of a shock defeat to Osasuna and being 10 points adrift of Real Madrid in their domestic title race. Whoever wins the 2012 Champions League is most likely going to have to come up with a way to defeat the current title-holders.
Follow Ger on Twitter: @germccarthy74
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/WH09YfBFwzo/post.aspx
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