Barca looks to make Euro history

BARCELONA -- If you boil down the facts of this extraordinary Champions League game between AC Milan and Barcelona, then it's evident that even with the Italian champions playing at, or perhaps above, their best, FC Barcelona could, and should, have won by four or five clear goals -- a score line which would have sent shock waves around the world. As it was, Barcelona won 3-1 on aggregate in the quarterfinals.

As Pep Guardiola and his troops now confront the semifinals, which will surely be against their 2009 final four rival Chelsea, there will be two cups -- one of which will be half full, the other half empty.

At this stage of the season, having been playing with big peaks and troughs in their sharpness and level of concentration, it is of primeval importance for the defending European champions (no club has ever retained the Champions League) to look as quick, determined, creative and dominant as this if they are to make history.

Cup half full.

However, in the recent matches against Milan (twice) and Athletic Club, Guardiola's boys have managed to miss a hatful of chances.

Tuesday night at Camp Nou, Lionel Messi (once when it looked much easier for him to score), Thiago and Dani Alves all missed the kind of glaring opportunities they would normally gobble up. Then there was a constant stream of cutbacks, crosses which were cleared by a Milan boot and saves from the excellent Christian Abbiati.

Cup half empty.

In the postmatch news conference, Guardiola pointed out, "We had 21 shots on goal and we could easily have scored seven times."

Talking of cups, however, a couple of things will go a long, long way to determining whether this squad can lift the Cup with the Big Ears, as the European Champion Clubs' Trophy is nicknamed.

Gerard Pique has had his ups and downs with his manager this season, but recently has returned to his combative, elegant, competitive best. Let there be no doubt of that.
But not only did he limp off, it was the 25-year-old World Cup winner who signaled to the bench that he couldn't continue in the 75th minute against Milan. As he sat down in his own penalty area, he began to massage the ligaments of his left knee -- an ominous sign for club and country.

Barcelona's Brilliance

Graham Hunter is also the author of "Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World," available as an e-book on the iPad, Kindle and Kobo. The printed version is available in paperback and can be ordered at BackPage Press.

The semifinal first leg is in two weeks' time, and Barca are already missing a key defender in Eric Abidal, who is due to undergo his liver transplant imminently. How quickly Pique recovers is vital: He's a leader, a winner and adds height to a side which is prone to conceding aerial goals.

The other key factor is how long Messi can continue to score (and perform) at this sublime, almost inhuman level. His past 12 club matches are an average of two goals per outing. The last couple of performances have, perhaps, been slightly less outlandishly stunning, but he has made winning contributions nonetheless.

I remember interviewing him back in autumn 2006. He had just returned from a snow holiday (he was forbidden by contract from getting on skis, Jet Skis and the like, but I'm certain he secretly built the odd snowman and such) in Bariloche, Patagonia. He had been given some extra time off because of the World Cup while the majority of his teammates were sweating in preseason training. Messi fulfilled the custom of every Argentinian who finishes high school and has a couple of bucks in his pocket -- the wild trip to that South American winter resort. A kind of rite of passage like spring break, say.

Back to work, healthy and happy, Messi explained to me that his anger in Paris that May, when he refused to come down and celebrate showing the European Cup off on the pitch with his teammates because he was so hurt at not being in the squad chosen for the match, was just a sudden burst of immaturity.

"But I think that, God willing, I'll go on to lift this cup and believe me I want it very much indeed."

Since then, Messi has been the main architect of this side reaching five consecutive Champions League semifinals, he has scored in each of his two finals, and he is currently in a position to finish his fourth consecutive UEFA season as the tournament's top scorer.

Compare him with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Yet another chance to win the tournament gone. Despite one clever goal assist pass versus the Catalans on Tuesday, the Swede again showed why it was important to shift him out of Barcelona in order to ensure that Messi's footballing dominance was not stunted.

Ibrahimovic complained postmatch that "I am disgusted. Without the referee [he awarded two penalties in the first half, both of which Messi converted] the game would have been 50-50, and now I understand better why [Jose] Mourinho gets upset every time he plays here."

Ibrahimovic's comments were dealt with disdainfully by Guardiola. "I don't have to answer to what Mr. Ibrahimovic says, but I will point out that we have now reached five semifinals consecutively," Guardiola said. "We do our talking on the pitch."

On Tuesday night, it was more like roaring than talking. Barcelona is regal and it wants to retain its European crown.

Time to salute Los Blancos

Only a couple of weeks ago, I pointed out that Round 31 of La Liga's games was shaping up as pivotal. Barcelona's home game against Athletic looked easier than it should be because of the Basque club's horrible European-Liga schedule, which meant Bilbao flying home from the Schalke match in Germany on Friday morning, then playing at Camp Nou on Saturday night. That's how it proved: a straightforward 2-0 Barcelona win against a good side that put in a dignified performance (and showed an enormous work ethic) -- but not the contest we'd have liked to see.

But the key game was Madrid at Osasuna. Pamplona has proved a stumbling block for Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Levante this season, and Los Blancos had lost two and drawn one of their previous three visits.