Under-par Barca’s Champions League hopes on the line

Spanish giants take on Milan tonight in bid to overturn 2-0 first leg defeat.

MADRID: After a record-breaking start to the season Barcelona have suffered a dip in form and face a stern test of their Champions League credentials against AC Milan tonight as they look to overturn a 2-0 first leg defeat to progress to the quarter-finals.

Barca only dropped two points from their first 19 games in La Liga to open up a sizeable lead at the top of the table but in the last two months chinks have started to show in their armoury, particularly in defence where they hadn’t kept a clean sheet in 13 games in all competitions until Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Deportivo la Coruna.

It is a far cry from Milan’s own form as they notched a 10th league match in a row without defeat as they won 2-0 at Genoa on Friday night.

Much of Barca’s problem has been caused by a failure to pressure with the same intent up the pitch, starting with the forwards, which has allowed the opposition to have more time on the ball and expose their defensive flaws, as was shown clearly in the first leg at the San Siro.

Except for one game against Espanyol in early January, it has been assistant coach Jordi Roura who has been leading the team.

Although he is in close contact with Vilanova, it appears as though he lacks the same discipline and strength of character to motivate the players.



However, he seems sure about how his team need to tackle Milan.

“It is an important game and the one that we have been focusing on,” he said. “We are clear about how we are going to approach it. We know how Milan are going to play and how we will do ourselves. I don’t think there is a problem psychologically and we are all very much up for the game.

“We need to do better in front of goal. We have been working on pressuring more and I think we are in good form and in conditions to achieve our aim.

“We will give everything to turn the game around. I’ve seen the players and they will do everything humanly possible.”

Resurgent Schalke ready to see off Galatasaray

Meanwhile, resurgent Schalke 04 are out to continue their winning streak by beating Galatasaray to book their place in the quarter-finals tonight.

Holding a slight advantage with an away goal from the 1-1 first leg draw in Istanbul three weeks ago, Schalke have won all three games since including Saturday’s 2-1 Bundesliga win over Ruhr Valley rivals Borussia Dortmund.

“We mustn’t ease up, everyone needs to keep working hard on the pitch and keep playing at the same level, otherwise it can all go wrong again just as quickly,” said captain Benedikt Hoewedes.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.