MILAN – AC Milan schooled Arsenal on how to score on counterstrikes with a 4-0 victory at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in San Siro, Italy Wednesday. The AC Milan-Arsenal game was billed to be the most attractive game of the round of 16 UEFA Champions League play.
The score shows that the game may have been over hyped, as the English squad never really presented a challenge on the pitch. The Italians took over the initiative and prepared far more attack options that made the Londoners look like a youth squad.
The game started slow between the two European giants. The ball rolled back and forth with neither team taking control of the field. The first goal came in the grand tradition of Italian football, with a counterstrike.
Kevin-Prince Boateng put the rossoneri on the board with a shot from inside the goal box in the 15th minute of play. The Ghana international received the pass, dropped it with his chest, let it bounce and spun a quarter turn to tap the ball over the reach of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. The shot surprised the Polish keeper who actually began the play that ended with the ball in his net with a bad clearance. The ball rolled in his net two hits later.
The game returned to back and forth play, with the Italians counting on a surprise counterstrike and Arsenal looking to control the midfield with no real creativity. Arsene Wenger’s side did not make any runs on the local squad’s net in the first half, practically giving up control of the ball to Milan.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic recovered a ball and ran it down the band to the out of bounds line. The play pulled Szczesny off his line. The Swede looked up to see an open Robinho. He passed the ball and the Brazilian jumped to head the sphere into an open net for the 2-0 in the 38th.
Wenger made changes in the second half. He pulled Theo Walcott off the pitch and replaced him with the more experienced former French international Thierry Henry. The Frenchman hoped his countryman would be able to create attack options for the Gunners. However, the New York Red Bulls player, who is currently on loan to Arsenal, was ineffective on the pitch.
The move did not discomfort the locals. Within three minutes of play Ibrahimovic ran the ball down to the edge of the penalty box, saw an open Robinho and passed the ball. The sphere rolled past Robinho who chased it down, spun again and kicked the ball low to the ground to beat a diving Szczesny giving Milan the 3-0 lead.
Arsenal had a shot on goal in the 66th minute of play when Robin Van Persie faced off with Christian Abbiati after beating the Italian defense. The Dutchman took the shot, but Abbiati tapped the ball out sending it to corner.
The final hit of the evening for Arsenal and Szczesny came in the 78th minute when defender Johan Djourou took Ibrahimovic down in the penalty box. The referee awarded the penalty kick and gave the Swiss player a yellow card for his action. Ibrahimovic took the shot. He hammered the ball to Szczesny’s right. The keeper managed to touch the ball, but could not change its course.
Milan was looking to break a bad run that included falling in the round of 16 for the last three years against an English team; Twice against Arsenal. The four goals that were a nightmare for the English, are the most AC Milan has scored in Champions League play since 2007.
Zenit surprises Benfica
Russian-side Zenit St. Petersburg pulled a 3-2 upset over Benfica of Portugal. The surprise comes since the Russians had not played since their final game of Champions League group play on Dec. 6, 2011 against FC Porto. The Russians stopped league play for the winter, while Benfica currently leads the Portuguese league.
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