well, now onto Serie A ... at least barca won the game w/o any help from the ref
Milan were always gonna have a diff task to eliminate a strong Barca team with several key players missing and/or not being in top shape but they still had a more than decent shot until the higher powers in football decided to intervene yet again. At 1-1 Milan had the game where they wanted it to go, in a tactical sense, but that completely changed with that soft 2nd PK, which flipped the momentum in Barca's favor and took the spirit out of Milan ... a bit disappointed that the team didn't react to the adversity in a better way but better luck next year.
Would be a mistake to think that Milan went out only because of the ref as the team obviously has its limitations but in a game like this, vs an opponent as strong as Barca, decisions like the one today are always gonna be key in tipping the balance in someone's favor. Milan's shot in this game involved keeping the score in their favor for as long as possible and frustrating Barca ... they managed to do that but once Barca got the 2nd PK, that forced Milan to play the game in a way they didn't want to.
That's what's so insidious about it all. It's how a brand works. Yet everyone depends on Barça being perceived as attractive. That is why journalists like them so much. The football Barcelona bring is typically boring and uninteresting. They win by letting the other team fall asleep. Or by cheating.
The ref doesn't plot to call in favour of Barcelona. He's scared of not giving them a penalty, because everyone likes them. Everyone likes them, because they are constantly put forward as the best team ever in the media. The media aren't independent, because they have to sell. They only sell when there's a strong brand, something people want to identify with. So they make Barça that brand.
It's insidious and it is wrong. To me, Barça no longer exist.
I also missed the first 20 min of the 2nd half - after seeing that 2nd PK, it was obvious to me that Milan would have needed a miracle to qualify tonight ... even if the guys did score a 2nd and a 3rdgoal, Barca would have still gone thru, one way or another.
Messi's a good player, but mentally he's just as big as he is physically. No character, no passion, no sportsmanship. Messi's nowhere near the moral level a grown up 24 year old should be. Maybe it's growing up in a protected Barcelona environment, maybe it's being coached ever since he was a little kid, but the guy has no personality whatsoever. Lavezzi is three times the man Messi is.