The former Blaugrana supremo has admitted that the acquisition of the Sweden international was an error on his part as the forward never really settled in at Camp Nou
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The Spain international has previously been linked with Barcelona, and has now also attracted the interest of the Serie A champions
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MILAN - Ahead of the match against Barcelona we analyse the stats of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He is the only Milan player to have scored in all competitions that Milan have played in this season: 22 goals in the league, 5 in the Champions League, 1 in the Italian Cup, 1 in the Italian Super Cup. That makes it 29 goals in 33 games. Ibra is doing even better than in his first season witht the rossoneri.There is a marked improvement to his goals ratio per month this season. From October 2011 till now he has scored more goals per month than last season. Below is a detailed breakdown of his goals per month ratio. OCTOBER: 2010 2 GOALS - 2011 4 GOALSNOVEMBER: 2010 4 GOALS - 2011 5 GOALSDECEMBER: 2010 2 GOALS - 2011 4 GOALSJANUARY: 2011 5 GOALS - 2012 5 GOALSFEBRUARY: 2011 1 GOALS - 2012 1 GOALSMARCH: 2011 0 GOALS - 2012 7 GOALS
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The Italian stopper is hopeful that the Rossoneri can eliminate Barca and progress in the Champions League, while urging Juve to focus on their own Serie A title race
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The club's sporting director hopes Pep Guardiola's men can maintain the intensity shown in previous seasons, but says talk of winning all three titles is premature
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The French coach is of the opinion that the Rossoneri will not be able to win Europe's elite club competition in the current campaign, despite being a quality side
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MILAN - The European Champions and World Club Champions, Barcelona, will land at Malpensa airport at midday.
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MILAN - Victor Valdes spoke yesterday afternoon after Barcelona's training session about the match against the rossoneri: "Milan are a very dangerous side on dead ball situations and on the counter attack. We have to play our game. Even in 2010 we played at the San Siro twice, against Inter in the semi finals. Sometimes history changes...we'll see." Click here to see the full report of the press conference.
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MILAN - 12 players have received a one match ban for the next round of matches in Serie A: Perez, Mudingayi and Raggi (Bologna), Astori (Cagliari), Diakhite (Lazio), Ekstrand (Udinese), Esposito (Lecce), Heinze (Roma), Mesbah and Muntari (Milan), Rigoni (Novara), Sammarco (Chievo Verona).
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MILAN - The match between Milan and Barcelona is attracting media attention from all over the world. Over 300 journalists are expected to arrive at the San Siro, 70 photographers, 20 radio station will be present as well as 43 different TV networks, both national and international.
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The Blaugrana allegedly tried to sign the Brazil international last summer and will launch another bid for the 27-year-old centre-half at the end of the current campaign
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The Brazilian's injury has further tipped the odds in the tournament favourites' direction ahead of the quarter-final first leg as the Rossoneri try to cope without him
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The Manchester United midfielder broke the former AC Milan man's appearance record on Monday night as he played his 903rd match for the Red Devils
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Lionel Messi is on the brink of yet
another record as title holders and favourites Barcelona visit
AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday with the odds
firmly stacked against the injury-hit Serie A team.
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The Dutch winger will fly with the rest of the team to the Italian city but will not take part in the fixture as he has not yet been deemed match fit
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With five more strikes to choose from, pick your favourite and tune into this week's episode of the Goal Show on Wednesday
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The Blaugrana have won their last nine games in all competitions but the keeper is taking nothing for granted against a side who caused the Catalans problems in the group stage
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Europe's premier club competition returns this week, and Goal.com is inviting you to get involved in a Q&A session on Twitter
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AC Milan-Barcelona tops the bill in this week's Champions League quarter-final first legs and Rafael Benitez gives us his verdict.
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MILAN - Maximilian Gaston Lopez, better known as Maxi Lopez, could well make his debut in the Champions League for Milan on Wednesday against Barcelona, his former club. He moved to the Spanish giants from River Plate in 2005 and played his first match in the Champions League just days after his arrival against Chelsea in the round of 16. On that occasio Maxi scored a goal and set one up as Barce won 2-1.
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MILAN - Below is the list of the five players that have found the most playing time with Massimiliano Allegri and with Pep Guardiola in the Champions League after eight games played plus the two games of the knock-out stage.Milan: 630mins Abbiati, 627 Abate, 598 Nocerino, 590 Thiago Silva, 540 Ibrahimovic.Barcellona: 630mins Victor Valdes e Messi, 540 Mascherano, 521 Daniel Alves, 515 Busquets.Gli unici sempre presenti in campo per sette partite su otto sono stati quindi: Abbiati, Victor Valdes e Lionel Messi.The only players to feature in seven of the eight games are Abbiati, Victor Valdes e Lionel Messi.
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MILAN - 21 players have been called up by Pep Guardiola for Wednesday's match against Milan.Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Fábregas, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis Sanchez, Messi, Thiago Alcantara, Mascherano, Keita, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Afellay, I. Cuenca, Muniesa, Montoya, Oier, Cristian Tello.
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The Greek defender joined the Rossoneri in 2010 after an impressive spell at Genoa but failed to nail down a regular berth in Massimiliano Allegri's line-up
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MILAN - The official Barcelona site has reported that Pep Guardiola called up 21 players to his squad for the match against Milan.Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Piqué, Fábregas, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis Sanchez, Messi, Thiago Alcantara, Mascherano, Keita, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Afellay, I. Cuenca, Muniesa, Montoya, Oier, Cristian Tello.
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MILAN – Speaking about Pato and other issues, Adriano Galliani said: Before he left he was confident enough and in good humour. I expected him to be healed when he returns. Milan always put out their best line-up. We don’t have that philosophy where we change things for the Champions League, the league and the final phase of the Italian Cup. We look to honour every competition. We knew that Thiago Silva had a problem so Zambrotta also warmed up but he seemed fine. Then he got injured and everyone is talking about it. No one knew Ibrahimovic played with a bad back. If he had not played then maybe we may not have won. Risks are part of the game. As for Barcelona, we will be meeting the holders who are playing the best football in the world. It is bizarre that in two years we have been in the top eight and we met Real who were a second-placed team. Then this year we finished second and we came up against the holders in the quarters who we met in the group stages. We have not been at all fortunate in the draw but then neither have Barcelona. Milan have been used to facing these types of matches for many years and I am pleased when Milan battle. Last year we were in the battle for the title with Inter and this year it is Juventus. The opponents change but we are always there. Win, lose or draw it is important to stay the top club.
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MILAN - Barcelona will be at the San Siro at 18.00 tomorrow for their press conference scheduled to start at 18.15 followed by training at 19.00.
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The Brazil international has made just 11 appearances in Serie A this season and it is not yet known when he will be in a position to return to competitive action
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MILAN - Jonas Eriksson will referee Milan-Barcellona at San Siro in Champions League on Wednesday. The Swedish official was born on March 28 1974, and has only refereed Milan once before: Uefa Cup 2008-2009, against Werder Brema at the San Siro, 2-2 the final result. In 2010-2011, Eriksson was in charge of Barcelona-Rubin Kazan 2-0.Eriksson's assistants will be: Stefan Wittberg and Mathias Klasenius; back-up Markus Strombergsson and Stefan Johannesson; fourth official Daniel Stalhammar; Uefa delegates, Mikalai Varabyov; referee observer Herbert Fandel.
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MILANELLO – Milan started training at 11.00 on the central pitch at Milanello as they continued their preparations to face Barcelona in the Champions League.
After a 30-minute warm-up which included slalom runs and over the low-slung hurdles along with some stretching, the team got down to work with the ball.
After 20 minutes of ball possession there was a 10-side match with goalkeepers followed by tactical drills.
Maxi Lopez and Robinho were back training with the team while Abate joined the squad for the first 30 minutes of athletic work and then went to the gym. He returned at just after 12.30 to work with the ball. Flamini and Valoti went running around the pitch at midday.
There will be an official Champions League press conference at 14.00 tomorrow followed by training at 16.00.
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(IN THE PHOTO: Milan and Barcelona before kick-off at the San Siro)
MILAN – Milan and Barcelona have a trophy-room full of Cups. In total the clubs have won 34 pieces of silverware excluding Latin Cup and Fairs’ Cup and other unofficial competitions.
MILAN1 World Club Cup3 Intercontinental Cup7 Champions Cup/Champions League5 European Super Cup2 Cup Winners Cup
BARCELONA2 World Club Cup4 Champions Cup/Champions League4 European Super Cup4 Cup Winners Cup
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