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UEFA Champions League semi-final battles have begun. In the first match, the clubs "Milan" and "Barcelona" faced off in a duel of European football giants. The victory was secured by the Spanish team, which took a big step towards the final in this away game.
0 - 1
57` [0 - 1] Ludovic Giuly
The hosts started the match more actively, and in the 14th minute they were close to scoring - Rafael Marquez, who missed the game due to injury for a month, made a defensive mistake allowing Alberto Gilardino to take the ball, but the "Milan" forward was hindered by the crossbar when trying to score from a sharp angle.
Later, the Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko had a chance to score, but his header was saved by "Barcelona" goalkeeper Victor Valdes, and in one of the best attacks by the visitors, Ludovic Giuly missed an opportunity, as his weak shot did not cause any major problems for Dida. Despite both teams' desire to attack, the first half ended goalless.
After the break, "Milan" had a great opportunity to take the lead again with a first Champions League goal from A.Gilardino - after a beautiful pass from A. Shevchenko, Kaka entered the penalty area and passed the ball to A.Gilardino in the middle, but under pressure from a defender he missed the goal from a few meters away.
Midway through the half, the hosts were punished for missed opportunities by L.Giuly, who received a great pass from Ronaldinho and, after outmaneuvering the defenders on the edge of the penalty area, scored accurately into the near corner of the goal. "Barcelona" scored an away goal and "Milan" found themselves in a very difficult position.
Inspired by his goal, L.Giuly started to terrorize the opponent's defense, and after seven minutes of a run following the goal, the Frenchman left the ball to Ronaldinho, who deceived the defender and shot from the penalty area into the far corner of the goal, but this time the crossbar saved the hosts.
"Milan" launched an assault on the opponent's goal, but initially Kaka missed the target, while "Barça" threatened with counterattacks and tried their luck with a long-range shot from Samuel Eto'o, but his attempt was also off target. The best chance to equalize came in the 81st minute from a substitution coming onto the field, Massimo Ambrosini, but after receiving an accurate pass from Kaka and finding himself alone against the goalkeeper, he shot wide.
At the end of the match, the Spanish visitors threatened the goal of the hosts through Kaka and Paolo Maldini, but the hosts couldn't avoid a very rare defeat at their own stadium. "Barcelona" took the victory from Milan and gained a significant advantage ahead of the return leg in Catalonia next week.
