Massimiliano Allegri said Milan’s draw with Barcelona “gives us strength” for the second leg, but President Silvio Berlusconi was not happy.
Massimiliano Allegri said Milan’s draw with Barcelona “gives us strength” for the second leg, but President Silvio Berlusconi was not happy.
The 0-0 draw in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final leaves qualification wide open for next week’s trip to the Camp Nou.
“Am I happy? Partly. I have a few observations to make,” noted President Berlusconi, who was seen looking irritated at Barca’s domination of possession.
“I think the President is right, in that at times we played very well and in the first half used up a lot of energy,” replied Allegri on Sky Sport Italia.
“We defended in a very organised fashion. We must be happy with the result, especially as we have two out of three results open to us in the second leg.
“Barcelona have scored in almost all their games, so I must compliment my lads for doing so well. It will be very tough in Spain, but this result gives us strength.
“When Leo Messi went deep, Massimo Ambrosini went to mark him. We’ve got to do better on set plays and high balls into the box, though.”
Kevin-Prince Boateng, Alessandro Nesta and Robinho were all making their comebacks to the starting XI after several weeks out with injury, but none of them were able to last 90 minutes.
“I had to make three substitutions due to physical problems. Hopefully some can start to recover for the second leg and others can find better form.”