Barcelona will meet Arsenal in a Champions League final that will delight football purists around the world after holding AC Milan to a goalless draw in Barcelona on Wednesday.
The Catalans were unable to add to the 1-0 advantage they had established in the first leg at the San Siro last week, and it remains to be seen if the two most attractive sides in European football live up to their billing in Paris on May 17.
But there was no disputing that Frank Rijkaard’s Barca deserved to book their place in the final after carving out enough chances to have won this encounter at a canter.
Rijkaard said: ”It feels good. I’m happy to reach the final. We had to work hard to win.”
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was frustrated not to get the chance to make up for last year’s traumatic final appearance, when his side blew a 3-0 half-time lead before losing on penalties to Liverpool in Istanbul.
”It is the little details that decide matches like these, and tonight they went in Barcelona’s favour and against us,” Ancelotti said in reference to a second-half header by Andriy Shevchenko that found the net but was ruled out, apparently for offside, by the German referee Markus Merck.
But the Italian recognised the quality of Barcelona’s play. ”Barcelona are a great team and they deserve their place in the final,” he said. ”I felt our performances over the two matches were good enough for us to have gone to the final, but we are proud to have got as far as we did.”
Milan’s hopes of preventing Barca from adding to their first-leg advantage had not been helped by the loss of Alessandro Nesta to a groin strain, which resulted in Alessandro Costacurta being pressed into action in the centre of defence, two days after his 40th birthday.
Yet it was the Italians who were first to bare their teeth in an encounter that had none of the caginess that disfigured the first leg.
With barely a minute on the clock, Jaap Stam’s simple pass through the inside right channel caught the Barca back four on their heels and allowed Kaka to get clear and fire a shot across Victor Valdes but narrowly beyond the far post.
That was to prove Milan’s best chance of the night and Barca’s response was swift, a typically sweet combination between Ludovic Giuly and Andres Iniesta sending Samuel Eto’o into the area, where Dida had to be quick off his line to make a good block.
The Milan goalkeeper was exposed once more in the 17th minute when Kakha Kaladze lost possession to Eto’o outside the area. The Cameroon striker burst into the box and his shot, which clipped the goalkeeper’s body, was looping towards goal when Costacurta stepped in to hook it away.
Barca were beginning to set up permanent camp in Milanese territory but they were not having things all their own way, with Andriy Shevchenko’s effort finding the side netting after Rino Gattuso had picked him out beyond the back post.
And for all their territorial domination, Barca were gradually reduced to trying their luck for distance, with Ronaldinho and Deco both unleashing efforts that flew a little too close to the target for Dida’s comfort.
There was a moment of concern for the Milan bench just before the break when Eto’o pushed the ball past Costacurta and was pulled down by the veteran, who, as the last man, was fortunate to escape with a yellow card.
Valdes was forced into his first save of the night shortly after the restart, comfortably gathering a diving header from Shevchenko.
Julian Belletti then missed a glorious chance by failing to finish off a move he had started himself. Ronaldinho carried it on by putting Giuly in behind the Milan left-back Serginho.
The Frenchman delivered a textbook low cross across the goal mouth, but Belletti somehow contrived to swipe his boot at clean air when a touch of any description would have deposited the ball in the net.
The miss appeared to galvanise the hosts and Ronaldinho tested Dida from distance before finding Giuly at the back post with a dangerous cross that his teammate volleyed over the bar.
Ancelotti’s final throw of the dice was to replace midfield anchorman Gattuso with the guile of Rui Costa, but the effect of that change was simply to leave his side more vulnerable at the back.
It required a superb reflex stop from Dida to keep out a header from substitute Henrik Larsson, who dived bravely to meet an Eto’o cross from the left, and Deco could have relieved the tension for the home fans 20 minutes before the final whistle after Ronaldinho’s surge through the middle.
The Portuguese playmaker’s shot, straight into the arms of Dida, was symptomatic of Barca’s finishing on the night but Milan’s own cutting edge never looked sharp enough to punish the Catalans for their wastefulness.
Thierry Henry and company might not be so forgiving. — Sapa-AFP