It was the most formidable (together with Real Madrid, which instead can only happen in the final), and Nyon's urn picked that one. AC Milan will have to deal with Barcelona under Messi and Guardiola to hope to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, a milestone that has been missing since 2007, the year in which the Rossoneri won the top continental competition by beating Liverpool in Athens.
Very distant times, those in which a still sparkling Inzaghi signed the double that avenged the hoax in Istanbul two years earlier: since then only disappointments, with Milan always eliminated in the round of XNUMX for three consecutive seasons. A result not worthy of the international pedigree of via Turati, which in fact this year has been improved by bringing home, albeit with a few too many thrills against Arsenal, at least – for now – the quarter-finals.
Now though for Allegri's men the road to the final in Monaco is really uphill: the Uefa draw that took place in Nyon, Switzerland, immediately decreed the Blaugrana obstacle. Messi and company, although they probably won't win La Liga this year (the gap to Real Madrid seems unbridgeable), are still considered the favorites to lift the big-eared Cup, which they are the holders of and which they have won three times since 2006 . But most of all Barça is still considered the strongest team in the world, and this makes the undertaking to be achieved for the Rossoneri club even more difficult and at the same time fascinating, the only Italian still in the running on the European stage.
Milan will also have the disadvantage of playing their first match at home on March 28 at the San Siro, with the return scheduled to Catalonia on 3 April. If nothing else, however, Ibrahimovic and his companions will avoid the other two bogeymen in a possible semifinal: Real Madrid and Bayern Munich (which has the possibility of playing the final at home) have been drawn on the other side of the scoreboard, respectively against Apoel Nicosia and Marseille. Benfica or Chelsea (with the first leg in Lisbon) will therefore be the possible opponents of Milan or Barcelona in the match that will qualify for the final (first leg 17-18 April, second leg a week later).
