Soccer #2

Passion Project 

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1347599/ac-milan-stuns-barcelona-2-0-in-champions-league?cc=5901

Barcelona vs AC Milan, a match that doesn't happen often. Its a match that you would probably see once in years. And I guess this was the lucky year for these two teams to compete against each other. So on February 20th 2013 these two teams faced; and it wasn't just any match, it was a match that would determine which team would advance to the next round of the UEFA Champions League. For the ones that don't know what UEFA Champions League is, well it is basically a tournament in which all the top clubs of Europe in their leagues compete against each other to determine which team will be the champion of Europe and there are two legs in this tournament meaning one is played in one teams home ground and the other at other teams home ground. The winner is determined by adding the number of goals a team scored in both of the legs. Whenever there is a tie, the team that scored the most goals in the away game advances. 

Barcelona is one of the best clubs of Spain and AC Milan is one of the best clubs of Italy and if these two compete against each other, you would definitely see one heck of a match. A match that would last for a long long time. So while I was going over this article I was surprised when I found out the result of the match. It was the exact opposite of what I was expecting. I knew that Barcelona would have won the game but unfortunately they lost; not just conceding one but two goals.This was the first time that AC Milan defeated Barcelona in eight matches. For most of the match, AC Milan dominated however there were some chances that Barcelona got which probably could have lead to a goal but unfortunately it didn't. Even their megastar Lionel Messi who was the Fifa Ballon d'Or winner of 2013 couldn't do anything for this team. However, their midfielders Xavi and Iniesta played brilliantly but still their crosses weren't good enough for the strikers to score a goal.  As for as AC Milan is concerned, they did a magnificent job and they definitely deserved the victory. If they play with the same tactics in the second leg they would definitely reach the next round infact they might even win the tournament because in the past years, whoever has beaten Barcelona has later on won the tournament.

So what did I learn after reading the article? Well, I learned that soccer is basically a sport in which anything could happen; meaning in just a matter of minutes it can drastically change the entire outcome of the match. From what looks like an even match can later on turn out to be a one sided match. You never know what to expect in Soccer. For an example, there was this match between Manchester United and Bayern Munich a long time ago. For what looked like an easy 2-0 victory for Munich later turned out to be a 3-2 loss for them; this happened in just a couple of minutes. Another example was what happened last year in the same tournament. That match was being playing against Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Throughout that match no teams scored but around 85th minute, Munich scored a goal, but not for long, soon the other team also scored a goal when their were just a few seconds left in the game. Due to this the match then went to extra time and then on penalties. Also, no matter what teams face each other, you would definitely enjoy watching Soccer unlike other sports like Football because that sport doesn't keep going, it stops after a few seconds which doesn't make the game that much interesting. However, Soccer doesn't stop , it just keeps going nonstop for 90 minutes with just a few minutes of break after 45 minutes. That is what makes Soccer unique and different from other sports. Even if you go to watch a Soccer match you're only there for 90 minutes and those 90 minutes are enjoyable for you because you are being entertained. And in some cases those 90 minutes are one of your best moments because of what you witnessed.  There is so much other stuff that I learned from this article, the list just goes on and on.