AC Milan

LONDON, March 8 (Xinhua) -- AC Milan progressed to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since 2011-2012 after a 0-0 draw with 10-man ...

(Xinhua)

Milan are into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 11 years - their young team are continuing to mature under Pioli.

A poor victor for this stage of the Champions League, this young Milan team were at least mature. Afterwards, Antonio Conte played the football heritage card, arguing the difference between Tottenham and “champions of Italy” AC Milan with their seven Champions League titles, is ‘abissale’, so deep it’s like staring into an abyss. In the meantime, Milan have to grind and edge ties like this last-16 encounter. The concern about the team’s recent form on the road (which flared up in Florence at the weekend), the anticipation Tottenham would suddenly turn it on like other Premier League sides have done against Milan and the question marks over Fikayo Tomori (who gave away another penalty on Saturday) washed away like the London rain. Some will turn up their noses at the football they played against Tottenham but Milan are under no illusion as to who they are at the moment. But Milan wanted to make progress and honour the history of the club in this competition with greater dignity. If Milan are to take another step towards a definitive reawakening, the club needs a ground like the one Spurs call home to bring in the transformative money San Siro, unfortunately, does not. As champions of Italy, Milan made the most of being top seeds in their group and reached the knockout stages, something they had not done since Massimiliano Allegri was in charge. Not the seven Champions League trophies in the Casa Milan museum. For a start, it did not have to be against an insipid Tottenham team who, to borrow a phrase from the lore of Italian football, gave a performance evocative of a ‘coniglio bagnato’, a wet rabbit. Specifically, a night in Athens in the Europa League comes to mind when his former team-mate Leonardo, Milan’s then-sporting director, blamed elimination against Olympiacos in 2018 on the noise in the stadium. Under shafts of bone-chilling rain, the Milan ultras turned their backs on the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, pulling off their black T-shirts to reveal red, goose-pimpled torsos against a pitch-black sky.

AC Milan held Tottenham to a goalless draw in London and progressed to the UEFA Champions League quarter finals.

- That is the best chance of the game so far. - That is Spurs' best chance of the game so far. AC Milan work a brilliant free kick from the training ground, Tonali finds Messias Jr in the box but the Brazilian can only drag his shot wide. Tottenham will look back on tonight as a real missed opportunity, not purely for the fact that they were eliminated from the competition, but because of the manner that Spurs went out. The board went up for six minutes to a raucous reception and it was in stoppage time where Spurs had their best chance. At the half time whistle, neither side had managed a shot on target.

The biggest cheer heard around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday evening was when Olivier Giroud attempted an acrobatic volley, but instead landed ...

On the rare occasions that they did venture close enough to Milan's penalty area to set the pulses racing they invariably ran out of ideas. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with AC Milan, Spurs did not play like a side that needed a goal. It was that bleak.

AC Milan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League after holding 10-man Tottenham to a goalless draw.

Tottenham is now left to battle for a place in the Premier League top four, which would provide a route back into the Champions League. “For sure in our mind it was to put pressure on with intensity but in the first half we found it difficult offensively," Conte said. “We felt a bit of pressure. Tottenham had gone into the game on the back of bruising losses to second-division Sheffield United in the FA Cup and Wolverhampton in the Premier League. We can do much better.” “I think we can do much better offensively.

Here are our Tottenham player ratings after their 1-0 aggregate loss to AC Milan in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday night.

3 Reckless and his third red card for the club in just a season and a half to go with the large number of yellow cards. Picked up a booking for a mistimed challenge early in the game and then earned his second yellow for a wild late challenge with 11 minutes to go. One of those nights when he proved to be more of a liability than the top drawer defender he can be.

Second place in the standings and playoff quarter-finals almost secured.

The objective of the team and coach is to continue to grow, and making the tricolour dream come true. Coach Lantignotti, on the other hand, guided the U17 team to the semi-final, which they then lost to Bologna. The team was good at closing the match at the right time, and I congratulate the boys because they gave everything and got a great result, perhaps not playing as well as other times".

Tottenham player ratings as Spurs crashed out of the Champions League at the expense of AC Milan.

On the rare occasions that they did venture close enough to Milan's penalty area to set the pulses racing they invariably ran out of ideas. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with AC Milan, Spurs did not play like a side that needed a goal. It was that bleak.

After winning 1-0 back on February 14, AC Milan travelled to London for the return leg of their Champions League round of 16 clash against Tottenham in an ...

On the right, Junior Messias was the clear flop of the game as he offered little to nothing going forward and missed a big chance in front of goal. The times he did escape, however, he should’ve made more out of the situation and he failed to do so. Theo Hernandez had a great game and was one of the best on the pitch, helping a lot in the attacking phase and drawing a foul from Romero that got him a red card as mentioned. Oddly enough, Rafael Leao wasn’t on the same level as he seemed to struggle to find his spot on the pitch. It is great to see Magic Mike looking confident straight away, shouting and giving tips to the defenders in front of him which was perhaps lacking when he wasn’t available. The majority of the game was in fact fairly boring from a neutral point of view, but that meant Milan did their job well.

Former Inter, AC Milan, and Lazio midfielder Cristian Brocchi feels that, whilst the Nerazzurri may have a strong squad, they are not at the top level as.

“Just talking about the style of play, Inter have a lot of top players, but the way that they play is more linear, they don’t have the kind of European-quality style of play that Milan and Napoli do,” the former midfielder added. Moreover, both the Nerazzurri and the Partenopei have a good chance of progressing to the quarterfinals of the competition along with the Rossoneri given the first leg advantages that they have in round of sixteen ties against Porto and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively. Former Inter, AC Milan, and Lazio midfielder Cristian Brocchi feels that, whilst the Nerazzurri may have a strong squad, they are not at the top level as the Rossoneri and Napoli are in terms of their style of play.

LONDON (AP) – AC Milan's Champions League credentials were barely tested by Tottenham as the seven-time winners advanced to the quarterfinals.

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was then denied by Maignan after a driving run in the box. Kane’s effort was the closest the home team came to leveling the score on aggregate – before Milan substitute Divock Origi hit the post in a frantic finish. Milan was allowed to cruise through the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which saw Cristian Romero sent off in the second half.