Arsenal 0 - 0 AC Milan

An impressive performance from the Gunners in a match where they did everything right but score. Many of the players who were missing during Saturday’s match at Man United were back and ready for the challenge that Champions League holders AC Milan presented in tonight’s first leg of the knockout stage.

Returning to the lineup were Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna, while Emmanuel Adebayor and Mathieu Flamini both started again after coming on as subs on Saturday. Jens Lehmann started in goal in place of the ill Manuel Almunia, and the crazy German was called into action relatively early as Milan tested the Gunners defense. The defense was tested further when Kolo Toure was forced off through injury. The big defender did well to block a well-struck Pato strike, but somehow injured his calf in the process. Arsene Wenger reckons it’ll be about three weeks before we see Kolo return to action.

In his stead stood Philip Senderos. Big Phil played extremely well. In fact, the whole defense did, limiting Milan to only a handful of chances and half-chances for the remainder of the game.

Meanwhile, the midfield and attack generated a few chances of their own in the first half, but absolutely ran riot in the second. Chance after chance was created, all going agonizingly astray. A pass that just missed an open attacker. A shot saved by Milan third-string keeper Zeljko Kalac. The most gut-wrenching of them all was the last-second header from Adebayor that smacked the crossbar. I had actually started to raise my arms in celebration, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

While the negatives from this match are the lack of a goal and the injury to Kolo, the positives are easy to point to as well. To rebound in such a way from the debacle of Old Trafford was extremely encouraging not only to the fans, but to the manager and players as well. Most importantly, the defense kept a clean sheet, making the job that faces the Gunners in a fortnight’s time a bit easier.

No question, Milan are often a different side at home, but there’s no reason to not be optimistic that come this time on March 4th, we’ll be looking forward to the Champions League quarterfinal draw.