Milan are left running on empty

There could barely have been a greater contrast between the stages for the two UEFA Champions League semi-final second legs. After the regulars at the compact 24,000-seat El Madrigal stadium in Villarreal had almost willed their team to victory over Arsenal FC last night, now it was the turn of the 90-odd thousand who habitually inhabit the cavernous Camp Nou to send AC Milan packing with a raucous Catalan farewell. Neither game produced a goal, but it was not for a lack of chances.

Early arrivals
Way up in a tribune, higher than any in Europe, the 5,000 or so who had travelled from Italy defiantly, optimistically, were ensconced in their seats a full 90 minutes before kick-off, almost unheard of at a football match in these days of all-seaters and all-ticket sellouts; perhaps they knew if they wanted to make themselves heard, the only opportunity would be before anyone else arrived.

Nesta absence
It was always going to be a tall order for their team, attempting to become the first in ten years to recover from a home first-leg deficit and reach the UEFA Champions League final. The bar was raised even higher when Alessandro Nesta failed a late fitness test on his injured thigh, making way for Alessandro Costacurta, two days after celebrating his 40th birthday, in central defence.

Fortysomething
Costacurta, a veteran of three European Champion Clubs' Cup finals, was also captain on a night when Milan would need all the experience and skill they could muster. His night ranged from the nervy - clearing a high ball from under his own crossbar after Samuel Eto'o had broken through – to the risky, scything down the same player when for once his positional sense, honed over 117 previous UEFA club encounters, failed to compensate for his understandable lack of pace.

Age difference
Referee Markus Merk, in charge when Costacurta and most of his team-mates last won the UEFA Champions League at Old Trafford in 2003, took pity on him and brandished only a yellow card. His coach, Carlo Ancelotti, spared him further punishment by withdrawing him 18 minutes into the second half. He was replaced by the 35-year-old Cafu, and Milan's next substitute was the 34-year-old Rui Costa, their ages perhaps illustrating one of the differences between this Milan and that of previous vintages.

Kaká chance
Ahead of Costacurta much was always going to depend on the mercurial talents of Milan's Brazilian playmaker Kaká, outshone in the first leg by his compatriot Ronaldinho. He could have made a difference in the very first minute when he latched on to a pass from Jaap Stam and raced clear, but instead his snatched shot across the face of goal set the tone for Milan's evening.

Chalked off
Barcelona, meanwhile, revelled in the extra space Milan were obliged to afford them in their search for a goal to level the tie. They thought they had found it when Andriy Shevchenko put the ball in the net within seconds of Henrik Larsson coming on for Ludovic Giuly, both players given rousing receptions, but the Ukrainian was adjudged to have fouled Barcelona captain Carlos Puyol just before scoring.

Paris match
In the end though there was no denying Barcelona and their fanatical followers, who can now look forward to a meeting with Arsenal in Paris. Of their players only Deco and Giuly have gone this far before, coming face to face in the final two years ago. Milan, meanwhile, will be back next year, but whether many of their more illustrious names have one more campaign in them remains to be seen. Costacurta can at least be happy at the thought that life begins at 40.