Arsenal vs. AC Milan: Gunners Expose Italian Side's Major Weaknesses

Even though AC Milan survived a valiant effort by Arsenal to advance to the quarterfinal of the Champions League Tuesday night, the Gunners exposed the serious weaknesses that will ultimately hurt the Italian club as the competition progresses.

The Gunners targeted the left side of the Milan defense and had some very nice results.

Milan left-back Djamel Mesbah was absolutely brutal against Arsenal at the Emirates, and time after time, he was getting beat by Theo Walcott down the flanks. It was quite surprising that Milan did not replace Mesbah with the ultra-experienced left-back Gianluca Zambrotta at halftime.

Not only is the left side of the Milan defense a problem, the center of the defense also did not play well in the second leg. Normally reliable Brazilian center-back Thiago Silva played poorly at times, and the second Arsenal goal came from a poor clearance from Silva. 

If Milan's defense plays like this in the quarterfinals, they will have a real tough time progressing to their first semifinal since 2007, when they won the competition.

Milan's attack was also disappointing in this match. Star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was brutal and was not able to make a profound impact against a Gunners defense that has been prone to make fatal mistakes this season.

Ibrahimovic historically hasn't fared well on English soil in Champions League matches, but there was no excuse for his performance today.

The way Milan came out of the gate today was also troubling for their fans. They knew that Arsenal would be full of attacking energy and would play hard right from the start, yet Milan looked lost at times and were not able to match the Gunners' intensity.

Milan is a quality squad, but they have too many weaknesses that will prevent them from advancing past the quarterfinal of this competition. They had so many chances to be upset by Arsenal in the second leg and were lucky to progress. Against a world power like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, Milan will not be so lucky if they play poorly.

Milan was able to dig deep and survive Arsenal's challenge on Tuesday, but the result was not an encouraging one for the Serie A leaders.

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