Champions League Draw: Barcelona Faces Dogfight to Advance Past AC Milan

It won't be easy for Barcelona to repeat as champions of the Champions League, as the team first must get through their most troubling opponent this past season in AC Milan.

The two clubs were battling it out all season in the same group, but Barcelona easily walked away as the clear front-runners as they had 16 points in group play. Milan was right behind them with nine points, but these two teams were neck-in-neck when they played one another.

Now, the winner of this quarterfinal matchup will keep fighting to claim a championship, something both clubs have proven to deserve this season.

In their first matchup back on September 13, 2011, the two teams came to a draw as the final score was 2-2. Milan was down 2-1 going into the extra time of the second half. At the 92' mark, Thiago Silva scored one last goal that sent the game into a tie.

The two wouldn't meet up again in group play until November 23, 2011, this time with Barcelona finishing Milan 3-2 to finally take a victory from their toughest opponent.

In that game, the two teams went into extra time with the score locked up 2-2. Instead of Milan getting the best of them in the later portion of the game, it was Barcelona who scored a goal at the 91' mark. Jonathan Dos Santos brought the team a victory, which also proved to the world that they can handle the more difficult teams as well.

While they did prove that, it still won't be an easy task for them to get past Milan the third time around.

As it was proven this past season, Milan can stick in there with Barcelona, and both teams will have to bring everything to the table to make their way into the final.

Barcelona has boasted the most points in the group, but that just doesn't seem to be a deciding factor when these two clubs meet up.

They are coming off of a 7-1 victory over Leverkusen, while Milan is actually coming off of a 3-0 loss to Arsenal.

For some reason, it just seems like those two previous results won't mean a thing when these two teams are at it once again.