UEFA Champions League: Injury-Plagued Milan Find Miracle Point at Barcelona

Missing several key players heading into the opening match in the UEFA Champions League, AC Milan were able to walk away with a memorable point in a 2-2 draw with Barcelona.

The Rossoneri went flying out of the gates. Alexandre Pato scored the opener 24 seconds into the match, making it one of the quickest goals in Champions League history.

Milan needed a quick start. The club were without several key starters. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ruled out for a month and the club are still waiting for Taye Taiwo and Phillipe Mexes to become available to make their debuts. Backup forward Robinho is also out at the moment.

For the first 20 minutes, Milan were persistent and made it look like they would make things difficult for Barcelona all game.

However, Barcelona found their rhythm within a half hour and from then on out, it was more or less all Barcelona.

Milan, already down several players, lost Kevin-Prince Boateng in the 34th minute and he was replaced by Massimo Ambrosini. That's when things really started to turn.

Barcelona broke through the Milan defense and Pedro beat Gianluca Zambrotta to get on the end of a ball across the face of goal to level the match in the 36th minute.

Despite Barcelona overall controlling the possession 75-25, they needed the help of a debatable foul on Pedro to earn a free kick outside the box. David Villa went on to put the ball perfectly into the net. There was no chance that any goalkeeper was stopping it, and Barcelona took a 2-1 lead with 40 minutes to play. From that point, it seemed that Milan had no chance of coming back and the question became not if Barcelona would win, but by how many.

Barcelona were the kings of the stat sheet—22 shots, 75 percent possession and six shots allowed. It seemed like there was no way Milan would have a chance.

Milan were confident going in and and while they may have looked less than confident following the second goal, they never lost their resolve.

It took until the dying moments, but Milan finally got the ball back into the attacking third and were awarded a corner two minutes into stoppage time.

That's when, as he has done so many times before, Thiago Silva came running up into the box, ready to pounce on the cross.

Arguably the world's best central defender, the man who snubbed Barcelona this summer is the man who silenced the Camp Nou crowd with a header that went flying into the back of the net from around the penalty spot, sending the Milan dugout into an uproar.

Milan didn't necessarily deserve anything from this match, but let's be fair, they were plagued with injuries and that was made worse with Boateng having to leave early on. With a full squad, Milan could have made that a really entertaining match.

Still, Barcelona failed to put away their guests when they had the opportunity to do so. Credit Milan's defense, but credit has to be given to the way Barcelona dominated the possession.

The two sides meet again on December 6th, and in between each play BATE Borisov and Vikotria Plzen twice. These should be four wins each, meaning the match on the 6th would be for first place in Group H of the Champions League. The top two teams advance, but the Round of 16 puts group winners against group runners-up.

After one round, Milan and Barcelona top the Group H table. BATE and Viktoria drew 1-1 today in the Czech Republic. Milan play Viktoria and BATE play Barcelona in the next round on September 28th.