Barca take their rightful place

In the end it did not matter that Barcelona could not muster a goal. Their football was of butterfly beauty regardless and they succeeded not only in confirming their place in the European Cup final but demonstrating why they may yet make it a chastening experience for Arsenal.

Frank Rijkaard has his team playing with the old Dutch philosophy that giving the ball away is a sin and that, coupled with Ronaldinho's wonderfully unique talents, will establish them as strong favourites to win the competition for a second time.

Milan contributed to a pulsating night and Andriy Shevchenko had a second-half goal contentiously ruled out but, ultimately, the better side made it through.

Unsurprisingly, Arsene Wenger had shuffled his diary, delegating this morning's training to Pat Rice, so he could get a close look at Arsenal's opponents for the Stade de France on May 17th.

He had probably hoped he would find a previously hidden weakness, a fault that a charged-up Thierry Henry could expose. Instead, he will have left in a daze. So brilliant was the football at times Wenger could have been excused if he had put his notebook into his inside pocket and started applauding.

Camp Nou certainly knows how to put on a show. Just watching Ronaldinho go through his repertoire of tricks in the warm-up can be an invigorating experience. There was the image, shortly before the kick-off, of Barca's supporters brandishing red, yellow and blue cards to spell out the club's motto Mes Que Un Club - More Than Just a Club. And when the match got underway the Catalan crowd - among them two neutrals in Roy Keane and Sam Allardyce - witnessed a level of football that touched some exhilarating peaks.

Inevitably Ronaldinho was at the hub but he was not alone in illuminating this bearpit of a stadium. Samuel Eto'o had been a peripheral figure at the San Siro eight days earlier but here he seemed intent on exposing the fact Alessandro Costacurta turned 40 on Monday.

Barcelona's intentions were never to defend their first-leg lead and Eto'o had reason to curse Dida, Milan's goalkeeper, twice inside the opening half an hour as he wriggled through the ageing Milan defence.

Shevchenko is no longer the striker he once was and his old ruthlessness deserted him again when Clarence Seedorf invited a diving header in the second half.

Within a couple of minutes Juliano Belletti was presented with an open goal at the other end only to concoct what a golfer would call an air shot.

Milan will reflect on the referee Markus Merk's decision to rule that Shevchenko had pushed Carles Puyol before beating Victor Valdes with a 70th minute header, but they could not complain too vociferously given the overall state of play.

Wenger may have been under the belief that Barcelona's weakness was in their defending but Puyol and his colleagues were resolute, with Milan failing to create a clear opportunity throughout the frenetic final exchanges.

Fittingly, the night ended with Ronaldinho as the last player to leave the pitch. He received acclaim from the crowd after being the outstanding performer for long spells of the game.

Wenger's worry must be that Ronaldinho's smile will also light up the Stade de France, because if there is one certainty it is that he is not stifled by big occasions.

BARCELONA: Valdes, Belletti, Marquez, Puyol, Van Bronckhorst, Iniesta, Edmilson, Deco, Giuly (Larsson 68), Eto'o (Van Bommel 89), Ronaldinho. Subs not used: Jorquera, Motta, Maxi Lopez, Sylvinho, Gabri. Booked: Edmilson.

AC MILAN: Dida, Stam, Costacurta (Cafu 64), Kaladze, Serginho, Gattuso (Rui Costa 68), Pirlo, Seedorf, Shevchenko, Kaka, Inzaghi (Gilardino 80). Subs not used: Kalac, Maldini, Vogel, Jankulovski. Booked: Costacurta.

Referee: M Merk (Germany).