Abate: Milan missed a rare chance to knock out Barcelona

13-Mar-2013 1:40:00 PM

The wing-back was very disappointed with his side's Champions League exit and has admitted the team's display in midfield was not good enough

Ignazio Abate has voiced his frustration with AC Milan's Champions League round of 16 defeat against Barcelona (4-2 agg.) as he feels they had a realistic chance of knocking the Blaugrana out.

The Rossoneri were beaten 4-0 at Camp Nou in Tuesday's second leg after previously recording a 2-0 home win, much to the disappointment of Abate, who believes Milan could have eliminated the Spanish giants.

"It’s a shame as we had the chance to do them some damage. This season was a real chance to go further in this competition and to knock them out," Abate told the official Milan website.

"They started very well but they were scared after the first leg result. We had a couple of chances but we didn’t take them. There’s a bit of bitterness as we could have managed things better in the middle of the field.

"We just gave them the first half. We didn’t play at all and that was a mistake. You can’t just give them an entire half of the game. We created three or four chances in the second half but we didn’t make the most of them."

Milan will be looking to return to winning ways on Sunday when they host Palermo in Serie A.