AC Milan’s El Shaarawy: We expect to get past Barcelona

The Blaugrana are widely regarded as the strongest side in the world at the moment but Pep Guardiola’s men hold no fear for the Rossoneri, according to the teenage striker
Stephan El Shaarawy has claimed that AC Milan expect to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Barcelona.
The Rossoneri have, for the most part, been written off ahead of their quarter-final showdown with the reigning world, European and Spanish champions.
However, El Shaarawy insists that Milan are in a positive frame of mind ahead of Wednesday night’s first-leg encounter with the Blaugrana at San Siro, telling Gazzetta dello Sport: “We expect to go through.”
The teenage striker also revealed that he will be cheering on Milan’s city rivals Inter in their Serie A clash with the Rossoneri’s principal Scudetto rivals in Turin on Sunday night.
“I will support Inter against Juventus because we want to pull even further clear of the Bianconeri,” he declared.
Milan are now in possession of a seven-point lead at the top of the table after Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Roma.
El Shaarawy failed to get on the scoresheet at San Siro, having seen a wonderful curling effort from the edge of the area come back off the post during the first-half, but he played his part in a vital win for the hosts.
“My game? It was a pity about the post, but I am happy all the same,” the former Genoa forward insisted.
“We played a great game and in the second half we were really good. Roma are a good team; it was not easy.”
Milan’s meeting with Barcelona at the Giuseppe Meazza gets underway at 20:45CET.