The Nutmeg Post:
Between the Barcelona and Munich Legs
THE FIRST LEG IN BARCELONA
As the match hovered towards the end game in the 70th minute, it appeared Bayern coach Pep Guardiola could be about to consolidate what was one of the most ambitious tactical barrages in at least recent memory.
Then, there were the sudden, discordant signs: an uncharacteristically cheap giveaway; Schweinsteiger visibly unable to muster his body to a point on the field where he ought to be; another cheap giveaway; Barca, instinctively aware something was shifting, beginning to come out of the slight fog their typical play seemed hidden in; then the third cheap giveaway by Bernat to Alves…and the denouement saw Guardiola's Bayern skip mediocrity and end up with a poor, if not insurmountable result.
Guardiola’s aggressive game plan revolved around a series of counterintuitive ideas which can be broken up--as a game of chess--into constituent phases:
Bayern are down 0-3 to a Barcelona team with the best trio of attackers since Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez were all fielded by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2008 during Manchester United's treble-winning season.
The hopeful platitudes about scoring early to have a chance are in effect.
NOTES OF POTENTIAL INTEREST:
Between the Barcelona and Munich Legs
THE FIRST LEG IN BARCELONA
As the match hovered towards the end game in the 70th minute, it appeared Bayern coach Pep Guardiola could be about to consolidate what was one of the most ambitious tactical barrages in at least recent memory.
Then, there were the sudden, discordant signs: an uncharacteristically cheap giveaway; Schweinsteiger visibly unable to muster his body to a point on the field where he ought to be; another cheap giveaway; Barca, instinctively aware something was shifting, beginning to come out of the slight fog their typical play seemed hidden in; then the third cheap giveaway by Bernat to Alves…and the denouement saw Guardiola's Bayern skip mediocrity and end up with a poor, if not insurmountable result.
Guardiola’s aggressive game plan revolved around a series of counterintuitive ideas which can be broken up--as a game of chess--into constituent phases:
- OPENING (minutes 0-15): Instead of absorbing early pressure as most would see wise--when contending with the most potent offense in football at their Nou Camp--Guardiola began with a full-field, man-to-man press. While this type of man-marking is normally reserved for thirty minute training exercises meant to teach personal defensive responsibility, it lead to the type of wild, end-to-end stretch of game normally reserved for the adrenaline-scrambling end of a cup final. Guardiola did take the slight precautionary measure of having both Bernat and Rafinha carefully relay their man-marking of Messi, with Thiago and Benatia doing the same with Neymar. Both Bayern and Barcelona had multiple moments where the other team’s defense was completely stretched, and while Barcelona’s more talented attackers converted these moments into more dangerous situations, anything could have happened, and the gamble seemed to have paid off as Pep ushered in the middle game after fifteen minutes, having held onto a draw and both stunned and entertained everyone watching with seemingly suicidal boldness.
- MIDDLE GAME (minutes 16-74): After his initial roll of the dice, Guardiola switched to a 4-3-3 which made sound use of three World Cup winners across his midfield, and Tiago to the left of strikers Lewandowski and Muller. The major feature of Bayern’s tactical approach during this phase of the game was their use of Thiago Alcantara. Guardiola seemed to employ him as a sort of oxidant agent, initiating sudden changes in Bayern’s structure and destabilizing Barcelona with the sudden, almost chaotic nature of his positional shifts. He started wide right, then shifted up to left forward, then dropped into the hole of a 4-3-1-2 behind the strikers, ending up wide right in a 4-4-2. It is remarkable that despite playing four positions he was the game’s most accurate passer, with a 94% completion rate (UEFA.com), and he completed fourteen passes more than any Barcelona player. Rival coach Luis Enrique acknowledged before the game that the battle for possession would be important, and Thiago’s positioning helped Bayern to 55% of possession and to a century more completed passes than Barcelona (whoscored.com). Using a young, relatively unproven player as your sole talisman, and then expecting him to shift positions multiple times and still perform certainly does not fall within the bounds of conventional wisdom, but again, somehow, it seemed to be working...
- END GAME (minutes 75-94): Guardiola often extols the counterintuitive notion that the best defense is offense, yet Bayern’s 4-4-2 endgame formation indicated that they intended to start sitting back, perhaps in recognition of the amount of energy they had already expended. It is interesting that Pep’s first intuitive decision proved to be his undoing, as Bayern found themselves in the same infernal 4-4-2 that Barcelona is so used to pouncing on. After a rash of poor possession typical of that formation, within three minutes Dani Alves and Rakitic had gotten the ball to Messi’s feet in a pocket of space shortly after Bayern was dispossessed. First he got close enough to the edge of the box to lean Neuer far and beat him near, and then he sent Boateng to meme, tweet and vine victimland. While it is unclear if Javi Martinez or Rode were even fit enough to feature, both Alonso and Schweinsteiger clearly needed to be subbed off, perhaps partly due to their participation in the fifteen minute fiasco of an opening. Gotze for Muller was a final stroke of counterintuitiveness, as energy was what was lacking and Muller doesn’t seem to be capable of slowing down. The last goal saw two aging champions using their last ounces of energy to try and stop Suarez, who shed Xavi Alonso and then was brought down by a desperate Bastien Schweinsteiger in what was a red-cardable offense, but the ball squirted to Messi--the ref waved play on--who quickly switched the ball off his right foot to lay a perfect diagonal ball, completing his on-field victory over his ex-coach’s theoretical array, Neymar providing the finishing touches.
Bayern are down 0-3 to a Barcelona team with the best trio of attackers since Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez were all fielded by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2008 during Manchester United's treble-winning season.
The hopeful platitudes about scoring early to have a chance are in effect.
NOTES OF POTENTIAL INTEREST:
- Despite having more possession, Bayern attempted over twice the amount of tackles as Barcelona, evidence of the supranormal energy level at which they played during this contest.
- Bayern’s Benatia was caught egregiously ball-watching on two of Barcelona’s breakaways, the 12th minute Suarez chance which Neuer saved, and Neymar’s potential nail-in-the-coffin goal. He could be switched for the more experienced Dante, but Dante has lately had a string of performances to forget.
- Before the game Guardiola spoke about how it is impossible to stop Messi, and that limiting his service is the only befitting strategy. Bayern failed, distinctly, to do this, as Messi had 73 touches and he received fifteen passes from Dani Alves alone. (fourfourtwo.com)
- TV announcer Gary Neville said of the Barcelona vs Bayern first leg: “It was the best game I’ve seen for a few years, probably the best since Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid in 2012.” (sports.yahoo.com)