Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona: Xavi runs the show yet again
The most eagerly-anticipated league match of the 2009/10 season, and a comprehensive, deserved win for Barcelona, who will now surely go on to win the title for the second consecutive season.
Pep Guardiola sprung a surprise with his initial line-up, deploying Dani Alves as a right winger, with Carles Puyol at right-back, and Gabriel Milito coming into the centre of defence. Messi played centrally but drifted around, Pedro played from the left, and Keita was used more centrally than in previous matches.
Real’s shape was effectively a 4-4-2 diamond, but skewed because of the players involved. One of the carrileros, Marcelo, is basically a wide-left player, but on the other side width comes from Sergio Ramos at full-back, so the player on the right side of the diamond is Fernando Gago, a more defensive central midfielder. Van der Vaart played quite far forward, with Ronaldo playing off Higuain, generally to the left.
The game started at an unbelievably high tempo, with Real in particular closing down excellently and pressing from the front and making sure Victor Valdes was unable to play out from the back to his two centre-backs. Once the game settled down into a slightly more relaxed mood, it was Barcelona who found their feet and passed the ball better.
As is plain to see on the diagram above, Barcelona constantly had an out-ball in Maxwell on the left, and Real seemed unsure whose job it was to be closing him down – the two forwards didn’t track back, Gago was too central and Ramos was too far away, and so Maxwell was constantly given time and space on the ball, meaning Barcelona’s attacks tended to originate from that side of the pitch. It was generally Gago who was closest to him, but if he came towards Maxwell he then opened up the centre of the pitch (Marcelo stayed wide tracking Dani Alves and van der Vaart was close to the forwards, so it was just Xabi Alonso, shackled by a 14th minute booking, patrolling the centre of midfield).
The result? Xavi was constantly free, and it was Messi’s one-two with him (from the left) that created Barca’s opener.
This summed up the aforementioned problem perfectly. Gago, the right carrilero, has been drawn to Maxwell (yellow). On the opposite side, Marcelo is concerned about Dani Alves (blue). The attacking midfielder, van der Vaart, is high up the pitch (red), whilst the holding midfielder, Xabi Alonso, has to deal with the immediate threat of the ball at Messi’s feet (green). All this leaves a gigantic space in the centre of the pitch (marked by the pink dots) in front of Real’s defence with Xavi (in pink) totally free. He receives the ball from Messi, then chips it over the top of the defence for Messi to run onto, and he finishes.
Once Barcelona got into the lead, they rarely looked like giving it up, such was their superiority in possession. Guardiola switched things around at half-time, returning Alves to his customary full-back role, moving Puyol to left-back and pushing Maxwell forward to left wing, with Pedro playing on the other side. Why he made this change is slightly unclear – he could have wanted to stop the threat of Ramos getting forward unopposed by having a defensively sound player on the left-wing, or he could simply have been moving Alves to where he is comfortable, as he had a relatively poor first half.
The fact that Pedro moved to the right was probably a consequence of the switch rather than the reason for it, but this turned out to be the most crucial change, because it was he who outpaced Arbeloa for Barcelona’s second. “Game over” was the reaction from Sky’s commentator – a brave thing to say with a mere two-goal lead and away against a side featuring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo – but it sums up the feeling that Barca were so comfortable, going 2-0 up on 55 minutes was going to be enough.
The goal again came from a Xavi pass, and he simply dominated the game (as he did in the corresponding fixture last season when he claimed four assists) – as this video shows. He is a superb player, regardless of what the Daily Mail think.
After that, it was extraordinary how little happened. There was no onslaught from Real – they brought on Guti, Raul and then Benzema but none of these players helped create chances. Barcelona’s only tactical move in the second half was to bring on Andres Iniesta for Maxwell, further helping their ability to keep the ball.
It may not have been as emphatic at the 2-6 win at the Bernabeu last season, or even of the 4-1 defeat of Arsenal in midweek, but in a way this was Barcelona at their most impressive. Although it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, Barcelona’s victory almost seemed anti-climatic given the build-up, because the game was won by a calm, efficient, unfussy display. It doesn’t fit with the Barca cliche about Globetrotter-style football, but it fits nicely with an imminent cliche – that Barcelona are incredibly professional in their attitude to winning games. The statistics will show that Real had more shots and more shot on target, but the two closest opportunities that didn’t go in were from Messi, both thwarted by Casillas saves.
As much as formations and tactics are important, the clearest different between the two sides was their overall outlook on how to create chances. Whereas Barca had ten outfield players comfortable in possession, each capable of both retaining the ball sensibly and playing a more ambitious pass, Real looked almost anachronistic in how compartmentalized their team played. It seems a ludicrous thing to say, but Real’s problem was that their players simply filled their job description. The defenders defended, the defensive midfielders tackled, the winger ran up and down, the creative players tried their tricks and the striker looked to score. That’s pretty much the idea of football, but they were up against a side whose attackers could defend, and whose defenders could attack. Whereas Barcelona looked to create chances through integrated passing and movement throughout the team, Real looked to create chances by depending upon their flair players to make something happen, and it rarely did.
Another interesting point was how ineffectual Dani Alves was when playing as a right-winger. It’s natural to assume that an attacking full-back can slot in fine slightly further up the pitch, but they often encounter problems – they generally have less space and see less of the ball. Alves’ pace and stamina is utilized far better from a full-back position, and those suggesting he should replace Ramires in the Brazil side will have a tough task on their hands making the case after his first-half display.
Overall, a fascinating game to watch and analyse. Real paid the price for letting Xavi have so much space, although this was perhaps a knock-on effect of leaving one full-back free. This sums up why so few top sides are playing with two strikers who don’t track back – Real may have been better off playing a dedicated right-winger instead of one of the front three, to at least occupy Maxwell.
Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona: Xavi runs the show yet again
I thought Puyol was moved to Left Back in the second half, not Pique?
Of course, apologies for the error.
I agree it was Puyol who moved to the left back.
Pedro and Messi’s movement bamboozled the Real defense. Pedro’s little studder step and sprint to create space between and Arbeloa was key in scoring that goal
Definitely Puyol went to leftback.
Strange how Real continually gave the ball to CR9 despite Puyol/Alves/Pique having him in their pocket.
Did they miss – I dare say – Kaka?
Kaka was without a doubt missed. He was Real’s best player in the first classico, which Real played much much better. In fact, in the first classico, i would say that Real Madrid was the better team, despite losing 0-1. He provided a much needed link between midfield and attack, and his pace was an issue for the Barca defense. Regardless of what people say, Kaka is world class, and a player of that magnitude will always be missed. No doubt that he hasn’t yet found the needed chemistry to truly be a difference maker with Real Madrid, but i think this will come with time.
Better luck next year Real Madrid. Hopefully they are able to work Benz/Kaka into what they are truly capable of.
I fancy likes of Kaka and Benzema with Arsenal. Because these players in that kind of a club will make another Barcelona. In Real flair players are not just working for each other, maybe too much ego. But only if Arsenal could afford them!
LMFAO
Would you say Pedro negated the equivalent outlet for Madrid, by seriously tracking up to both Albiol and Ramos for the entire first half?
Wasn’t it a 5-3-2 with Maxwell and Dani Alves playing as wing backs??? There were 3 actual central defenders on the pitch for Barcelona.
They always had 2 defenders closing down on Cristiano Ronaldo, when he was around the area, and the third central back marking Higuain.
Messi and Pedro didn’t play like classical strikers, and all the players roaming was like in the tactics of Total Football. What you think?
you can argue a 3-5-2 with dani and maxwell spent most of their time assisting the midfield
its always difficult to predict their formation as it change continuously throughout the match, personally I like to call it the MATRIX FORMATION,
No, it wasn’t a 3-5-2.
It was a lopsided 4-4-2 (Puyol, Pique, Milito, Maxwell; Alves, Xavi, Busquets, Keita; Messi and Pedro) which became 4-1-4-1 when not in possession (Pedro dropping back to wide-left midfield).
I agree, it featured three central defenders by trade, but it was clearly a 4-man defence.
Thats the beauty of some of the best teams in history, its a marriage between fitting the players to a system and adapting a system to the strengths of their players. You can call it 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 3-5-2, etc. Its in the roles they are given that truly determine a “formation”.
When you have someone of Xavi’s capabilities, its in the manager and team’s best interests in putting him near players capable of capitalizing on his passing. Xavi brings out the best in Iniesta and vice versa. In most matches, he is deployed on the right side of the 3 man midfield, so he has Alves, Messi, Ibra and/or Iniesta as his closest teammates in advanced positions. Any team to beat them are going to need a strong defensive midfielder who is comfortable on the left side (Cambiasso), a strong left back (Chivu/Zanetti) and a left winger/forward capable of tracking Alves (Eto’o?). If any team can shut down that wing Inter might be the club. And if they are able to…well Guardiola will slide Messi inside and attack Lucio & Samuel…
In this game, both of Xavi’s assists (and the other 2 that should have been), he was basically tethered to Messi & Pedro. They play off where he’s going to receive the ball and where he can deliver it, which is basically anywhere.
Yeah I think it was Puyol who was moved to LB. They kept Pique in the center because he seems to be able to positionally outsmart CR9 (as they were once teammates at ManU, and probably played together a lot) regularly (including CL final in Rome) and got the better of him on numerous occasions.
I agree with ZM’s comment about Dani. He looked out of place at RW, but I think a case can be made that if he was to play deeper back (say RM) he might be able to have that space he needs to run forward. I still think that Brazil should be using him more regularly (even in a LWB position).
I think this game was summed up in one simple play (not any of the goals). Barca had a corner kick that was headed out and RM had a counter attack going for them (with CR9 heading the pack) and who runs all the way back towards Barca’s goal to stop Ronaldo’s run… Messi. He new he was probably the only player to match Ronaldo’s pace so he made the effort to run all the way back to help his team.
I noticed that too and it was downright amazing, how Messi was the first to catch up with CR on that counterattack. I don’t think there’s any other forward in the world of Messi’s class that would expend the energy required for a full stadium sprint just to try and defend without a second thought as he did there. Awesome determination.
Rooney is the other forward who would do that.
Proving why talent is not enough to be the best, you have to work hard and sacrifice yourself as well.
My thought on Alves as a RW is to provide more cover on the right and flood the midfield along with Maxwell (on the opposite side).
In a way, he was used to shut down Arbeola and also press Marcelo. In doing so, Puyol could have a better cover on CR9 because he know that Alves is backing him up.
not only did he run back, but he also forced marcelo onto his wrong foot forcing him to make a pass which btw went behind ronaldo and out of play…it wasnt just determination but a refusal to be beaten, this sort of thing makes the whole team better…it also happened in the game against arsenal, pedro lost the ball but sprinted all the way back to the other box and won it…that is just well taught and its all about playing with passion for a team you love, and that you can allow to be beaten because of complacency or laziness
The difference between playing for love of the shirt and fulfilling a contract?
I’d say its more about doing what is required to get onto the field. Guardiola installed the pressing from the first game last year and when the likes of Alves, Xavi & Messi fully buy-in to it then everyone else on the pitch will.
Are you talking about the counter that Ronaldo hit straight at Valdes (trying to nutmeg?) from the tight angle? That was Milito that tracked back.
Link to the play?
You know, CR actually looked a little slow in that game. Pique seemed to keep pace on a couple occasions. Maybe he’s losing that extra half-step.
At one point he was noticeably limping. I think he may have slightly injured himself, but I doubt it was a major factor in the match. Honestly, I think that he was so hyped up that he overplayed everything, making bad decisions and forgetting about involving his teammates in his attacks. He was seriously frustrated.
total football wins again.
I could probably watch Iniesta and Xavi play all day. Will be interesting to see what Mourinho does to try and stop Barca. It will be intriguing.
He’s going to apply the 8-1-1
I thought Messi was playing in a false nine role in the first half; often times he would receive the ball from midfield with Pedro and Alves(!) the two farthest ahead of him. I don’t think Alves is suited to playing furthest forward, so the halftime move was correct.
Also, why does Alves take free kicks for Barca? Does he ever score? It seems like they’re always ballooned over or smack very hard into the wall.
Alves only takes the far out central ones. Where there’s very little on except the ol blaster. Ibra does that too. They’ve both scored a couple from them.
I’m surprised they continue to do that, I expect to see them put it back in play short rather than try to serve it into the box with only Pique and Puyol being experts at getting to headers (don’t try to argue that Ibra is…)
did you see his free kick goal in the confederations cup last summer? he came on as a sub against somebody and basically the first thing he did was score from deep.
I saw it as a 5-3-2 (or more likely, a 5-5-0) at the beginning of the 2nd half as well, and it didn’t work very well at all, as that was the point in the match where RM looked most dangerous and saw the most of the ball. That seemed to be the main reason why Maxwell came off for Iniesta, though Maxwell had a good game.
I would also like to note that Guti did have an impact right after he came on, providing the killer through-ball that VanderVaart hit straight at Valdes. That was their best chance all game, and could have given them a lifeline in the 2nd half. Other than the disallowed Raul goal, I think that was the only other shot they had that wasn’t long distance.
Can’t wait to see how Mourinho tries to solve the Xavi problem.
I think Mourinho will have the xavi problem, but iniesta will also be back and that will make it that much harder because iniesta can take over the xavi role and create those incisive passes that kill the defense.
Watching those clips its astonishing how much space Xavi has when playing those passes, I’m not sure if it happened all game but Real Madrid must have had someone assigned to man-mark him?
Many coaches tried to do that, and the most successful one was Hugo Sanches, Almeria coach, but to solve that, Xavi usually drops back, setting free the DM + Iniesta and Messi to take over the play making, while he start sending long passes to Ibra,
I can’t wait for the Inter game. A tactical feast that should be!
Guardiolla proves once again his ability to read games,given the circumstances “playing Real a way after a tough CL clash few days a go” and given that Real were obligated to win if they want to win La liga, he was aiming for a draw, at least in the 1st half, and the goal was a bonus, actually he played without a true 9, instead he flooded the midfield with players who were able to keep possession and get it back when it’s lost, in the second half, Barcelona started their usual game, pushing forward, and it was the early sitter and Millito’s injury that prevented Henry from being subbed for Pedro,
all in all Pep, realizes that attractive, attacking football alone is not enough to win every single battle, so that he he has different approaches for different opponents.
nice read ZM
It was definetaly 4 at the back for Barca as I saw it. I thought Puyol was poor at right back, Ronaldo got behind him a number of times on the counter and it was only good reactions and covering from Pique that stopped CR when cutting in. That might have also been the reason for pushing puyol to left back. I think Ronaldo was given far too much space and time (esp. in the first half), but he didn’t have his best game on. If he did, it could have been a whole another ball game. I certainly saw the threat Cristiano posed, he was just unable to produce an end product both in passing and shooting/dribbling. Although as I said Pique was reacting very well.
Completely disagree there. Puyol was fantastic as a right back, keeping both CR in check and orchestrating the whole defensive line. The fact that CR was labeled as the flop of the match even tho he seemed to be in a pretty good day during the first half at least has to be credited to Puyol, both for his personal marking on him and the way he coordinated the cover from Pique on his left and Dani up front.
what r u on about, mate? Puyol was man of the match by miles. He even nutmegged Ronaldo at some point, if my memory doesn’t fail me.
He megged Ramos.
There was a point in the first half that Ronaldo was able to played into the space behind Puyol 3 consecutive times. And I doubt thats what Guardiola wanted when he lined his men up for the first half.
Puyol can play for my team any day of the week. He is an inspirational leader.
I completely agree with the above. CR9 was definitely Real Madrid’s most dangerous attacker. They always marked him with at the minimum 2 players. Ronaldo is class, like him or hate him, you cannot deny that. The difference between Ronaldo and Messi is simply that Messi has incorporated his class within his team. This is understandable since they have been playing together for many years. Ronaldo on the other hand, not to mention half of the other starters, have been with Real Madrid for less than a year. This hasn’t given him enough time to mesh with his teammates. It really is a question of chemistry on the pitch.
The proof is Messi with Argentina. How many of you have watched an Argentina game lately? Have you seen Messi? The difference between Messi in Argentina and Messi in Barca is like the difference between Liz Taylor at 20 years old and Liz Taylor at 75 –no comparison. Messi basically disappears when he is playing for Argentina. This is not because Messi is any less of a player when he plays for the national team, it’s just that the chemistry is simply not there in order to bring out his true class. The same is currently true with Ronaldo. You can see he is world class, he just doesn’t have the ability to show it yet.
“CR9 was definitely Real Madrid’s most dangerous attacker.”
I’m not sure. They pretty much only ever passed the ball to him, so certainly he was the most visible. Yet he created very, very little in way of chances. Partly due to excellent defending (I didn’t think Pique could match CR9 for pace as he did once), but entirely?
It was a selfish performance for me, similar to the CL final. He needs to stop trying to be the hero and play for the team. His teammates also need to stop indulging him. Their best player he may be, but once it was clear Barca could deal with him, they should have been exploring other avenues of attack.
Re: Messi with Argentina, pretty much no one plays well for Argentina. They simply lack creativity. Relying on Veron for goodness sake!
I agree with you in regards to CR9 attempting to do too much on his own. I however believe that this was due to a lack of service from the midfield. Higuain is typically a great talent, but the guy was nonexistent. If CR9 didn’t come back basically to the half way line, he would never have touched the ball. He did get the ball from deep and ran at the Barca defense, which looked very dangerous. The final ball was simply not there however. Instead of passing, he attempted to take it by himself too many times. This was his major short coming. Too much pressure on the young lad.
BTW, no one can possibly say that Messi performs even CLOSE to his Barca standard at Argentina. This is more directed at the poster below. Just no way. Messi at Argentina looks very tame relative to the one at Barca. I don’t think anyone can disagree with this.
More recently he has been poor yes (along with every other Argentinian), but at first he performed as you would expect for Argentina.
The tactics didn’t suit CR9. Pellegrini should have had him playing in Higuain’s spot to take advantage of CR9’s greatest strength, his shooting ability. Ronaldo is not a creative playmaker and he can’t cross, so he runs out of ideas when he’s on the wing and the dribble isn’t working for him. Barca did a good job of pinning CR9 to the sideline and forcing him to his left foot.
Higuain is an adaptable player (though Pellegrini seems to have forgotten it), and I would have liked to see Higuain at Ronaldo’s position as another forward/possession guy since Kaka was not available. They could have also tried moving VDV to the left after the break and sliding Guti into his position. That way you would have VDV sending in crosses to Ronaldo from the left and Ramos from the right.
I disagree that it was a selfish performance. Look at the video that ZonalMarking posted, click on it and see the other videos by the same guy. He made one that showed all/most of Ronaldo’s moves. In 90 % of the cases he simply had no one to pass too. It was him and Pipita (and sometimes Marcelo) versus four, five defenders.
I don’t see anyone calling Messi selfish even though he dribbled at the defense time and time again only to lose the ball? Why is this? Well mostly because everyone likes Mess but also because he scored a goal. The only time Messi got a chance was when Xavi gave him amazing passes. If it had been the other way around, that Ronaldo scored and Messi didn’t, people would’ve said Messi was too selfish.
Messi was indeed selfish at times and tried to take the whole defence by himself instead of passing to unmarked teammates. Still, he did the job and there will be few complaints
That’s b/c Ronaldo is so one-dimensional (aside from his freekicks). If the play is not on, he’ll still charge forward like a madman. His teammates react by ballwatching, instead of chasing along with him again and again. Ronaldo is learning the Spanish game, but he is still stuck in a premier league mindset where there is much less buildup to the attacks. Messi, on the other hand, makes countless quick one-touch passes as he roams about the defense before he decides to attack. When he makes a run, it’s b/c he’s seen something in the defense that he can exploit. It’s not the headless running from his early days when he stuck to the sideline.
Exactly. I think the defenders are generally quicker in La Liga as well, although CR is still faster, the difference is not as great.
Kaveh,
Messi was generally excellent for Argentina right from his substitute appearances at WC 2006, throughout his heavier contributions at Copa America 2007, and finally at the Olympics in 2008.
It is definitely a problem in terms of Maradona’s tactics (or lack thereof), selection policy and man-management. Messi has proved, even when surrounded by good (if not Barca-standard) colleagues that he can shine for Argentina.
Thanks again for the great read ZM. The paragraph with the color explanations is outstanding. Keep it up.
I had always thought that Barcelona was a team that imposed its style on the other team. I had thought that Barca always plays attacking football and it’s the only way they know how to play. The first 10-20 minutes of the El Clasico showed that Barca can play defensively as well, as it looked at times like they were in a 4-4-2. I can’t recall seeing Barca clear the ball to safety or concede a corner so many times as I did in the first half. I think putting Puyol on the right to start and pushing Alves up a level was a genius move by Pep. Giving Ronaldo the space behind Alves during a patented foray forward would have been a recipe for disaster. I think Pep’s intent was to allow Alves the freedom to wreak havoc an combine with Messi on offense. An added bonus (and concession to the quality of Real’s attack) is that Barca fielded three real defenders for once. The early strategy seemed to be “keep it tidy at the back and rely on some Messi Magic for offense”.
I believe Pep anticipated Real’s 10 minute initial flurry and Barca was ready to absorb it. After the game settled Barca was able to play it’s typical possession game. Alves did not wreak havoc as a winger and Pep moved him back to RB and put Puyol on the left. I bet Madrid was annoyed after spending the halftime making adjustments to find Barca had modified their formation.
Barcelona is not a slave to style. They used attacking flair to beat Arsenal. I know it sounds ridiculous to say Barcelona played defensively but this game was a clinical, professional hit job. What wrinkle will Pep throw at “The Special One”? I think we will see Pep use Zlatan to unlock Inter’s defense.
It won’t be easy for Zlatko to unlock a defense he’s been practicing with for 2 seasons and the same can be said for Eto’o of course. I could be proven wrong but I really doubt them 2 will make a big impact.
But Roger, here is the crux of question.
We all could recognise Alves’ discomfort at playing so high up the pitch, and we saw that eventually he settled into more of a wide-midfield (as opposed to outside-forward) role. But was this not Pep’s intention all along? To play more of a 4-4-2 shape? Could it have been that Alves’ early exploits in which he stationed right up against Arbeloa were just a sign of his having to adjust to a role and establish his positioning? That Pep had intended him to play as a wide-midfielder all along? I certainly think so. Guardiola, having been tutored under the Dutch philosophy of Cruyff would never contemplate the sacrilege that a carrilero/wing-back like Dani ALves could perform as an outside-forward, whatever about being a wide-midfielder.
I think that Barcelona missed Zlatan’s presence in El Clásico. This season when teams have pressured Barcelona’s defenders like RM did the long balls that have been sent into the midfield were won and held up by the big Swede. He is also a dangerous assist man, so on such plays he’s picked out streaking players like Messi, Pedro and Bojan leading directly to goals. Against RM 80% of the long balls were lost as Keita, the only physical presence, was not very successful against Ramos and the rest of the team at that altitude were all midgets.
People often underestimate what Ibra brings to Barcelona, it’s not just goals.
Nope, it’s true….he also has brought plenty of offensive fouls, offsides…
I personally thought Alves played decent in his first half performance. He had a couple of crosses too that went to no one since Barca were mostly playing without a true No 9, and flooding the midfield. He could do well there with Brazil..
Depends how you view it, I suppose. I thought the crosses were pretty pointless considering Messi and Pedro were (a) 20 yards away from where the cross was delivered to and (b) are midgets!
Yes, in the first twenty minutes, Barca was forced to loft a bunch crosses from the wings and Real Madrid had the middle in front of their final third pretty well clogged. At least in the beginning, it looked like Pellegrini got his defensive tactics right.
How can it be a decent cross if it’s crossed to no one? In my opinion a cross and a corner can’t be good unless it hits someone on the forehead or if the player didn’t jump as high as he can.
oh come on – if a corner winds up a foot away from where the offensive player ends up jumping, that could be on the jumper misjudging as much as the deliverer misdelivering.
A masterpiece of an article. Such insightful commentary on a fascinating game. This website is an absolute godsend.
Compared to the level of football journalism in England at the moment, this website’s articles are amazing. The only journalist i know of to give real tactical insight is Jonathon Wilson. I just wish that we could have pundits and writers provide us with more tactical analysis rather than the tired, agenda driven cliches they spew out game after game. Quite frankly, I could do their job at the moment. However, I am not so familiar with the tactical side of the game and therefore articles like this are very interesting to me. Thanks for a great read and keep up the good work!
this is why I have given up on most other sites – nobody but J.Wil does anything like this, as far as I know.
I think Real got their tactics spot on. Against Barcelona you can never dominate possession, the best way to score against them is to contain them and then counter.
Real did that last night and their gameplan would have worked had Cristiano Ronaldo not had such a wasteful game. Every counter seemed to break down with him, be it an overhit cross, an overelaborate trick or a tame shot.
I agree with an earlier post, Real should have explored attacking down different routes once it had become apparent Ronaldo was having a bad game.
Overall Real defended excellently in the first half, but there’s only so much you can do against a team like Barcelona. Xavi’s pass was magical and that was the difference between the 2 sides really, that bit of creative genius, rather than superior tactics. Real’s defending was below-par in the 2nd half but by then they were already 1 goal down and chasing the game so it’s understandable.
In my view Real tried to do to Barcelona what Chelsea did successfully in last year’s semi-final at the Camp Nou: Kick them into submission (fouls committed were 10-3 in the first half an hour I think). For a while it seemed to work as Barca looked rattled and some of their passing was erroneous and ineffective.
Apart from Pedro, who had a nervous first 10 minutes (he made up for it later), I don’t think Barcelona looked at all ‘rattled’ at any point in the match. In the first half hour Madrid was effectively pressing the CBs and Valdes with Van der Vaart, whose work rate was very high in that role. They were forced to send a lot of long balls out into the midfield which they generally try to avoid. However, when they have resorted to the long ball this season they always had Ibra collecting them and hold them up in the midfield, but against Madrid they just had a bunch of midgets that couldn’t win many.
Hi ZM,
regards Alves’ positioning yesterday, I don’t think we can preclude him from the Ramires position in the Brazil set-up since that wide-right position is quite deep-lying; indeed, regardless of whether Ramires or Elano play there, Dunga demands that this player start much deeper than either Kaka or Robinho and practically as a third midfielder (thus refuting the notion that it is a 4-2-3-1), but you yourself have illustrated this in a previous article. With Elano, he asks for quality distribution (to compensate for Melo’s and Gilberto’s inaadequacy)in deep areas whereas with Ramires he just asks for endless industry and counter-attacking energy…now how different is that from Dani Alves’ contribution whenever he has played there for Brazil (admittedly not often)?
But perhaps this is irrelevant anyway in terms of Barca, since Alves’ discomfort against Madrid was as a result of having to play so high up the pitch (definitely more advanced than the right-mid slot for Brazil). NOw, I don’t know whether it was because of Pep’s explicit design, or whether Alves naturally ended up readjusting his own movement, but for most of the first half he definitely seemed to drop deeper towards midfield in order to find that space you have cited, that elusive expanse of 30 yards between him and the Madrid left-back (Arbeloa). Therefore, Alves ended up playing as a tornante or a more classical wide-midfielder. In any case, it rendered Barcelona more of a lopsided 4-4-2 (which became 4-1-4-1 once they lost the ball, with Pedro closing off the left flank) than 4-3-3.
In a nutshell, this supports the thesis that a good attacking full-back/wing-back can do a job as a wide-midfielder, but most certainly not as an outside-forward.
Interesting point, but I just didn’t think Alves looked particularly comfortable actually receiving the ball. Ramires is very good at bringing the ball under control in a tight space and turning and running, but Alves looked a little sloppy in this regard.
But what you say is certainly correct in that it’s difficult to judge because we don’t quite know what Alves’ position was supposed to be – whether he was meant to be playing a right-midfield or right-forward position. But either way I wasn’t too impressed, and I thought Barca slightly missed his runs from full-back.
Hi Roberticus,
I too thought it was a variation of the 4-4-2. Even against Arsenal, it looked something like that at most parts of the game. Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid says that when Barcelona lost to Milan 4-0 under Cappello they played a 4-4-2. Obviously, I have never watched that match, but would be interesting to know the subtleties. May be it was quite similar to the set up now. Romario and Stoichkov played up front and Beguiristain and Amor played in the wings.
Have you seen the sides? What do you think?
KV,
well Stoichkov played most of his time under Cruyff at outside-right in a three man attack, so when Barça switched to 4-4-2 vs Milan, Stoichkov´s movement replicated that of Pedro in this clásico; that is to say, they were alternating between second-striker and outside-forward (a bit like Robinho´s or Nilmar´s role for Brazil)
Sorry KV, correction…
Stoichkov played at outside-left.
Roberticus -
I re-watched the first half last night with the purpose of answering two questions:
1. what exactly was Alves’s role?
2. why was Alves less effective than normal?
My observations:
After re-reading ZM’s analysis of Brazil it did seem like Alves was playing a bit of a Ramirez role, albeit more advanced. The Barca side moves around so much and is so fluid that it is hard to figure out what is going on tactically sometimes. It seems like they play more off “principles” than positioning. Particularly when then have the ball. I wonder if Alves’s more advanced positioning lead to some of Marcelo’s dangerous runs in the first half. The half time adjustments seemed to take these runs away… I again ask myself this question: what is Pep’s reasoning for deploying Alves in this way. I originally thought it was primarily to “bracket” Ronaldo (Alves is the only player with the pace to chase Ronaldo down and Puyol would be there as backup). In reality, Alves did not do a lot of this and Pique did a surprising decent job of staying in front of Ronaldo when he made his runs down the left. Despite the way the game unfolded, I still believe that Guardiola wanted the flexibility to play a more defensive game and shore up the first and second levels, especially at the beginning during the initial flurry.
I would like to expand on ZM’s comment. I think in general, Alves is very good at the technical aspect of receiving the ball, but this game reveals that he is quite bad at holding the ball up. In particular, he seems unable to keep a man on his back. Maybe this is because he is used to playing with his back to the sideline with all of the action in front of him. Maybe he is not strong enough or maybe he needs his own set of “chameleon eyes”. In this match, Puyol really did play the typical right back role. He occasionally made deepish runs and frequently played on the sideline. This pushed Alves more to the middle of the pitch where he seemed a lot less comfortable.
Finally, I have a (basic) question. There were times where Alves was the most advanced Barcelona player. Is it important to always have an advanced player to prevent to opposition from pushing the back line so high that the space between the backline and midfield gets too compressed? I notice Ibra is frequently in a semi-offsides position and wondered if he was being lazy or serving a purpose.
Roger,
I would add that, assuming he was indeed playing in a wide-midfield role, Alves (or any wing-back) could prosper in a four-man midfield if we were dealing with a more open game and one without the manic pressing that Madrid excerised vs Barca. And, given that Barca play with a high defensive line (by other teams’ standards, even when playing more cautiously), you could see how very little space there was anyway along that right flank. So little wonder Alves was uncomfortable.
You make an interesting point, and I completely agree with you here, when you describe his uncomfort at having to move into central areas. I would go even further and add that Alves is one of that breed of dynamic footballers who actually become worse when they slow down, when they stop moving, when they have time on the ball and have to make decisions. Which is a basic job description of playing in midfield, of course. It’s almost as if the guy fades like a wind-up toy car battery once he loses momentum, and his footballing brain slows down too. Which seems a bit harsh, but it’s just a reflection of his game; his strength’s lie elsewhere.
I’ll never forget that interview he gave to Brazilian press after a recent qualifier, in which they asked him where on earth he gets his stamina from. He said that, growing up in a remote village in the middle of the northeastern desert outback he had to run to and from the nearest school which was eleven km away every day as there was no public transport!
As for your observation on Ibra or Alves loitering offside, I’m not sure.
Chelsea used to do something similar under Mourinho. They would ‘deactivate’ Drogba for large periods of the game, partly because the striker (upon being further removed from midfield) could enjoy a vantage point as to how the play was developing, looking for signs of weakness in the back four (behind whose backs of course he would be lurking). Also, because when Chelsea were carrying the ball forward (though not yet making the crucial thru’ ball), and when Drogba wanted to drop off to link up play as a pivot, it was much more difficult for the centre-backs to do so if he started his run from behind their backs and timed it at the correct moment…so by the time they had picked up his movement it would be too late.
ZM,
another detail from the game.
At some stage shortly after the first goal, Pellegrini asked Gago and ALonso to switch positions, which only served to make things worse.
The idea (I’m guessing) was that Gago (as defensive pivot) would pick up Messi whenever he would drop off, and for Alonso, playing slightly further ahead and wider, to be freed-up so as to rake diagonal balls up to Cristiano’s outside-left berth. But in then end, Gago proved as ineffective in the role as he had done during last year’s 2-6 game, and Alonso looked visibly flustered at his new marking responsibilities at right-of-centre, having to run around hassling Keita, Maxwell and sometimes even Xavi, a task which he is patently not suited to.
I’m sure that for Messi’s goal it was Alves who came backfrom the passively offside position as Messi made his forward run.
That means Alves is the player in the centre, not highlighted in blue. Doesn’t negate the explanation.
Agreed, the player in blue is Puyol. Alves in the center, Pedro near the ref. You can see the #2 on Alves’ jersey in the video.
Diamonds naturally have problems with 4-3-3 shapes because the carrileros have to choose between marking the full-backs and the wider center mids. Marcello would have been better off tracking Xavi and leaving Puyol open, but as the article indicates Marcello stays wide and Xavi was firmly in the center.
If Madrid had played someone more central than Marcello then it might have been harder for Barcelona, at least until Alves was moved to full-back at the half.
Now that I think about it, I believe ZM meant to refer to the full-back above. It’s just that Alves is usually the full-back so it says Alves instead of Puyol.
Oops, you’re correct. Cheers, will edit.
Several hours after the game I checked this website, only to find no article on El Clásico. Shortly after, I checked again…and was startled. Call it a co-incidence, but I am happy you read my ‘suggestion’ on producing quality over quantity – and it shows in your excellent analysis with an array of media. I for one, questioned you, yet you rose to the challenge. The analysis was well thought-out and carefully articulated. Nice job Zonal and I hope to see you continue this effort and quality in the future!
The one overall feeling that I got when watching the game was that Real played Barca’s game and not their own. While it is reasonable to suggest Barcelona would have more possession due to the nature of their style, Real looked uncomfortable on the ball at virtually all times. They are used to dominating possession, having space and playing relaxed but surely they should be better prepared for the game.
When reading the lineups, I knew Real Madrid made the wrong choice in selection. While Gago and Diarra do not have much experience together, it is not necessarily true that they cannot exist. Diarra needs to play every big game – he is a hard worker, exceptional at what he does (pressuring the man and then forcing a turnover) and get this – a team player. He would be responsible for pressuring Messi while Gago, who is strong at link-up play, could track Xavi.
Marcelo normally teams up fairly well with Ronaldo and Cristiano’s less-than-staggering performance is because he had little support. Ronaldo should have taken far more shots from distance as he is excellent outside the 18.
Your characterization of Barcelona playing “Globetrotter-style football” is superb! Barcelona were extremely efficient in their game and it showed.
One disagreement I do have is that it was not a “thoroughly enjoyable game.” Too much sloppiness because of the tension and the last 10 minutes were bordering on embarrassing from a game of this standard (credit to Real here).
I think you’re flattering yourself with the first paragraph. ZM probably just felt this game needed more explanation.
The United/Bayern article, which you incorrectly labeled as lacking quality solely on the basis that it came out too quickly, simply reflected that the game was more straightforward and didn’t required additional media to demonstrate the points made.
ZM has always done a good job writing their articles and it’s arrogant to assume your pompous and erroneous comments had any affect on the quality of this particular article.
Hmmm… You may be slightly right, but I think your reading into things a bit too much. Notice my usage of language: “happy you READ my ‘suggestion’” not USED my suggestion. I presumed he took it into consideration because he did comment on it twice and I believe constructive criticism is something that is rare here.
And I respectfully disagree about the Uniter/Bayern game. I had a follow up in that article about topics that were missing. Personally, I do see the difference in quality of the articles (some are sufficient, others are outstanding), and about twenty other people support this view by questioning why he did not choose to write about Bayern.
Regardless, I do not plan on debating about this. I can respect your point, but I don’t need to come on here just to attack someone.
As discussed in the bayern/united comments section, the points you brought up were either obvious, covered heavily in previous articles, or simply not important enough to cover in the article.
Bringing up the points itself wasn’t the problem, it’s mostly the disrespectful and entitled attitude written into your comments. Your criticism is too negative, and your complements are too self-promoting. It couldn’t hurt to try a more humble approach.
About 20 people? Not too sure about that, and one of them rather amusingly complained about the attention being on United, then complained, “In my opinion, what ultimately led to MU’s downfall over the two legs is SAF’s wrong tactics”.
The reason this article went up slightly later was merely as I was off to a friend’s birthday celebrations right after the game, but I appreciate the feedback.
“Whereas Barcelona looked to create chances through integrated passing and movement throughout the team, Real looked to create chances by depending upon their flair players to make something happen, and it rarely did.”
About sums up the 2 teams.
I see it mentioned just about every where that Alves switched to RB at the start of the 2nd half. Maybe I should watch the game again but I personally thought it was at the point when Marcelo was taken off. That would mean that Alves was there mainly to help Puyol deal with the double threat of Cronaldo and Marcelo.
Of course, Cronaldo’s positioning is such that he starts central and moves wide while recieving the pass so inevitably it was Pique who picked him up rather than Puyol who was then free to cover the centre. This is probably why it looked like a 3 CB formation.
In retrospect I wondered if Guardiola could have chosen a double pivot option which would have given him greater control and Xavi more passing options in midfield. This could have been effective given the separation between Madrid’s defense and attack and the fact that the midfielders, Gago and Xabi, looked to release the ball forward and wide as early as possible. Keita would move wide to cover Ramos and the defense could squeeze more to the right and centre.
As it was, Barça won with consummate ease. Former Barça target Garay wasn’t too great with his positioning.
And that reminds me (perhaps you could venture an opinion on this, ZM) : Pique has to be recognised as one of the best defenders in the world at the moment. (He is the best for me, anyway)
While the world was watching el classico I had to make do with Inter-florentina, coz in India, no has taken up la liga(would you believe it!) and couldn’t find a decent online stream..
Anyway if Inter play the way they played, Barca will have fun…And Inter doesn’t have the passing pace to match Barca..
When Messi plays center..don’t you think becomes more of a diamond? He does tend to move in pretty deep..anyway will be watching it on delayed telecast tmro(!)..
I watched the whole game live on http://www.espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/index
They will have 3 Liga games on Tuesday & Wednesday, one of which is a Barcelona game.
Dunno if it will be free forever but I hope it will be.
*sigh it looks like espn360 is only for US..
myp2p.eu. Great website to watch any live sporting event.
Good job ZM on the detailed analysis. Looks like Barca No.17 is offside in the build up to Messi’s goal.
Matt – both 2 (Alves) and 17 (Pedro?) started in offside positions but were not interfering and clearly moving onside.
Naka, thanks. I was a bit confused there but get it now.
[...] Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez are wonderful footballers. [...]
Great analysis of El Clásico ZM. Do you feel that tactics won it for Barca, or were its (arguably) superior personnel always likely to clinch it? Also, do you think there is a feasible gameplan for stopping Barcelona? The past few weeks seem to have been saturated with affirmations of their unstoppability. I know you’ve mentioned closing the space between midfield and defence, but even then the Blaugrana seem to have their ways. Would love to hear your informed opinion on this.
A bit of both really, tactics and personnel. I thought the most obvious difference was how much more comfortable the Barcelona players were in possession. You’d say that every one of the Barcelona players were good on the ball, but perhaps only 6 or 7 Real players were.
firstly..i want to say its fantastic to have a site with intelligent football debate..& very much needed..great job.
also wanted to mention, that for about 5 years now xavi has been my favourite player in the world to watch..the best all round complete passer of this generation. The term world class is used for so many players these days..i think a new footballing adjective needs to be made up for him. (im an arsenal fan btw)
I agree. It’s hard to compare players in different positions but if you take away the forwards like Messi and Ronaldo, I think Xavi is clearly the world’s best player.
I agree that Xavi is the best
I’d like to ask if anyone sees Busquets copying his moves (and learning from him ) and trying to be the next Xavi
I agree with large parts of the analysis: how Madrid began well, kept lines very close, and set out to deny any space for Messi to maneouvre in between or for Xavi to exert his influence. I also felt that Xabi’s booking was somehow crucial to how the game unfolded. However, he should have been aware that even a 1st-time foul, if it’s strong enough, is often dealt with expediently by refs in Spain. The image of the build-up to the goal is illustrative, though there were a couple of times I noticed Xavi took it upon himself to dribble himself through the 1st line of Madrid’s 2-line defensive set-up, leaving just 1 line to beat. I hadn’t noticed that this was partly due to VdV’s high position though.
There’s going to be a lot of talk in Spain in the next few days as to who ought to replace Pellegrini at Madrid, but I’d just like to make clear that many – a majority I think – of Madrid fans wish him to stay on. He’s had a very tough 1st year, with a team built more on marketing priorities than on the manager’s requests, and he’s had to deal with the in-house politicking. I have rarely seen Raúl much impact at all in the games he’s played for Madrid, but Pellegrini’s insisted on using him to replace the AM. My impression is that Pello’s understood that this was a very difficult issue to deal with, and current rumours in Madrid are that both Raúl and Guti are set to leave the team or step aside at the end of the season; that and a senior management more responsive to Pellegrini’s preferences may pave the way for further improvement next season. Here’s to hoping.
barca had their identity ; short passing anywhere with a player always ready to receive the ball and press in packs of 2 or 3 players when they loose the ball. madrid on the other hand, is a young team as in most of the players are still getting to know each other. if im not mistaken, they had pass after pass missing their targets while barca had their share but not nearly as much. when guti came on, he did what xavi did ; thread a neat pass for the attacker and it was him that released van der vaat for a 1 on 1 with valdes. IMO the 2 keys of barca’s deadly attacking are a patient, neat controller and passer of the ball in midfield, which is xavi/iniesta and of course, a deadly finisher in messi/ibra. just like chess, control and excel in the middle of the park and you will win.
I haven’t seen the match, but from the sound of it, Real’s problems started by Rafael van der Vaart simply being too far up the pitch. This has been a problem for him ever since he was a little nipper at Ajax; when played as a number 10 he usually ends up breathing the striker down his neck, leaving gaping holes in the centre. Both Ronald Koeman and Danny Blind, during their tenure as Ajax managers, have criticized him for this, yet he still hasn’t learned.
RM played in such a tempo that even they themselves couldn’t cope with it, but this is the only way for them to defeat Barca – in chaos. Unfortunately Barca scored first in the chaos, and then the second half fell into Barca’s hands.
I never noticed this during the game but look at Gago in the video for the first goal! He’s just walking around! He really should be ashamed of himself.
I’ve only watched the game once, but from what I noticed Real Madrid really focused so much on marking the Barcelona players that they lost their own shape. It took them too long to get back in their usual positions when they recovered the ball and that led to them hardly ever being in a calm, dominant position.
Real set out to stop Barcelona instead of trying to play their own game. Which I think was fair from Pellegrini. I think he hoped it would be a tigh, battling contest which would be decided by moments pieces of individual skill/vision. Sadly, his forwards all had an off-day.
When Guti came on it did seem like they started to play better, unfortunately Barcelona had just scored their second.
Alot of Madrid fans were calling on Granero to be dropped for this game (cause his dribbling and passing has looked weak lately), but I wouldn’t have minded seeing him. In lots of previous matches he’s played that role on the right like you described.
According to the Sid Lowe article in the Guardian today, Dani Alves was quoted saying that “Xavi plays in the future.”
I love that.
I believe that one of the reasons for the Dani Alves right attacker role were actually to expose Ramos and give Madrid trouble and make them readjust. Otherwise, when I read the line-up, I thought that Barca would start the way they started the 2nd half. But you saw the trouble Madrid had on that side, once Barca got into the game. Second half, Pep just switched sides and whatever readjustments Madrid had, with Ramos probably pushing higher, were gone.
Pity for Ramos in retrospect that Capello didn’t stay longer, but better for Barca.
Xavi was just ice. But the hustle rate of Keita…what a great guy and player…
[...] Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona: Xavi runs the show yet again “The most eagerly-anticipated league match of the 2009/10 season, and a deserved win for Barcelona, who will now surely go on to win the title. Pep Guardiola sprung a surprise with his initial line-up, deploying Dani Alves as a right winger, with Carles Puyol at right-back, and Gabriel Milito coming into the centre of defence. Messi played centrally but drifted around, Pedro played from the left, and Keita was used more centrally than in previous matches.” (Zonal Marking) [...]
I have to agree with Mahdi there, for me the the whole Barcelona team, as per usual, were tireless in their workrate and no-one embodied this moreso that Keita. I would love to see the tackling and distance-covered stats for that guy as his hustling and unsettling of the Real players was a sight to behold!
I think that both teams had the tactics spot on.
I believe Pep decided to deploy Alves as a left midfielder so that he can sandwich Ronaldo with the Barca defense. Also being there, he was able to make sure that Ronaldo did not get much of the ball up front. thus Ronaldo had to pick the ball further down the pitch and then had to come up, which means obviouslt that when he got at the center backs, he would be already tired. So in a simple schematic way, Ronaldo was a point in the middle of a traingle made by the right back, Pique and Alves.
At half time, as Barca were leading, they decided to switch Alves back to his place to take advantage of counters.
The error was made by not having someone sticking to Xavi. At the Inter game, Mou will ask one player in particular to stick to him, Pep knows that and I am sure he is working on it….
ZonalMarking, keep going with wonderful work, i stumbled upon this site/blog today, and i love it. Great articles and analysis. Thanks a lot for your effort
A great result considering Barca were missing one or two key players and playing a much different formation. Xavi really is master-class, best in the world for his role in my opinion.
Is it only me or is Barcelona the absolute best team at using the offside rule to their advantage? Look how the players stay offside to push the backline up a bit, allowing Xavi more space to pass in, giving the player running into the channel a huge advantage towards the defenders since he has already picked up speed.
@ZonalMarking
Note that in the first Barça goal graphic, Marcelo was tracking Puyol, Alves was playing as striker between Arbeloa and Garay and Pedro between Albiol and Ramos.
[...] against Pep, but they unnamed author has taken the words right out of my mouth. Please visit his blog here and read the article for yourself. To surmise if your lazy, or you have to hear it from me first, [...]
[...] Tactical analysis of Barcelona’s 2-0 win against Real Madrid [Zonal Marking] [...]
Xavi was the heart of Barca’s attacks. And if not for Casillas’s brilliant saves, Barcelona would win by 4-0 and all are of Xavi’s assists. Amazing ain’t it? A single player can be so instrumental, creating all the goals for his team. And it seems credit were not given to him. Anyway, Barca’s passing ability makes them come out top.
[...] rest is here: Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona: Xavi runs the show yet again | Zonal … Posted in Marking | Tags: barcelona, deserved-win, league-match, most-eagerly-anticipated, [...]
What do you think Pedro’s chances are of being called up to the Spanish national squad? He’s a fantastic player no doubt, still only 22, and plays week in week out with the main fulcrum of Spain’s national team – Pique, Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta.. so far he doesn’t have an international cap, as this is his first full season in the top flight, but, I think he’s definitely worth a gamble – nimble, got an eye for goal, has an equally good right and left foot. And has scored in many big games this season. opinions?
I think Del Bosque might be reluctant to call up yet another member of Barca and be seen to be under-representing the rest of Spain. Of course, Vicente is not stupid; if he has to play a three-man midfield of Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta because he feels they will offer him the highest quality and given the requirements of the task at hand, then of course he will. But I think that the selection of ‘fringe’ memebers of the squad will be more political. Valencia will contribute Carlos Marchena and Juan Mata (and possibly Pablo Hernandez but only in the event of injury to a player ahead of him), Villarreal will provide Senna and Capdevila, Sevilla will send Jesus Navas and so forth, but the vast majority will consist of Barca + Real Madrid members.
Now the question is; is it sensible to attempt to bring about an artificial balance to the detriment of genuinely better players. No one doubts Navas’ quality for the right-winger birth, but serious questions remain about his documented emotional and mental unsuitability to perform away from the comfort of Seville. Remeber Jose Antonio Reyes’ homesickness while he was in London? Multiply that by a million.
There have been plenty of precedents of national teams building squads around their reigning club champions, and reaping the rewards: Italy in ‘82 was heavily based on Juventus players, for instance.
[...] Real Madrid 0-2 Barcelona: Xavi runs the show yet again | Zonal … [...]
who ever wrote the headline for the daily mail must really be stupid or just a typical ignorant english jornalist
VDV was totally wiped out after bringing the pressure on the CBs and Valdes and covering Busquets throughout the first half. He worked really hard and it was effective too. It did seem a bit of a waste to tire out the only creative player in the midfield like that…
Right you are, Jason:
The function often influences the positioning and vice-versa.
But we can also talk about ‘mechanism’. In this case, Barcelona were clearing playing with the synchronized movements of a back four. Even when Alves plays from right-back and Abidal is more defensively stationed at left-back, it can appear that Barca are playing a three-man defence…but it is Alves who must eventually return to his right-back slot and Abidal has no ‘wing-back’ on the other side of him to repeat the same movement. Therefore it is a back four.