Real Madrid v Barcelona: tactical preview
Possible starting line-ups
Barcelona have an eight-point gap going into the second of five Clasicos this season.
No-one needs reminding what happened in the previous fixture between these two sides. The 5-0 was a truly historic result, and the heaviest defeat of Jose Mourinho’s managerial career. Mourinho has a reputation for learning from his mistakes, though – his Inter side were outplayed by Barcelona at the Camp Nou in early 2009/10, but he returned in the semi-final to record an unlikely victory. With another Barcelona v Mourinho semi final coming up in the next few weeks, he has an even better chance to replicate last season’s heroics in the European Cup, but first and foremost, Real will be much better prepared for this contest.
Pep Guardiola is well used to these kind of fixtures. His Barcelona side have gone to the Bernabeu in the past two seasons and recorded convincing victories – a 2-6 in 2008/09 and a 0-2 in 2009/10. If Mourinho’s objective is to correct previous errors, Guardiola’s is to keep things exactly the same.
Team news
Real are without Pedro Leon, Fernando Gago, Esteban Granero and Lassana Diarra. None of these players are first teamers, and really the only relevant player there is Diarra. Many felt he should have been used as an additional holding player in the first game, to deny Barcelona space between the lines. Mourinho’s half time substitution, where he brought Diarra on for Mesut Ozil, was damage limitation and a recognition that the starting XI had been wrong.
Barcelona’s problems are more serious – Eric Abidal and Carles Puyol have been unavailable for the last few matches, and though Puyol returns to the squad for this game, there are doubts he’ll be risked – especially with more important games to come. Javier Mascherano was used as a surprise centre-back in the midweek win over Shakhtar, but he is suspended for this game – meaning Barcelona really are struggling at the back and holding midfield. Sergio Busquets will have to be used as a centre-back alongside Gerard Pique, presumably with Seydou Keita playing in central midfield, in the deep position. Upfront, Bojan is injured.
There has been some suggestions both sides might field weakened teams for this contest, but it seems unlikely.
Mourinho’s decisions
Mourinho has a few dilemmas for this match, and always has a surprise up his sleeve. However, he’ll probably consider this match the least important of the four upcoming contests, and so any shock moves might be held in reserve for later on in the series.
It’s worth outlining two possible changes he could make to his usual system, however, both of which seem to have been trialled in recent Real games. It’s worth considering that Mourinho often tries something in a less important game as preparation for one of the big ones – in last season’s Coppa Italia semi final away leg at Fiorentina, he went ultra-defensive for the last twenty minutes of the tie, despite the fact Inter were completely in control anyway. That seemed bizarre at the time, but it served as great preparation for his second leg tactics against Barcelona a fortnight later.
First, the use of Alvaro Arbeloa and Marcelo in tandem down the left in the midweek win over Tottenham could turn out to be a strategy to combat Dani Alves’ runs down the right. There is a precedent for this too – Valencia dealt excellently with Alves at the Nou Camp by playing two left-backs together late last year, and Mourinho himself made a very late change in last season’s semi-final second leg by swapping the “injured” forward Goran Pandev for Cristian Chivu, more of a defender, on the left.
Second, Mourinho used centre-back Pepe as a holding midfielder in last weekend’s win over Athletic Bilbao. Pepe is not entirely out of position there – for Portugal, Carlos Quieroz often used him in that role – but it’s the first time Mourinho had done so. Real so obviously struggled in the 5-0 with Lionel Messi in space between the lines (remember, he didn’t score but assisted two identical goals for David Villa with through balls), and besides, if not playing Diarra, a holder, was a mistake in that game, Mourinho might turn to Pepe for extra protection ahead of the back four.
But never mind who to play, Mourinho has to think about how to play. Playing a high defensive line at the Camp Nou failed miserably, and although there has been a notable improvement in how Real press – see the games against Spurs – they’d surely come off second best in high tempo pressing contest. A deep defensive line and a counter-attacking strategy is much more likely here.
Guardiola decisions
With Puyol, Abidal and Mascherano all out, it’s difficult to see what decisions Guardiola has in terms of selection, particularly now that Busquets and Keita will be played out of their natural roles. Guardiola may have considered playing Andres Iniesta as part of the front three, but that’s no longer an option. His biggest issue is probably the fitness of Puyol, and whether to use him.
That said, there is the issue of mentality. Barcelona have a commanding lead in La Liga (the 5-0 is effectively a half point for the head-to-head battle too, assuming no turnaround in that scoreline here) and therefore they don’t need to win. Barcelona are not a side who would play for the draw as such, but they are the best side in the world at keeping possession, and therefore it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them focus even more than usual on ball retention. Guardiola wouldn’t say it to the media or to the players, but he’d surely take a boring 0-0, safe in the knowledge that Real would then have to make up nine points in the space of six games.
Key battles
There are hundreds of factors at play in these four contest, but for the sake of brevity, let’s stick to three. The main man in this fixture the last two seasons has been Xavi Hernandez. Four assists in the 2-6 and two more in the 0-2, where Real completely failed to pick him up. Ozil seemed to have the responsibility for marking him in the 5-0, but this failed miserably as Xavi simply moved higher up the pitch – where he scored the first goal. ‘How do you stop Xavi?” is not a problem there is a definitive answer to, but Real simply can’t give him the freedom he enjoyed last year.
The other pressing concern is, of course, Messi. He now frequently takes up a very deep position – pretty much as a classic enganche – before dribbling or running off the ball and ending up as a striker. He loves space between the lines, and whilst even under pressure he’s a huge threat, Real surely must cope between in that zone. This is why Diarra’s absence is important, and why Pepe in a holding midfield role is a possibility. Neither Sami Khedira nor Xabi Alonso are classic holders, and that cost Real earlier in the season.
Perhaps the most important issue, however, is Barcelona’s vulnerability to pace upfront. Guardiola has been desperately shuffling his troops recently to avoid Busquets and Pique’s lack of speed being exposed, and this week commented that Real Madrid are the world’s best counter-attacking side. This broad issue could dictate a huge number of decisions from either manager, ranging from how high up the pitch Barcelona will play, to where Mourinho should play Cristiano Ronaldo – could his pace be best utilised as the main striker at some point in the four-game series?
Hey can you write an article on Xavi vs fabregas. i’m curious two which is stronger,weaker ,etc.
They are different types of player IMHO.
As for the game, i think that Puyol will start in the backline with Busquests as a DM. I cant imagine Keita playing as DM, he is not really good in that roll.
I wouldn’t fancy Keita there either, not sure on Puyol fitness though…
The best option if Puyol is not fit would be to start with Miilito, he may have had a bad season, but at least he is a CB and Busi can return to hes familiar position.
Milito’s lack of pace is a huge problem though…
If they’re looking to gain pace, wouldn’t playing a (albeit normally pacey) player who hasn’t played in 3 months be a bit counter-productive? I’m not sure he could withstand the pressure, and I’m sure Guardiola doesn’t want him injured right away and unavailable for the next 3 games after overexerting himself with one of the fastest attacking sides in the world.
Just coming back to comment on my own comment, Puyol started and, while Barcelona are winning (what would probably end up as a useless game because even if Madrid overturn this 0-1, they’re still 5 points behind Barcelona), Puyol left the game injured.
Xavi is better, no insult to Fabregas given he is 7 years younger though. they are better at different things.
Doesnt ronaldo play at the LEFT along wid marcelo dese days?? Its been quite some time i saw him play at right… :O
Yes but he’s not working enough defensively to cope with dani alves,
so unless mourinho puts him in commando mode he won’t play there
He always plays left or central but in the first game he played right, switching with di maria who was in charge of tracking alves.
Good preview ZM. I doubt if Puyol will be used tonight, inspite of defence being the real head ache for Barca. Puyol might see a few minutes and would play more time on the 20th, preparing him for the 2 legs of CL, and this is still a very good news for Barca.
Still I doubt if Pep will play for a draw. very unlikely.
Busquests as CB is also a big issue for Barca, as he is so good in their attacking build up. With Keita in the DM, Busquests will have to be more careful about the back line and hence his absence might be a problem for Barca going forwards. Remember, with Mascherrano, Busquests still had time to go forwards.
There is also a possibility of Afellay playing in the DM, as he was used to this position in HOlland. This would also help Pep take care of some issues of RM’s pace. But I doubt if Pep will use him straight away in an el classico. But Pep did put him in the midfield for the last moments in the Shaktar away match.
Cant wait for this game. I hope Arbeloa and Ramos wont kick Messi out of the rest 3 classicos.
Didn’t think of Afellay there. Interesting!
Has affelay improved dramaticaly recently? Because what i’ve seen from him with barcelona is not enough, and i see him moving to arsenal with money for fabregas more than anything else…And i’ve seen him used as a winger only for barcelona and not in any playmaking area
I’d more put my money on seeing thiago alcantara starting the game with xavi playing the dm role personaly.
Afellay havent got the chance to make any dramatic improvements with Barca. He was still much better in the last Shaktar match. He also played in the midfield during the last moments of that game.
I dont think Xavi will be used in a different position at all, at this stage.
I’ve seen Xavi play the DM role, even though i don’t remember when :p
Keita is the favorite to start obviously but i’m not a big fan
Afellay is genuinely good, but he’s being eased into the team rather than thrown into the deep end. he has impressed 9/10 when called upon. i think it’s because he hasn’t been with the team since pre-season, so Pep might wanna get to know his qualities better, but also as to avoid him suffering the Bojan-effect (impress early, fade slowly, struggle to make a consistant comeback).
i doubt Xavi will ever play the DM role ever again. it is his original position, but his game only really influences the proceedings when protected and given freedom (basically Euro 2008).
Afellay has been improving slowly – he’s a very level-headed chap for one so young, very aware of the prestigious path he’s trodden from the Netherlands to Catalonia. The games he’s played have (as far as I’ve seen) all been as an outside-left forward – essentially in Villa’s role except with a bit more width. He plays there for Holland also and flourished in the recent EC qualifiers, scoring and assisting. I’d see him as a great replacement for Villa, who is, after all, getting on a bit for a ‘pacey forward’.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Thiago myself, either in the holding role or even the back line. This would allow Busquets to take up his normal holding role and that would help Barcelona keep the ball better, as you mentioned they would like to do more so than normal in this game.
Is Adebayor not a possibility up front? (Forgive me if he’s suspended, I’m not sure). I could see him being asked to give both centre-backs a hard time, while also dropping deep at times allowing for Ronaldo and Di Maria (who I think will play a bit higher up – if he starts) to break through using their pace and dribbling to catch out Barca’s marauding FB’s cum WB’s and take on the centre backs for pace.
All-in-all though, I can’t bloody wait!
Affelay may be good and talented as a midfielder. But he isn’t a very good tackler nor is he fast. (And I’m talking in comparison to the dutch competition here.) So I highly doubt him being put in at DM.
I think he is pretty fast. Not the best tackler, true; but he is quite fast.
ZM should add something about RM’s obvious intention to injure Barca’s players if they fall far behind. It’s happened in the 5-0, 2-0, and 6-2. It could have serious consequences for a Barca side with no depth.
Mourinho comes out with the all thug lineup — Ramos, Albiol, Carvalho, Arbeloa; Pepe, Xabi Alonso, Khedira. Very likely he will use this first game to soften up Barca’s flair players in preparation for the bigger matches. Foolish to not think this is beyond tactics.
would love to see fontas as CB
He was good. But doubt, if Pep would play him full time in such an imp match.
In which way do you think this match is important? Maybe for prestige and pride, but for the league it does not really matter anymore. Sure, Pep will not want to lose it 5:0, but he will not mind a draw or even a minor loss. Number one priority will be not to pick up injuries for the cup final and the CL semis.
I think both coaches will want to use this match as a playground to test things for the other three much more important clasicos.
May be Mourinho might think so, as a testing ground. But being a catalan, knowing the full implications of an el classico, Pep is never going to look at this match as a test match. El classico’s irrespective of the tournament or the stage of league, is much more than a football game for Spaniards, from what I understand.
It seems indeed Mou thinks playground. Just read on Marca that Oezil is dropped for Pepe as holding DM, so Real will be in a 4-3-3.
I guess Pep does not have too many options anyhow at all. It is about Maxwell/Adriano on LFB, and about Milito/Busquets as RCB, and correspondingly about Busquets/Keita about DM. Let’s hope for an interesting match
I honestly feel like a high defensive line and a lot of pressing is the best way to go for Madrid. First of all, by squeezing the team they will reduce the amount of space the Barcelona players use. If you look at the game at Camp Nou, you see a sea of space between the defenders + pivotes and the attacking players. Hitting long-balls towards Cristiano, Di María and Özil is not optimal in any way. By playing a more Sacchi-esque game I think Madrid will have a far bigger chance than by just trying to hit Barcelona on the counter because this Barcelona respects Real Madrid incredibly, incredibly much which you can see by how deep their defensive line has been for the latest El Clásicos. Counter-attacking against a Barcelona team with a high line would be a good idea, but against a Barcelona that plays way more conservatively than they usually do is in my opinion a bad idea.
I actually agree. Madrid should pressure Barça. But, it seems to be assumed they won’t because they got clobbered last time around. I think the pressing Madrid used to start off the first leg with Tottenham was a way of training for doing the same thing against Barça. I am not sure Madrid has the confidence to pull it off, but I think this is the best way to beat Barça…esp. for Madrid. We’ll see. I am sure we’ll see a bit of everything to be honest.
The preview analysis opens many windows deppending who will sign the first goal of the match. Will be interesting if Real Madrid signs the first goal. The question is how? Maybe with a very high press could open the match. It will be boring if Barcelona signs the first goal. Regards from Argentina, Miguelo
In my opinion Marcelo will play as a left midfielder and Arbeloa will be the leftback.
It’s got to be hasn’t it?
It seems like an ideal solution. Alba/Mathieu, Zanetti/Chivu and even Pena/Drenthe for Hercules.
Pedro really made Marcelo look silly earlier this season with the second goal. Marcelo body checks Pedro, thinks he’s a cool dude and acts like Pedro is being a baby. Pedro then gets up, sprints past Marcelo to the six yard box to get on the end of Villa’s cross. 2-0.
Get the feeling Marcelo will become exposed again if he stays at left back.
Agreed. Marcelo’s insane attacking runs would temper Alves a lot. Or drag Pique away from the Striker.
Can see both Arbeloa and Marcelo tonight, perhaps with di Maria dropping out? Lessens threat on counter but Marcelo’s industry could exploit space left by Alves.
Yes. Di maria has good work ethic, but is individualist whereas marcelo is more of a playmaker and during the first game they lacked ball retention because they where playing too direct and not well thought football.
A possibity to see both marcelo and di maria would be either to drop benzema and play ronaldo as a striker and di maria on the right, or to play one of them in central midfield, instead of ozil who didn’t have a nice first game and was pointed out by many observers.
Di maria used to play in a kind of role like that with benfica, he was a left midfielder in a team with a true dm and a true number ten so he often had to cover in central midfield.
But that’s very unlikely because of what ozil has done for this team now, i can’t see him on the bench,and he will do a lot better than in the first game i reckon, with all the experience he has gained since the first match.
So the one left on the bench for arbeloa would have to be either dimaria or benzema, more than ozil or marcelo.
Or maybe we’ll marcelo and dimaria again, with dimaria playing the lb role and marcelo the lm one, because arbeloa is simply of lower all around quality than the other players…
^^
Puyol being “unavailable for the last few matches” is quite the understatement – he hasn’t played since January!
I worry with Milito and Pique as the center backs, but it doesn’t seem like anything else will work with Mascherano suspended. Madrid’s pace is going to be a real problem for those two.
The Starting XI (not official yet) Iker; Ramos, Albiol, Carvalho, Marcelo; Pepe, Xabi, Khedira; Di María, Cristiano, Benzema.
No Özil, Real will use a midfield with Khedira, Pepe and Alonso. I think it’s crystal clear that Real will be playing the counter-attack card. Barcelona may be careful if they give space behind the lines to Real, or they will be in trouble.
interesting, i reckon we’ll se a king of 622 in defense, and benzema dropping deep to leade the counter attack with the ball instead of ozil, with ronaldo coming from the right:
casillas
ramos–albiol–carvalho–marcelo
pepe dimaria
xabi alonso—khedira
ronaldo benzema
benzema is always the playmaker in the quick counter attacks involving only the 3 upfront (w/o ozil), and has always linked well with ronaldo in these situations. With his striking ability i think it’s what made the difference.
Now he also defends hard so he can be switched on a side to allow ronaldo in the central striker role.
———————————casillas
————————ramos–albiol–carvalho–marcelo
———————————–pepe ————-dimaria
—————————xabi alonso-—khedira
———————–ronaldo —–benzema
I think this is definitely the line-up Mourinho will go with, if he decides to play on the counter, instead of Marcelo on the left-wing and Arbeloa at left-back, like what a lot of people is suggesting. Not that it’s a bad idea, and I’m sure Mourinho has thought of it as well, but I can’t see him dropping di Maria, who obviously is very good offensively but also has a good work-ethic.
In Clasico it really doesn’t matter who scores first.
In fact it can really be a disadvantage sometimes if one scored first because the other team just goes berserk in anger.
The 2 best teams right now in the World by far meeting, can’t wait.
Villa & Pedro are my picks from Barcelona to shine.
DiMaria for Madrid, mostly because he dives like crazy & has won the most penalties this season and the Referee has given 10 penalties to Madrid while only 1 to Barca in his career.
Oh and Iniesta to get an ovation, after all its his national stadium
this is going to be an intersting game, and I’ll go for a 2-2 draw or a Madrid win, atleast 2-1. this game is a double-edged sword for both teams, because winning for Barcelona may cause complacency, fatigue, injury, etc…and they don’t really need to win it statistically, but if they lose, they risk Madrid gaining confidence, entering a bad period in terms of results, etc…but the pressure is all on Madrid, losing 5 consecutive classicos, they last one with a memorable 5-0, and we haven’t talked tactics yet!
Madrid are in a delicate situation if they play Di Maria on the left ahead of Marcelo for defensive reasons, because from what I’ve seen Di Maria is their escape route when counter-attacking. he has phenomenal acceleration and delivery, which Madrid have used to great effect when counter-attacking against teams who love to play ball. as we all know, Ronaldo playing on the left is a gamble. he can exploit the space Dani leaves behind (although he has yet to get the better of Puyol/Pique), but simply won’t track back. so I think he could be played centrally, using his height & power to act as an attacking focus point, bring other players into play, eg Marcelo on the left, Di Maria on the right, Khedira from deep. but, unless both wingers drop to create 2 banks of 4, or one tucks in to play 3 ahead of the 4 with the other winger roaming/chasing, its difficult to see that happening.
this isn’t Mourinho’s game in my opinion. i think he’s preparing some surprises for the UCL semi’s. cup games are his specialty, and he has nothing to lose in the league. this is the least important of the 3 games for both teams, but it could be the one that sets the tone for the others
This is just me thinking, and maybe this has nothing to do with this game, but I wonder how Mesut Ozil would function in a false nine role. That position is as much about creating space as it is finding it, and Ozil seems to quite brilliant at both. I remember watching him play his first game for Real, which you covered, and how his movement extremely close to the backline made the centerbacks deal with him like a forward, and therefore, his movement dragged them out of position and created spaces that Ronaldo( wide left), Benzema(wide right) and Higuain(target) could exploit. In all honesty, it would look a lot like Barcelona’s lineup. Di Maria shuttling between left midfield and left-of-center midfield to make a trio with Alonso and Khedira, similar to what Iniesta would do. One of the front three could pick up the deepest lying central midfielder for Barcelona, allowing one of Madrid’s central three to mark Messi.
Just some thoughts
Funny how Barcelona can simply play their usual team, while everyone wants Real to have some special more defensive approach. I doubt, that Real is the best team for deep defending and waiting for a counter.. IMHO they should fight for possession and not let Barcelona get the ball…
If it were that simple, every Real team would have taken that approach. Not only are Barcelona a tough team to take possession from, they’re a hard team to keep possession from. Moreover, Real have been a great counter attacking team at times. Not only that, but Mourinho is a coach who has gotten a multitude of results by sitting deep and disciplined and hitting opponents on the counter.
It seems Real is happy to give possession to Barcelona and wait for conter attacks. I know their pressing is great, but Real should not waste their possession. Only waiting for counter will not work.
I understand when you say that Real would be better off with a holding player in the midfield, since neither Xabi nor Sami are true holders, but don’t you think fielding solely ONE holding midfielder in (presumably) a 4-3-3 would cause the same problems that Arsenal encountered last yr in the CL? (http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/06/barcelona-arsenal-4-1-messi-tactic/)
“But the real issue must be Wenger’s decision to play a 4-1-4-1 shape, with Denilson stranded in front of the defence. With Messi playing centrally and with a license to drift around, the Brazilian was given the task of tracking him. Although it was far from an outright man-marking job, it was inevitable that he would constantly be drawn to Messi when he moved to the flank.”
I realize that it wouldn’t be as such a 4-1-4-1 formation for Real, and that Messi played a slightly different role then, but the point being that with solely 1 holding midfielder, wouldn’t he be “stranded in front of the defence” like Denilson was?
Also, check out the Barcelona (http://barcelona.theoffside.com/) and Real Offsides (http://real.theoffside.com/) for more interesting lineups suggestions!
Maybe – but there’s no need for them to play a triangle with a true holder at the bottom – they could play Alonso close to Pepe – but I think in terms of an individual, they need someone stronger than Alonso and Khedira
Yeah that’s what I was thinking: play Pepe with Alonso/Khedira and then Ozil at the top. So you have a true holder but still have that protection from Alonso/Khedira and a link-player in Ozil.
I don’t think that Diarra would have been important as third holding player in the 0-5 defeat. Real conceded ‘only’ two goals in the first half and three in the second when Diarra played. Of course the game was already decided at the end of the game. The number of holding players was not the problem, but the fact that Real had no chance to win the ball and to tackle.
In the second half it was just one more holding player watching Barca’s passing. And without Özil Real’s attacking options were limited.
Maybe Mourinho changes shape, but it’ll be more important wo stay close to the Barca midfielders. All players have to defend and put pressure on the opponent.
Four games. I hope for nice tactical changes.
OMG it’s in a few hours time…i feel like i’m gonna have an orgasm!!!!
Can anyone tell me what the formation Real will play??? Abiol, Pepe and Carvalho all starting, with both Marcelo and Alves too????? Five at the back??? Don’t get it. Seems as though it will be Alonso and Khedira as usual in the midfield… Stumped!
Just saying, that was never a penalty. I know he just about got to the ball first but you can’t boot the ball away and then go down and win it.
Obviously you can. You only need to be first to the ball, and then the keeper has to touch you. Whether or not you would be able to do anything with the ball, had the keeper let you free, is not important.
Real gives up possession so easily?