Milan 2-0 Barcelona: Barca completely nullified

The starting line-ups
Milan restricted Barcelona to only one shot on target – a hopeful effort from 25 yards – and pounced at the other end with a set-piece and a counter-attack.
Max Allegri was without cup-tied Mario Balotelli, so Giampaolo Pazzini played upfront. Kevin-Prince Boateng replaced M’Baye Niang on the right, and Max Ambrosini returned to the side.
Jordi Roura selected what appears to be Barcelona’s first-choice XI – Alexis Sanchez and David Villa on the bench, and Cesc Fabregas in his roaming free role. Aside from Victor Valdes’ return, it was the same XI that started the recent Copa Clasico against Real Madrid.
This was a highly impressive display from Milan, and arguably the most convincing defeat of Barcelona since the current era started in 2008.
Milan shape
The key feature to Milan’s performance was their shape and discipline without the ball. Barcelona never found space in the final third, and seemed to find it impossible to create passing angles for intricate through-balls.
Milan were basically a defensive form of 4-3-3, which inevitably looked like 4-5-1 as Barcelona dominated for long periods. But the key to Milan’s shape was its lopsidedness – Boateng stayed deep and narrow on the right of midfield, but Stephan El Shaarawy stayed higher up on the left, ready to break in behind Dani Alves. This afforded Milan the perfect balance between defensive structure and counter-attacking potential.
Milan midfield
Milan’s midfield combination was interesting, as the players had three different roles. Ambrosini sat deep in the centre of the pitch and tried to break up play, while alongside him to his right, Riccardo Montolivo provided close support and sprayed diagonal passes forward. Sulley Muntari, meanwhile, played left-of-centre, provided more energy and pressed. This was crucial for Milan’s left-sided midfielder – first because Xavi Hernandez is located in that zone, and can provide clever through-balls so must be shut down, and secondly because El Shaarawy’s advanced positioning meant Muntari sometimes needed to get out and support Kevin Constant, who tracked Pedro Rodriguez up and down the line closely.
However, Ambrosini’s positioning sometimes changed – on multiple occasions, he stepped forward to close down higher up the pitch, leaving Montolivo and Muntari occupying the central midfield zone. This is highly unusual for a defensive-minded side facing a team that thrives in the ‘red zone’ between the lines of opposition defence and midfield – why would you want to bring your holding midfielder into such an advanced role? It left space between the lines.
But it’s extremely similar to what Chelsea did against Barcelona last season, with John Obi Mikel protecting the defence but often stepping ahead of Frank Lampard and Raul Meireles to close down. Perhaps this is sheer coincidence, but maybe opposition coaches believes this prevents Barcelona (in particular Xavi and Sergio Busquets) passing the ball directly into attack – they have to play a lateral pass to a teammate who can knock the ball forward, which can give Milan’s other two midfielders time to cut off the passing angle.
Responding to movement
Another interesting feature of Milan’s shape was how deep Montolivo played, almost as part of a double pivot. He covered for Ambrosini when Milan’s captain pressed, with Boateng moving inside to cover some of his natural pressing zone. This left Jordi Alba unoccupied, which was occasionally a worry, but he did relatively little with the ball.
Montolivo’s positioning was also interesting when combined with Philippe Mexes’ display. The Frenchman positioned himself bravely against Lionel Messi, following the Argentine out into deep positions, but halting his movement when Messi moved into a position where he could be picked up by a midfielder. This sometimes meant Mexes moved forward to a position roughly level with Montolivo, while Cristian Zapata became the spare man, ready to sweep up behind.
Barca fail to create overloads
You’d expect Zapata, in that role, to be constantly sprinting across the defence to clear the danger, with Constant, Abate and Mexes all likely to be bypassed readily. Yet Milan rarely had significant problems with Barcelona players breaking past them, or creating overloads in particular positions.
On the right, Pedro was simply nullified by Constant, who had the pace and concentration to track his runs from outside to in, while Messi was alarmingly quiet – dropping extraordinarily deep to receive possession, at one point even deeper than Busquets.
Iniesta/Fabregas problem
But the real problem seemed to be with Andres Iniesta and Fabregas, whose positioning in these big games has never been completely clear. It’s difficult to explain quite what their roles are – a static formation diagram makes it look like Barcelona are playing 4-4-2ish, but Iniesta feels like a left-sided wide forward brought deep, and Fabregas a central midfielder pushed higher up.
It all seems a confused, and whereas the ‘classic’ Barcelona shape had Iniesta shuttling forward from the left of midfield and Pedro or David Villa making runs in behind, now Fabregas and Iniesta get in each others’ way. Iniesta doesn’t favour playing wide and likes to burst inside into roughly the position Fabregas occupied.
Meanwhile, although Fabregas’ “anarchic” role can occasionally work brilliantly when he combines with Messi, it doesn’t work so well when the opposition aren’t being stretched by a wide-left player. If Barcelona had a proper outside-left dragging Abate wide, Fabregas would have enjoyed space to break into. But with Iniesta drifting inside into midfield, Abate could defend narrow and Fabregas roamed around contributing little. Alba’s bursts provided some kind of width, but Barcelona’s recent success has usually come when they played with permanent width on both sides.
Poor passing
Barcelona simply didn’t create the passing angles to break through Milan’s ranks. The obvious way to get the ball forward in central positions would be from Busquets/Xavi to Iniesta/Fabregas, but this route was often blocked by Ambrosini and, in particular, Montolivo. Xavi couldn’t find a way past Muntari to get the ball to Messi between the lines. Pedro, Alves and Alba only took up wide positions, where Milan were less concerned about Barcelona getting time on the ball.
The other major problem for Barcelona was the lack of incision from the back. Carles Puyol has always been a reliable passer rather than an intricate one, but what happened to ‘Piquenbauer’? A couple of seasons ago Gerard Pique would regularly stride out of defence and knock a clever ball into the attackers – here (partly because of Milan’s good positional play, admittedly, as Pazzini increasingly got himself goalside to make Milan compact) he played simple balls to the flanks, or ten yards forward to Busquets.
Of course, another problem was that Barcelona rarely won the ball in advanced positions. Again, at their absolute peak Barcelona’s pressing was as vital to their game as their passing – but this season they’ve eased off and apply less pressure high up the pitch. There are legitimate reasons for this (sometimes it helps to let the opposition come onto you, leaving gaps at the back, and Barcelona’s ‘direct’ play has often been more impressive this season than under Guardiola) but when struggling to penetrate the Milan midfield, let alone their defence, the lack of proactiveness is obvious.
Milan attacks
The match wasn’t entirely about Milan defending, of course – they also scored two goals. With the ball, they basically had three methods of attacking:
1) Hitting quick passes towards El Shaarawy, who had Milan’s best first-half chances – when he sneaked past Alves afer 14 minutes but miscontrolled, and when he again darted past Alves and nearly got on the end of a low cross into the penalty box. His battle against Alves was the key in the first hour, and his defensive tracking also deserves praise.
2) Set-pieces. Self-explanatory, and Milan’s first goal came from a dead ball situation.
3) Counter-attacking. When this didn’t involve El Shaarawy, it usually featured Boateng on the other side, who has become a master of taking the ball on the run and attacking powerfully. Pazzini held the ball up reasonably well but doesn’t offer pace in behind, and the introduction of Niang for the final 15 minutes created more counter-attacking possibilities.
Maybe that was the second half’s major surprise – Milan were the side that used the bench to improve their attack, despite Barcelona being the side searching for a goal. Alexis Sanchez replaced the ineffectual Fabregas and drifted across the defensive line threatening to make runs in behind, but as Milan sat increasingly deep, Barcelona failed to provide him with service.
Conclusion
This might be cast as a purely defensive bus-parking exercise from Allegri, but that would be an unfair reflection of an intelligent strategy. When sides have sat behind the ball and allowed Barcelona freedom of the opposition half, they depend upon blocks, saves and a bit of good fortune – there was none of that from Milan. They closed down in midfield rather than dropping deep immediately, pressed at goal kicks and sometimes pushed their entire midfield into the opposition half to provide an initial ‘block’ when Barca tried to pass forward.
Yes, when Barcelona did work the ball into the final third Milan got men behind the ball, and Pazzini’s position became increasingly deep, but this wasn’t an overtly defensive display from the home side. They cut off passing angles and followed the textbook definition of how to attack Barca (counter-attacking into the space behind the full-backs, and set-pieces), and this is, by a distance, Allegri’s most impressive match as Milan coach.
Barcelona were incredibly subdued. Excuses about the pitch may have been a small factor, but it doesn’t justify the confusion between Fabregas and Iniesta, explain why they were so incapable of passing through the Milan midfield to play in Messi, or affect their disappointing level of pressing.
Sorry for the delay in getting this up. A brief mid-season holiday, combined with piles of work upon my return, caused the delay. Thanks for your patience
No problemo. Superbly written as always. Had been boggling my mind about just what Milan did right, and this article certainly helped out. Thanks alot.
it’s fine! i wish i could watch this match again now after having read this- i did note that milan’s defense weren’t really under pressure, which was impressive, but this explains why. thanks
You can, the match is out on piratebay = )
No need to apologize. Thanks for doing it!
Nice coverage Mr. Cox
I was really looking forward to this one, so I can’t complain…Do you think Max Allegri gets a little too much stick, and what are your thoughts on the (de)evolution of Pique? Four years ago many were saying that he was or would be the best centre-back in the world, but, while still very good, doesn’t really look like one of the top three anymore. Keep up the good work.
I certainly think he gets unnecessary stick considering the job he’s done with the resources he has. Getting such a young team (in a league that isn’t known for giving youth a chance) to play the way they are is quite impressive.
What scares me more with this Milan side is the manner in which they’ve beaten Juve & Barca (2 of the best 5 clubs in the world).
Bayern, Madrid, Man.U vs AC Milan would be quite interesting to watch
Agreed, and Milan vs United would be a potentially exciting encounter.
I remember about three seasons ago laughing very, very hard at the fact that Ferguson chose to sell Pique and keep Jonny Evans. I find it remarkable that I’m typing this, but there is a reasonable argument to be made that on this season’s evidence he made the right call. Perhaps Ferguson saw the Mr Shakira side of Pique and decided it just wasn’t worth the effort?
“But the key to Milan’s shape was its lopsidedness – Boateng stayed deep and narrow on the right of midfield, but Stephan El Shaarawy stayed higher up on the left, ready to break in behind Dani Alves. This afforded Milan the perfect balance between defensive structure and counter-attacking potential.”
This is just magic. Amazing.
Now, I thought you’d mention something on that 4-5-1 formation (to what I actually saw a 4-1-4-1, although it doesn’t really matter, except for some clear cuts, all formations are almost the same thing with different names).
Anyways, what I saw was a Milan team giving Barcelona time to think they were in control. The 4-5-1 formation the italians used had a “V” shape, they intelligently gave away the flanks for Jordi and Alves, knowing they would be never be used. So barza just drove into a wall trying to play from the inside like always, where all the milan players were actually waiting. No coincidence Barcelona didn’t get to shoot once in the whole game… they lack a powerful classic 9 for these cases where a run down the left and a cross can open the game, and that’s key. I’d love to see Iniesta and Messi run on a flank to send a cross, this would tenfold Barzas game and aggressiveness.
Also: Milan got to score in a very lucky set of circumstances. That pushed Barza to leave the quiet style they were showing, and fell into this V trap again. Counterattacking was what Allegri had planned and that lucky first goal helped them, this is key. Even knowing what I’m saying is a stretch, had that first goal not happened, the match would’ve most likely finished 0-0 as Barza would’ve kept the balance in their defensive line. Like in the first half.
Possession game and the security it supposedly brings is sort of a lie, the game is won by scoring goals.
PS: I apologize for replying in your post instead of creating a new one, I just realized. Move if you want to, sorry -.-
Agree on the 4-5-1 / 4-1-4-1 thing. Although Ambrosini sat deeper, he did move forward to press, sometimes in advance of the other two, so I said 4-5-1 instead. But you’re right, minor difference.
And yeah, to be honest I didn’t really see a Milan goal coming, other than from El Shaarawy’s battle with Alves, which I thought the Milan player won convincingly.
Exactly! In hindsight El Shaarawy probably isn’t lethal enough yet to sit high and completely neglect defensive duties like say Ronaldo would do. If Ronaldo had El Shaarawy’s first chance he probably would have buried it. Does the first leg result now force Barca to play 3 at the back because I think Milan will use exactly the same approach at Camp Nou.
Maybe Iniesta in his traditional lcm position, Busquets inbetween Pique and Puyol to allow Alves and Alba some cover in the form of an outlying cb if the ball is lost. Fabregas out for Sanchez. Sanchez and Pedro sit high and try and bring full backs inside to create overloads for the wing backs. I think Barca did try a vaguely similar approach defensively in the league game they lost to Madrid which cost them the title (with Ronaldo being left to an outlying cb) – But I think Barca need an extra man attacking to get that overload going. This could mean El Sharrawy getting similar chances as Ronaldo did in that game. But is he clinical enough to bury them?
Mr Cox,
Do you do this analysis by watching the match just once? I don’t believe it! If yes, let me know how to see a soccer match on TV and still get the analysis out of it as you have got.
I watched this one twice – it depends how complex the match is, really
Good article mate.
Really quickly! I think its funny that I was basically the only guy in Australia not only giving Milan a chance but also providing realistic reasons why they could win. Most people have been thinking that the Milan of last year was better and thus this years version were no hope. Also not many people realise the revolution that has happened at Milan since their win against Juve.
In Italy they talk about trying not to give central defenders a reference point. Ibra last year was easily shackled by Pique and I think Mascherano. This year Pazzini actually sat goalside making it difficult for Pique to move out from the back, he also showed good ball retention in the second half.
IMO Cassano, ibra and Robinho may be good players but they are also very lazy trackers when defending – you have made a good point in the past about how it is useful having attackers sit high – however lets be frank, if El Sharaawy and or Boateng sat that high Barca would have just dominated in the middle and created overloads. I wouldn’t trust milan to win the ball enough to feed players sitting high.
So Allegri was fantastic in basically setting out a team that defended as 11 but were still able to attack as three – mainly due to Montolivo fantastic diagonals. El sharaawy was fantastic on Alves. Chelsea’s victory was based on a bit of luck as well as Inter’s 2nd leg although with 10 men. However, since the Inter first leg in 2010, this is the worst defeat Barca have had.
PS: How much does having good full backs help a team? Milan have finally sorted out their defence after years of transfer inaction in that area. The only sale I think they are still missing is Thiago Silva – but Cassano and Pato were good sales. Milan are setting up a new era. Could this be 2002-03 revisited Juve-Milan final? Finally some sanity has returned to Italian football. Serie A is the strongest its been since Calciopoli. All the seven sisters have good teams and will probably occupy the first 7 places on the table at the end of the year.
As a fellow Australian, it wasn’t an uncommon belief that Milan would at least draw this first leg. Last year Milan only lost due to two very questionable penalties (and an Iniesta goal resulting from Milan having to chase the game). It’s no surprise that the replacement of talent/creativity with energy and work-rate has resulted in a much better defensive team.
Also, I think Serie A is on the rise again but it’ll be a few more years until we are a constant threat for CL.
I agree bc of the slow start people don’t realize how good Milan are. They have power and speed. Montelivo is extremely good. The Barca style could be falling out of vogue, and a new Milan power emerging. The key in this match was Milan’s ability to beat the pessure and move the ball up the field after they recovered it.
Fire the coach please, it is completely embarrassing and humiliating.
Drop Cesc onto the bench and use MVP at front with the support of Iniesta and Xavi.
The use of midfielders as wingers and defenders has been a complete disaster for Barca in this two seasons, so they must switch back to the Old 433 that has won them two Champions League!
To be fair, it’s not like Roura was the intention…
According to your diagram, Both Fabregas and Iniesta play at wide left, which do not only make them ineffective, but also make Barca outnumbered in the midfield, cut off the support to Messi in all ways.
It is understandable to play both Iniesta and Fabregas, but such deployment of them is completely atrocious and stupid. The only way to play them and function as a team is put Iniesta wide left and Fabregas left of the centre.
Both Tito and Roura have to be fired as their stupidity to put BOTH INIESTA AND CESC WIDE LEFT have caused this defeat, which is the worst defeat for Barca in this 5 years, as you said. Even Enrique will do a better job than Tito and Roura!
“Fire the coach please, it is completely embarrassing and humiliating.”
The problem is that there is no coach at all at the moment, so it would be hard to fire anyone
.
Just Fire Tito and Roura already OMG, only a retard will use BOTH CESC AND INIESTA AT WIDE. Even Enrique will do better, he knows how to use 433
I don’t think it’s fair to blame Tito. He wasn’t even there! And I doubt he was able to effectively focus on tactical preparation for the match given his cancer treatment.
maybe they should employ you
Calling the pitch a “small factor” shows this is written by a couch expert who has no actual playing experience.
Classic bus parking by Milan, you don’t need to be a mastermind for that. Any team can do it. Milan has the players to execute the counter-attacking better than most though.
“who has no actual playing experience” – Ooh he’s come out with the Robbie Savage line!
I suspect you have no more playing experience than me, which presumably makes your views equally irrelevant, haha
lol, touche Mr. Cox.
Im sure you don’t need to be assured ZM but if youre work was being reproduced in italian, Your views would be really appreciated in Italy. Its just a shame that as an Australian-Italian I have to watch my teams whilst listening to the most insanely stupid commentary from ITV etc. Even average Italian commentators speaking in a language I dont completely understand still give better analysis of a game than ITV.
From this post Crayne is clearly a keyboard expert who doesn’t even watch the games! It was a terrific performance by Milan, who were clearly following a disciplined game plan designed to nullify the opponents qualities and maximize their own strengths.
In my opinion, disciplined defending is a joy to watch, as it takes a superb amount of concentration, skill and determination to execute. Not to mention a tremendous amount of effort on the training pitch to implement! Which I’m sure a seasoned professional like Crayne is aware of given his vast experience.
Well said!
Aside from the pettiness of this comment, I find it strange that Roura and Barca-apologizers complained about the pitch. Barca didn’t have the same problems last year at the San Siro despite the pitch being of infinitely worse quality. The pitch at San Siro has been replaced since with a semi-synthetic one that has generally been recognized as being no worse than adequate. Complaints last year were a weekly event, this is the first I’ve heard of them this year.
Allegri also said before the game that the pitch was bad. If you play one touch football, this is a major factor. If you need a second touch, it allows the defenders to arrive in time.
you are, pardon my french, a classic moron
As Arrigo Sacchi said, in rough translation, ‘to be a great jockey, you don’t need to have been a horse.”.
It should be noted that Messi covered only 7.3 km in this game according to UEFA’s match center. A mind-boggling number. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an outfield player lacking movement to such extreme extend in a game. Even centrebacks usually cover 10 km per game.
That’s very interesting, ta
Not just Messi. Barca’s whole team ran only 107km compared to Milan’s 105km according to the data on uefa.com. For comparison, Dortmund has never been under 120km this season in the UCL. And Ajax (with 66% possession) against Dortmund featured 124km for Ajax against 127km for Dortmund. Bayern had 121km against Arsenal on Tuesday. Barca made it easy for Milan playing, well, stand-around football. No movement off the ball, no runs meant no chances created. That’s where the blame should go, not to the pitch or to the ref. Dortmund would play basically 12 or even 13 against 11 facing a Barca side this lazy. And that laziness surely helped Milan’s game plan.
Messi’s complete lack of off-ball movement when playing CF is one of Barça’s biggest problems penetrating an organized defense. He only get’s involved when an attack moves towards the middle and a 1-2 pass move comes towards him. Eventually, deprived of service, he drops deeper and deeper to get involved, leaving absolutely no one up front. The ball has to circulate the perimeter at that point, waiting for a defensive lapse. Against lesser teams, such cracks usually occur eventually, but Milan proved up to the challenge. Messi is great at dragging defenders when he has the ball. Otherwise, Barça might as well be playing with ten men.
In the following game versus Sevilla, the same “static/dropping Messi” occurred in the first half. In the second, David Villa moved into a central role, and made an immediate affect on the shape of the back line with his runs. It was fitting that Villa scored the first goal as the target man for an Alves cross. In other games, it has also been Pedro or Sanchez being shifted to center that has provided the pressure against the back line that Barça lacks with Messi as CF.
Messi is at heart an attacking midfielder who is best when dribbling at defenses, who looks for exactly the same kind of targets up front he fails to provide himself. Why Barça insists on starting games with Messi as an invisible CF is somewhat baffling.
zonalmarking , do you have any aspirations of becoming a football manager ? good analysis as usual
Haha no I don’t have the dedication / self-belief. And maybe not the talent either! But thanks
But, I am curious if a club offered you a job as a technical scout, first team analyst or even a director of Football job would you consider it?
Also, I would say there’s a difference between analyzing a game after the fact with nothing at stake, compared to sitting on the sidelines, with the world’s eyes on you, trying to figure out in real time how to affect positive change for your squad. I think fears of being ridiculed for tactical mismanagement, or being labeled the next “tinker man” figures greatly into the minds of coaches who hardly ever make interesting tactical switches. How else do you explain Barca not even trying to change their formation to something that Milan might not have expected? (Villa up front, or Fabregas in his false nine role for Spain, with Messi on the right and Iniesta on the left; at least a clearly defined structure?) It’s the reason PR exists in the first place: to cover the arses of people in positions of influence. Even Pep trotted out the reliable “we must be ourselves” or “playing the Barca way” whenever they came up against it. The truth is however good you are, or think you are, you have got to have a good tactical plan, especially in the Champions League. Could Barca be accused of having underestimated Milan?
Anyways, always appreciate your “after the fact” analysis, Michael.
great writeup! thank you!
Spot-on!
Slowly more teams are learning how to play against Barcelona (see the match vs Celtic).
It is time for Barcelona to evolve and at least have a backup plan when their ‘classical style’ fails.
They really should think about learning to use the substitutions to change their style. An attacking player (winger) or two to make the opposing team defend wider and a striker with the capability of handling high balls.
Also, they should lift the ban on shots from outside the penalty area. Barcelona has some good long-range shooters, but they are used only on free kicks.
No, what they have to do is drop Fabregas and use Villa at left, and use Iniesta and Xavi at mid. Using all midfielders ruin Barca in this TWO seasons
I’m never 100% sure about Villa’s relationship with Messi. But agree it would be an improvement
Sanchez is the man – He will cut in for Jordi Alba like he does for Isla in the national team.
If at all Barca must play without a left winger, does anyone think Thiago Alcantara would make a better solution than Fabregas. He can dribble past players and shoot from distance
That’s why they signed Ibra, to provide another way of attacking, but the mistake they made there was getting such a high profile player to be the ‘plan B’.
Realistically, they only ever need to use a ‘plan B’ in 4 or 5 games a season (making a number up, but I can’t imagine I’m that far off). Their classic squad of hobbits does the trick in almost every game, so it’s rare that they need to get more direct. Problem is that when they do, it tends to be in the huge games.
So in that sense, I imagine it’s really tough to find the right player. Someone who’s willing to spend his days on the bench (if he’s called up at all), but the few games that he is needed are against the best teams.
I dunno why Roura will even put Iniesta and Cesc at the same flank, this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in my life. Fire Tito and Roura please.
You beat me to that. I also do think that Ibrahimovich was brought to Barcelona for this particular reason, but this happened when Guardiola was at the club – an intelligent manager -.
Drogba!
spain’s solution is llorente… can it be barca’s solution as well?
Llorente has already signed a pre-contract with Juventus, so will move there in the summer.
I can’t wait for Juve’s attack next season, Llorente on a free transfer is a steal. Marotta is a transfer market genius, no joke.
On topic Milan played 110%. Great tactical display.
I was surprised by how inaccurate the Barcelona passes, seemed. I don’t recall a game in recent memory with so many intercepted passes by Xavi.
Yes, that struck me too…wouldn’t have happened between 2008-11 when Xavi dominated every game he played in. He’s still top-class, of course. But his ‘big game’ record in that period was astonishing.
I agree with this–Barcelona seemed off from the onset of the match.
They didn’t hustle nearly enough, they never seemed to get out of first gear. I think it’s those awful away kits that overwhelms their senses.
I was baffled by some of his choices in this game. Look at the moment in this screen capture. I was shocked that Xavi didn’t pass Iniesta the ball and back-passed instead. Xavi dribbled directly towards Iniesta for several seconds, and the gap remained open, yet Xavi never passed. Milan’s right back certainly had his eye on Iniesta, but Iniesta could have still received the ball with plenty of time and space, and has proven he can dribble brilliantly along the goal-line. He did get the ball a few seconds later from another Barça player, but by that time Milan had moved over and shut down the left side.
http://www.berdu.com/images/xavi_no_pass.jpg
Finally ZM, been waiting so long for this, thanks a lot!
Totally agree with inkakola. And it wasn’t just xavi, pedro didn’t seem to want to take on players. Messi was just a pale shadow of himself. All his dribbles failed, his passing was poor, even his decision making seemed poor. So many times he wouldn’t pass when he should’ve.
And Fabregas was just totally anonymous. He could’ve moved wide and help create space for iniesta since iniesta seems to be the only barca player giving milan any trouble in the middle. IMO, Fabregas shouldn’t play in Camp Nou. Villa should take his place. Villa would create space for iniesta and also i think villa has better understanding with messi inside the box. His little flicks would actually be quite useful..
It was a very poor showing by barca. They seemed totally out of ideas right around the half hour mark.
@ZM: What can barca do in the second leg to go thru? Do you think barca can make a come back in this?
I think there’s a good chance Fabregas won’t play in the return, yeah. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see Sanchez start, to offer runs in behind. Milan will probably depend deep anyway, but at last he’ll offer the threat of pace in behind the defence, which should force the defence and midfield further apart, creating space for Messi/Iniesta.
I think it’s 55%-45% in Milan’s favour, personally. I fancy Barca to score two…but I fancy Milan to score one, which would leave Barca needing four…
Then it’s hardly 55-45
. I’ve seen someone quoting statistics saying Milan is 81 percent through (I’m assuming they’re based on historical data of what happend after the play-off first-leg 2-0 home wins).
Off the top of my head, in the modern CL era only a few two-goal deficits have been overturned, and they all involve an away goal having been scored.
If you’ll permit me to wind it back…
Barca 1-3, 5-1et Chelsea 2000
Monaco 2-4, 3-1 Real Madrid 2004
Deportivo 1-4, 4-0 Milan 2004 (on consecutive days!)
Chelsea 1-3, 4-1et Napoli 2011
Maybe another I’ve forgotten. So 0-2 is not promising for Barca. I suspect they can only win if the ref is liberal with his penalties like in the same match last year.
Barca are a team that currently doesn’t know what a clean sheet looks like to be honest. Last season they still conceded to 10 men chelsea at home. I’m almost certain Milan will score. Montolivo’s passing & Shawaary and Boateng’s pace.
Well yeah like you said they are using historical data for that 81%, which tells something but doesn’t account for these 2 teams.
From the odds I saw at pinnaclesports.com they had Milan at about 60-65% chance if I’m reading the European odds right (I’m used to American odds but I think it is about right)
It is interesting to see how Milan would plan to get that ‘one goal’ as I think they will sit deeper than they did at home while Barcelona – I think – will try to cause them more trouble at flanks.
Sanchez would be a good choice too, atleast if he was in his last year’s form. He’s been very disappointing this year. I’d rather have a confident and raring to go Villa over Sanchez.
But anyway, i have the same hunch as you, barca have it in them to score two, but milan might just nick one. And barca have never come back from a 1st leg defeat in CL knock out rounds. This would be a good time to end that story.
Found it interesting that not one through ball was played by barcelona in the whole game. And milan had many interceptions (~30) in the game. There were no passing angles as you said in the game for barcelona
That’s amazing re the through balls…
Actually, there was at least one through ball played by Barcelona. I believe it was Xavi to Pedro but it was intercepted at the last second.
Since it was intercepted, it wasn’t a successful pass, and therefore Barca did not have any through balls played successfully in the entire match into scoring positions.
Thanks for the report, a very good piece! You know, this match reminded me of the Leverkusen-Barca match in the 8th final last year (though Barca won that 1:3 in Leverkusen).
Basically, already back then Leverkusen tried an approach very similar to what Milan now perfectised: Leverkusen had some 4-5-1/4-3-3 hybrid shape, which was very flexible and fluid, and also they had their deep holder (Rolfes or Reinartz) charging up to press Busquets. In that game’s first half, Barca had 1 or two shots on goal, but managed to score once via Sanchez. In the second half, LEverkusen opened up more, managed to equalise, but again fell behind due to brilliant performances of Messi and Sanchez. Bottom line of the story, the german press poured shit over Leverkusen, because they did not get ‘physical’ enough, and of course some players already wanted Messi’s shirt at half time. In reality, Leverkusen had some really good plan/tactics and cut of Barca from danger areas nearly all the time. My personal view, why Leverkusen did not, but Milan now managed to succeed, has two aspects:
- Milan seems to have the individually better players than Leverkusen back then. Technically, tactically, physically, and probably with a better motivation and more ‘grit’.
- Barca was better last year. They had an additional approach last year, which they employed regularly under Guardiola, being long/lobbed balls in the back of the defence against compact sides. Also, it seems key players were in better shape: Sanchez, Pedro, Alves. They had more options from the bench also: Thiago, Cuenca, Tello, Fabregas, who all seem less sharp this season.
Let’s kick off some discussion: My bet on this year’s CL winner is either Juventus, Milan, Dortmund, or Bayern. If the drawing allows, they will meet in the semis.
Thanks, that’s really interesting – didn’t see that game, but sounds very similar to this one.
For some reason, I think Shakhtar Donetsk will eliminate Dortmund in extra time or penalties, while Juventus won’t make it past the semis, neither will Milan, so Bayern, for me, has the best chance of winning.
personaly i don’t think bayern will win, it’s not a good sign than uli hoeness or rummenige or even heynvkess start to talk that this years champions league win it’s their “destiny”..
Shahktar-Dortmund extra time means you’re predicting another 2-2. At their home Dortmund are quite good, they beat Madrid & City there. Shahktar must attack, 1-1 or 0-0 means they’re out. This leaves Dortmund well set up for their counter attacking game where they thrive.
I’m predicting another 2-2 because in the last 4 matches at the Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund has conceded 5 goals and the team has hardly kept a clean sheet in Europe (except aganst Ajax and Manchester City). Also, in the next week, Borussia has to play 3 matches (DFB Pokal vs Bayern, Bundesliga vs Hannover and Champions League vs Shakhtar) while Shakhtar still has the winter break.
IM SHOCKED THAT YOU DIDN*T USE THIS IMAGE TO MAKE YOUR POINT ABOUT MILANS DEF
http://postimage.org/image/w4mprda53/
I’m not really allowed to use images. But yeah…
gready bastards they are then
lol you are correct sir!
The pitch was a huge factor. It’s very difficult for Barcelona to combine quickly in tight areas on a poor surface. This is the cornstone of Barca’s philosophy and if it’s made impossible they’re in trouble.
I’m not saying Milan don’t deserve credit, or that the pitch is the sole reason for Barca’s defeat, but it certainly made a difference.
That’s why I think Barca may still progress. The pitch will be pristine at the Camp Nou and Barca will be able to play at their best. That doesn’t mean they will, but unlike at the San Siro, they’ll at least have the opportunity.
Milan are favourites now, but the 2nd leg will be a completely different game.
If Milan plays “the Inter” from 2010, this is going to be a boring game
.
You’re probably right, although last year’s semis, Bayern-Real was a much better pure football contest than Barca-Chelsea but in the last minutes at Camp Nou it “felt” more momentous, you know, in a desperate giant striving for the last goal against an equally desperate bunch of stragglers, and incredibly failing. So that’s what this one will probably be like too.
Hahah you’ve got to be kidding. The pitch!!!! These guys are pro’s. They should be able to play even in snow and pull off amazing passes. Its just the tired old excuse, the pitch or the ref. Or the other team parked the bus. The fact is Milan played as perfectly as they could and forced Barca into playing bad. Even Danny Alves said so. Last year I saw chinks in the Barca armor, now I see cracks. The era is coming to an end while Milan is starting a new one.
Re – pitch as excuse: 2002 UEFA Super Cup – Real Madrid 3 Feyenoord 1
That lot could play on top of car parks.
So, where does Barcelona go from here?
I think it’s safe to assume Milan will take a similar approach to the second leg. The onus will be on Barca to attack (more than usual).
While other comments have alluded to the need for Barcelona to return to a classic 4-3-3 (with two wingers, rather than an attacking midfielder – Iniesta – played wide), I think they need to go even further.
I would propose a 3-4-3, with the midfield four playing as a ‘box’ (rather than flat, or as a diamond). With the team’s natural attacking intent, the formation could be read as 1-4-2-3. As far as personnel, this shape could get Barcelona what they need at each level: True wingers (most likely Villa and Pedro) plus Messi up front, two attacking mids (Iniesta and Fabregas) who can play quick 1-2s with the forward line and make vertical runs into the space Messi creates by dropping deep, two ball-playing holders, one of whom can fill in as a center back (Xavi and Busquets), the usual fullbacks who play like wingbacks (Alba and Alves), and a center back comfortable on the ball (Pique).
The thought of no Puyol on the field makes me uncomfortable, but in a match that should skew to even more possession, it seems a risk worth taking – especially with Busquets able to fill in at the back when needed.
This lineup would still utilize Barcelona’s one and only Plan ‘A’, but with players in their more natural positions, hopefully able to combine in a more fluid/attacking manner than we saw in the first leg, all while still maintaining possession for the vast majority of the contest.
Thoughts?
Interesting thought… although Barca did play a 3-4-3 against Milan last year and it ended in a draw, I believe. Utilizing a box midfield could be the slight tactical switch that could be the difference, but also realize it opens up a lots of space behind the wing-backs for a Milan team that is younger, more athletic, and energetic than last years team…. especially with Barca being forced to score 2 or more goals.
Pazzini was used more as a link, hold-up CF in the 1st leg. Milan may choose to use Niang, a faster and quicker player than Pazzini, up top and simply hit long-balls behind the Barca CB’s and WB’s all day knowing that Niang should get on to a couple of them. If he doesn’t, so be it… the onus is on Barca to score, not Milan.
Barcelona did try 3-4-3 formation under Guardiola at the start of last season but then reverted back to there usual shape after failing to deliver. However it was more like a flat 4 instead of the box shape.
Personally, I think it makes them more fragile at the back then they are now.
I think Barca will win the tie on penalties. The pitch was obviously a huge factor here no matter how well you defend you will always concede chances against Barca, Milan didnt. therefore it makes me believe the pitch was a huge factor. That said Barcelona’s game management was terrible as it was last year in the semi final Theyve picked up a habit of being in favourable positions in games 2-0 vs chelsea 0-0 vs AC and chose the wrong option. They tried to steamroll foward at 2-0 against chelsea when they should of kept the ball in the back 4 till half time thus increasing there chances dramtically of progressing. Against Ac they tried to press for the win when the opposition was solely set on counterattacking when they should of just killed the game at 0-0 which also would of gave them more favourable chances of going through. Basically there tendency to become frustrated when they are not completely dominating has most likely cost them 2 champions league eliminations.
I thought Milan played superbly and were partly aided by a particularly lacklustre Barcelona.
The Milan block was very mobile preventing Barcelona playing out from the back at times but also dropping deep when they had to.
This was definitely not a park the bus performance.
My thoughts on the game can be found here:-
http://chalkontheboots.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/ac-milan-vs-barcelona-questions-questions-questions/
Good analysis mate..
After the match, my main question was: what characteristics do Milan have that enabled them to execute the game plan? I think they competed in midfield better than any Barca opponent, not necessarily in terms of possession, but in terms of how difficult of a time Barca had breaking through the midfield. As ZM said, Milan didn’t depend on last ditch blocks and tackles, since neither Xavi nor Iniesta had a passing lane to play a killer ball, neither Messi nor Pedro got a free run on goal, and Alves and Alba rarely got the ball in good situations.
I think it came down to the balance they had in midfield. Ambrosini and Montolivo were beautifully in synch, both disciplined in closing down passing lanes, and Montolivo instrumental in starting the counter and not quickly conceding possession. Further forward, Muntari, El Shaarawy, and Boateng are tremendously athletic, allowing them to retreat into defense and then rapidly break forward. I was astonished by how much work El Shaarawy put in without the ball, considering he was their main source of offense as well. Abate was also impressive: he rarely got a chance to break forward, but when he did he was menacing.
From Barcelona’s standpoint, they failed to pull Milan’s holders out of position in midfield. This meant that through balls were nearly impossible, and there were never any great opportunities. I think the issue might be Xavi’s diminished stamina (he seemed more restricted and timid than in the big matches of years past), and of course, the Fabregas and Iniesta confusion. If Xavi could push past Muntari and lure Montolivo or Ambrosini forward, Messi would do much more damage. Iniesta’s direct running from the center might be what’s needed to unsettle Milan’s midfield, complemented by runs from a wide forward and Alba. Barca need to stretch Milan better to open up passing lanes.
Throughout the match I always anticipated when El Shaarawy would make a mistake in his defensive duties that would lead to an opening but he put an impressive display that I didn’t expect from an attacking player of his age.
is that Barca just looked very ‘tired’. perhaps they will find some extra ‘energy’ for the second leg.
Learn how to learn quotation marks you fucking cretin.
I think Barcelona should have tried more shots from mid-range. Those were their 2 best efforts imo. If they never shoot from that distance is easier for the defenders to wait just outside their own box.
FC Barcelona really need a proper coach, they DON’T have one! Vilanova still hasn’t managed to impose himself as a leader cause he is spending more time in hospitals then on the training ground, so that pretty much leaves Roura as the assistant of the assistant of Pep Guardiola. I watched this game and it resembled the Argentina team under Maradona in 2010, there was no logic or tactics involved, just ‘play what you know’. They really need a boss to: 1) remind them why they get paid tens of millions euros per year; 2) make a difference.
Another thing I didn’t like at Jordi Roura was his own attitude and the attitude he gives to players: before the game he was confident because his team is superior and Puyol even started talking about ‘a perfect game; after the defeat, in the conference, he looked even more sure that his team has nothing to worry about. So basically, your team is overconfident and ends up losing, after that you still don’t change your attitude, but expect different outcome?! This 2-0 result is worse then the 3-1 with Inter because it’s the same difference but no away goal, Barcelona isn’t the favorite to go through anymore and if no change happens it won’t.
“I am only here because my friend is in a difficult situation. We just want to get through this.” – Roura before the Milan game. One does not simply ‘just get through’ to the UCL quarterfinals.
A thing I’ve noticed at Tito/Roura Barca is that it has a poor defense. Under Pep it didn’t necessarily have the best offense, but it always had the best defense, and another observation of mine in the recent years is that a good defense is more important then a good offense in a high level competition. This years Barca is allot like last years Real: it does very good in la Liga, has many goals but concedes almost every game. I think that last year, before the first match against Bayern, Mourinho said that if his team plays their normal la liga game, it will be a sure win! It wasn’t. I hope it’s not going to be a deja-vou for Barcelona.
And a note about the actual gameplay: Milan, like other teams have done recently, put 3 central defensive midfielders to watch Messi. He played mostly in central positions as a false 9, so that meant he had to dribble 5 players to score; I think he only completed a dribble when he drifted right. I saw that Alves had a lot of space and chances on that side, but his dribble was not that good, so why not put Messi on the right when the opposition team plays like this? He would really stretch the play this way and counter Milan’s starting tactic.
Agree on everything you said.
Unlike in some sports, Football is one sport, where a coach is a coach even more so when he is present on the bench.
Also spot on about Messi. I think Messi on the wings will stretch the Milan defence.
Also, will you discuss games from the UEFA League?
Excellent work again Michael but I thought you’d mention something about Pep’s 3-4-3. I know that there is a school of people whose members think that one must play a single distinct tactic regularly as they feel it is the RIGHT way, and only that way you could create more cohesion, only that way you can make your team greater than the sum of its parts, only that way you can make your team tactically more stable and sharp. That’s usually accepted notion. (You probably fully belong to that school)
But there are two sides of a coin and the shine of the other side though usually very dim was probably more visible in the Milan-Barca game. Pep’s continually used formation 3-4-3 may have proved to be an apparent failure but it prevented Barca from getting into a comfort zone. The players had to fine-tune their role regularly, and that, in some way, helped them maintain their exceptional dynamism. Now Tito has played the classic 4-3-3 again and again this season. Maybe, just maybe, it could be one of the reasons why the Barca water could not flow THAT effortlessly and why they looked so, so stifled, so stranded.
(The noteworthy point is that despite’s Pep’s fiddling with the formation, the cohesion remained intact because the same set of players was playing, and moreover the style of football still remained the same – tiki-taka)
Which again questions the usually accepted notion – if playing a single distinct tactic day in day out is really the undisputed BEST way.
Thanks so much for this analysis, it adds so much to my understanding and enjoyment.
It was a completely enthralling game.
I found myself thinking that with the centre so well blocked Barcelona needed to at least offer a realistic threat of going around to try to stretch the centre. While Alves almost managed a few times there was never any attempt to do this on the left. Fabregas, Iniesta and Alba all kept turning into the congestion, and you have outlined the fascinating details of just how their defence was so effective centrally.
Does Barcelona have anyone who can offer a threat outside on the left this season?
The second leg is a tantalising prospect.
Great article. A few points.
If Barca are to have any chance in the return leg the key will be the pressing. They must push the Milan defensive line back and cut off counterattacks at their source. Even Messi must do a shift, the way he used to. In effect, Barca must completely disrupt the Milan system and creat panic.
Cesc must be sacrificed for Alexis, who is a fantastic defender, can drift wide and, crucially can drift inside snd play back to goal. Messi needs someone in front of him to occupy the CBs and use for wall passes.
perfect analysis . thank you Michael .
Watching these games around this time of the year makes me think of the movie Groundhog Day. Barcelona is Bill Murray who lives the same day over and over again.
Now, there aren’t many teams in this world capable of playing football like Barcelona do. They have the responsibility to try to break these kind of defenses without any real prior knowledge how to do so. I mean, it’s not like there’s huge amount of data or video footage on how to break well trained and disciplined 9 to 10 man defense. I don’t see many teams struggling with this dilemma. I’m not an expert or anything but I try to remember that Barcelona are pretty much the only team in the world who face defenses like this every year and in the most important of matches.
That said, I still think they really should come up with something new already. Playing Iniesta and Fabregas together on the left doesn’t really make sense when you should be wanting natural width.
I’ve long suggested since their defeat to Inter in 2010, that maybe when facing a defensive setup of 8-9 men (IMO AC Milan was NOT parking the bus), it is in Barca’s best interest to purposefully have less possession and allow the other team a little bit more time on the ball to allow them to advance downfield and open up at the back.
Also Barca’s advancement down the field is way to slow to take advantage of gaps in transition, they miss so many opportunities in transition it is frightening.
I too have noticed Barcelona’s slow positive transitions from own half. And I agree completely that Milan was not parking the bus like Celtic/Chelsea/Inter.
But when we think about the last 4-5 years of this Barcelona, it’s surprising how little their game has developed over the years when facing these kind of oppositions. I might miss some nuances in their game, but to me it seems that the opposition is able to develop their defensing game while introducing more intelligent attacking schemes, but Barcelona fail to develope their game.
You have a good point in purposefully having less possession to make space, but seeing how they fail to exploit space in fast transitions they propably won’t find it attractive.
Lose on your own terms and so on…
It’s because Xavi walks the ball up. He is not what he used to be and he may need to sit down in situations that require faster transitions. The two matches against Chelsea last year looked the same to me, Barcelona had the opportunity to get behind them but gave them the time to pack in and stop play with a foul and Drogba rolling around on the ground. Barcelona is fine when the opposition chooses to play a wide open back and forth game. It that scenario they can start 8 midfielders and have everything go through the center. But when teams pack in there has to be pace and width.
But they seem stubbornly against using true winger and playing with true width…. I mean keeping both Iniesta and Fabregas, two central playmaking midfielders in left midfield and left wing??
you are correct about the match but i was wondering about the actual change of approach of barca under gaurdiola and vilanova . if we had watched barca under gaurdiola last season we could see that in that team fabregas used to play as a centre forward and messi behind but in this current setup messi is playing as a forward but clearly he needs somebody around whom he could play he had cesc last season but now he has to play on his own and finds little support or just nobody ahead of him when he has the ball where on he gets closed down.
why barca’s attack didnt come into success because they lacked a clear pivot around whom they could play or who would thread milan’s defense .messi is played on the last defender but teams just stop the ball the coming to him as we had seen in this match which makes him come deeper .
second thing that this season barca’s approach has changed they just dont direct through the middle but they try exploit that space between the fullback and the centre back more so ever . the fullbacks are crossing the ball which wasnt a feature before so they are trying to do things differently . but then this current approach has failed to open a compact defense .
while milan’s victory was in the fact that they stopped barca from playing their usual game or deny space to play their tippy tappy game and barca’s defeat was in the fact that they just didnt had the answer to open the milan’s defense .
now when we watched the match it wasnt as if milan played were playing deep there was some space between abiatti and the milan back line and messi was playing as the centre forward . what i wanted to see an over the top ball by xavi to messi and let the possibilities happen that is why at times i would like to have a pirlo in the team than xavi who is much more direct .
at times barca are too adamant about their approach and pray the price
I think I saw Messi start an off-ball run at the back line *once* the entire game. No one can hit over the top balls if there is no one making the runs.
nice analysis mr ZM !
correct me if i m wrong: i thought villa was left at home, because of the kidney stone thing. so he wasnt on the bench?
although this was really a very poor barca performance, i think this barcelona side never prevailed in such scenarios.
chelsea 2009 was very very lucky, but they created simliar few chances.
2010 was the same. the goal pique scored came ten minutes before the whistle when barcelona already canceled their formation and moved all the players close to the box.
2012 it seemed they had cracked the defence in the first half, but due to their own mistake it resulted in the ramires counter and they again find themselves trailing. in the second half they produced nothing more after the missed penalty.
after all i ve read and seen, i think barelona were never ever (even under pep and ZM said it in 2010, ibra WAS NOT THE EFFECTIVE PLAN B!!!) clearly able to unlock such massive defences effectively and score more than 1 goal.
similar scenarios can be found with CL finals 2010 and 2012 with bayern. maybe not to such a large extend but still. bayern either never really found a way through.
so my question is now:
especially for barcelona, would make it sense for the classic scenario, 1st leg away 2nd at home to just give a bit of posesssion away to regain spaces on the break? maybe they could just keep the ball in their half or center of the pitch to force opponents pressing and then go for some quick vertical passes
to me it makes sense, cause in all of the big CL games, when barcelona were denied space – they failed. even worse the mentioned scenario first leg away, 2nd at home you have a huge advantage but barcelona always had to overcome a deficit in the 2nd leg(except 2009, when it was the other way round).
to me the tie is done. milan will go through. we ll see another desperate barcelona not being able to unlock milan. i expect a 1:0 1:1 etc
even if they would manage to score an early goal, it would stil be very very hard.
however i would love to see a miracle 2:0 at full time so it would go into extra time
I am also not sure that Barca can overturn this as Milan will turn even more defensive in Noucamp.
But its not just Barca, which team is successful in consistently overcoming well oiled buses, please. I cant remember any other team facing so many diehard buses, like Barca has faced.
If Chelsea, Milan and all play Barca like they normally do with other teams (like Chelsea did against Napoli or Milan against Arsenal), definitely they will have to pick the ball from their net few times.
Unlike many other bus’s against Barca, this was the most proactive and intelligent bus against Barca by any team in the CL. Barca could not even create a good chance against Milan. So congrats to Milan, even as a Barca fan.
At the same time, it looked like Barca not showing up as a whole. I just dong understand, how all the 10 players can switch off all together in an important match like this.
Cant wait for the second leg.
Still think Inters performance in the 2nd leg was better,they had 10 men and Barca only created one chance up to the 80th minute,a Messi shot from 20 yards.10 men at the Nou Camp!And then Mourinho fucked the formation by changing it to 5 in defense which gave Barca more room in midfield.It’s no conicidence that Barca only created a few chances(Pique goal,Bojan header) when Inter went to a 5 – 4 – 0 formation,rather than keep on playing a 4 – 4 – 1 – 0 which worked perfectly.Also if Eto’o isn’t lazy/tired then Xavi doesn’t find the time to pass it to Pique to score.So it was evident that playing with 10 men for so long started to tire Inter.So Inters game was better imo,there two legs are still the best vs Barca.Lets see how well Milan do at the Nou Camp first,hopefully no dodgy penalties this time like last year.That “pen” against Nesta was a disgrace and ruined the game.
Finally, I was almost getting mad waiting for this article. I kinda chanced upon the match in the middle of the night thinking Barca would have probably packed up and left leaving behind Xavi, Iniesta and Busquetes. A few minutes watching the match and things started unravelling. Messi was totally anonymous and Fabregas would have been better off sitting out of the pitch. The only two players who were really trying hard for Barca were Iniesta and Puyol(because he headed with an injured head #respect). Ive always felt that Barca played like they were replicating a line printer. But of course in Gaurdiola’s period i would never have expected Barca to leave the pitch without firing a few hundred shots on goal.The interesting point was that the Milan defense never seemed to be working as hard as Chelsea or the other so called “bus parking teams” did. There was almost zero last ditch tackles.The midfield i were extremely intelligent with their positioning. However, I felt that Barca lacked an extra passing option which cost them. Iniesta over the years has become more of a dribller and fabregas was too high up the pitch as u showed.
Do you think Iniesta’s passing frequency has reduced Mr.Cox ?
What i found interesting was how Milan kept a high line when defending, they never went at the edge of there own box to defend maybe last 10 minutes which is understandable when you’re tired. Anyway keeping this high line and staying close to your midfielders meant they could squeeze space in the middle of the pitch and the sides due to the lack of runners barcelona had. Pedro didnt make any single runs behind Constant, Iniesta kept dropping into Midfield, Jordi Alba had no space to make runs behind due to players in midfield had no time on the ball. The Problem playing Iniesta, Messi in a front 3 is they both drop into midfield and that meant the backline had no one to mark meaning they could keep a high line and be comfortable defending the barcelona passes which majority of them went sideways and back
Another thing was obvious was how Allegri used the Cristiano Ronaldo tactic against Barcelona but his player being El Shaarawy. He for alot of the game let Alves attack and stay high up the pitch to start counters, what Ronaldo has is pace, power, dribbling abilty and great finishing which El Shaarawy suffered from as he got into some amazing positions. For example he got behind Barcelona’s backline and his touch let him down. I honestly think this tactic of someone staying high up the pitch on Alves side is great because if you think about it if the centre backs have nobody to mark due to Messi being in midfield, you can pass Pedro on to the centre backs and Constant could mark Alves and keep a eye on him.
Its not a matter of Barcelona needing a Plan B, its just the matter of playing with runners more goal threats other than Messi. David Villa needs to play more and so does Tello, believe it or not Tello is a goal threat and his pace is frightening for opponents
As for the 2nd leg i do think Milan will progress, this Barcelona defense is weak and Milan get 1 Barcelona will have to score 4, as good as they are i cant see that against the Milan set up and tight marking. Nullify Messi and you stop Barcelona
I’m surprised there are no comments about the colours Barca used. They deserved to lose, and Milan performed the task because of the draw, but any proper football team would. You simply can’t play football in this combination of yellow and orange.
“However, Ambrosini’s positioning sometimes changed – on multiple occasions, he stepped forward to close down higher up the pitch, leaving Montolivo and Muntari occupying the central midfield zone. This is highly unusual for a defensive-minded side facing a team that thrives in the ‘red zone’ between the lines of opposition defence and midfield – why would you want to bring your holding midfielder into such an advanced role? It left space between the lines.
But it’s extremely similar to what Chelsea did against Barcelona last season, with John Obi Mikel protecting the defence but often stepping ahead of Frank Lampard and Raul Meireles to close down. Perhaps this is sheer coincidence, but maybe opposition coaches believes this prevents Barcelona (in particular Xavi and Sergio Busquets) passing the ball directly into attack – they have to play a lateral pass to a teammate who can knock the ball forward, which can give Milan’s other two midfielders time to cut off the passing angle.”
This was very similar to Celtic’s approach (as you pointed out in your article at the time.) Could this be an effective strategy against Barcelona? Looking to focus on pressing the central midfielders and not worrying as much about remaining compact?
It sure is effective if Barcelona refuse to adjust and keep trying the same tactics, much less create less width by starting Iniesta and Cesc.
Seems that Barcelona are finding out the hard way that a team needs to have a balance between attack and defense. With Alba and Alves, there are now only 3 defenders, DM and the 2 CBs. Coupled with a lack of intensity when pressing high up the pitch and it’s no wonder that Barcelona are conceding so many goals. When Abidal was fit, he was the first choice LB. He usually stayed back, in position to snuff out the counters. This also meant that Busquets, when needed to defend laterally, only had one flank to pay attention to. In this version of Barca, he has to worry about both flanks.
On another note, where was Xavi is the 2nd goal? Ball watching. Didn’t track the run of Muntari. Many people are blaming Alves, but the entire back line had to shuffle over with Alba taking the throw in. A midfielder should’ve tracked the run. Normally it would be Busquets, but he was tucked towards the left flank to provide a passing option for the throw in. This meant Xavi should have tracked the run.
In general, I would like to see Barcelona shoot more from outside. They were doing so the 1st half of this campaign to great effect. Iniesta/Cesc/Alba on the left isn’t a bad idea. They combine very well. But it causes problems defensively. To mitigate this problem they need to press more aggressively. It doesn’t matter if the flanks are wide open for Barca if their opponents don’t have the option of playing a ball to there. Have the FBs understand that if one is forward another must stay back to provide defensive balance. When fit, give Villa the freedom to play centrally, in front of Messi. Alba can provide width on the left so there’s no need to station a winger there. Villa would occupy the attention of the CBs, Xavi/Iniesta/Cesc/Busquets, whichever three are given the nod, would occupy the attention in midfield. Theoretically, this would create space for Messi in the hole.
When fabregas and iniesta start this season under Tito, the shape is more like 4-2-4 (remember Tito using that with Henry back in 2010 http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/03/14/barcelona-3-0-valencia-messi-hattrick-henry-deep-forward/)
It is highly ineffective in many games such as this one..
Well, milan overcrowded the center. This is always a problem barca cannot cope easily with..
I assume Tito will have to unearth the 3-4-3 of last season in order to pressure them early on with alves and alba facing directly abate and constant – and maybe alexis playing and doing what he is best at, staying as high as possible and making clever runs at the back of the last defender – . This will risk a clear 3 against 3 on the counter, but idt Barca has any other choices… They need to score at least 2, and maybe 4 if something gets wrong. Idk if Abidal can help that, cauz he is the most suitable for the left of a 3 man defense
FIRE THE COACHES PLEASE, THEY ARE RETARDS
the problem with the tito/roura era is that barca play an extremely slow tempo while with pep they played much faster then slowed down when they were 1-0/2-0 up. thats why this barca looks much worse, their play is slow and predictable. also barca looks a much better team due to the defensively inept spanish league. they would fare much worse in the EPL or Seria A.
alexis sanchez should also leave barca ASAP if he gives a shit about his career. he has been misused and doesnt fit them at all.
Do you watch EPL? Because the defending there is worse than Spain,Serie A is the best defensively though.
Milan deserve a lot of credit for their hard work. However, Barca deserve a lot of blame for how flag and apathetic they looked. I have not liked Fabregas starting with Iniesta and Xavi and have not understood why ZM has praised it in the past. It is simply unnecessary to load the midfield with a player who neither adds to the attack or defends. Clearly Iniesta does not like to stay left which then forces Alba to come and not be able to track back. The team is too susceptible to counters and at some point Valdes needs to do something to help his team out. The same eleven will start against Madrid on Tuesday and sadly the same will start in the second leg against Milan. Barca can play with plenty of urgency and energy and transition much faster to get behind Milan, who will be packed in; yet, just like last year against Chelsea they will be incapable of keeping a clean sheet-they have not done it for the last 11 games! This team is simply not good enough to win the CL and it has been undermined by the reinforcements of Sanchez, Song and Fabregas while ignoring the need for a central defender and a striker.
I’ll never understand why Barcelona eliminated the 4-3-3 in favor of the 3-4-3 and 4-2-4. As you said, Fabregas can provide wonderful link-up play, but this is only a factor when they actually move the ball up the middle. In this game, they needed to attack the flanks with KPB tucking inside and El Shaarawy staying high up the pitch. The 2010-2011 Barcelona was described by SAF as the greatest team he’d ever faced. Fabregas, while adding to the talent pool, has complicated that team and will continue to do so until Xavi retires.
The second half of Barcelona-Sevilla offered some very interesting insight for the upcoming Clasicos and second CL leg vs. Milan.
Christian Tello changed the match when he was subbed in for Sanchez at half. Sanchez did not make an impact on the right, and Tello actually stationed on the left. Villa moved into a central forward position, and stuck his head on the end of a great Alves cross to tie the match just minutes into the second half. Even thought it was a simple finish, this is the sort of basic structure Barcelona have been lacking in their dull matches. We haven’t seen many goals like that from Barcelona post-Eto’o.
Tello gave Barca proper structure. Sanchez has been given numerous chances this season, and he might have blown his final opportunity. I would not be surprised at all to see him sold in the summer (especially if the Neymar rumors are true). Half-time sub speaks volumes, and he’s been the first hook in recent matches.
I think Barcelona needs to buy a proper center forward this summer in addition to a central defender (Hummels) and potentially Neymar. A player like Cavani would be ideal, but he will only go for a stupid fee.
Terrific! Been looking for this info , thanks for posting, HCG.
Hv seen quite a lot of obituaries written already and “coaching opinions” given for Barca’s insipid performance in ONE game – a bit premature i wud think. Yes, they are without a coach, yes they are still having issues with their positional structure, but this team is evolving and has constantly evolved in the last 5 years. And every competition they hv competed in the last 5 years, they hv either won or the winners HAVE to vanquish them. If Barca score early in the return leg, which can certainly happen, then I see only 1 way the game is going to go. They could not qualify for the QF too, however, for that Milan has to display a Champions League winning performance. On the game itself, loved how Allegri approached it (he is so under-appreciated in a country where every guy pretends to be a coach and has a defining opinion on tactics), while Barca players were clearly complacent. The 1st goal accident shook them off the slumber, but then a counter opportunity was always possible. Tito is clearly missed, and Barca has played on without him with minimal fuss. And thats again testimony to the greatness of this team. Lovely to see Barca’s evolution and the zillion approaches teams have used against them over the years – and when Barca fails, it does give more opportunities to self-appointed coaches to proclaim they have figured out this team – which is fun to see as well.
great article!
i saw a lot of similarity in this game to the group stage game between Italy and Spain at the euros!
barca very much like spain that day , withstanding the goal , were toothless. Messi was non-existent and always crowded out. Interestingly, Barca had the width of Pedro and the driving runs of Fabregas. something spain didnt have because Pedro was benched and Fabregas was playing that so very controversial false nine role.
Pedro constantly played in the penalty area and Fabregas was quite dreadful. its not the first time Barcelona have failed to come up with a plan B in champions league knockout football!!
What a great game. Italian brilliance at its best! Allegri did not disappoint and showed what a brilliant manager he is. The whole team was committed and amazing, they certainly have a very strong crop of players and can do wonders given a few more seasons together. The young players and mixture they have I would think are already stronger or on par with Juventus but certainly has huge potential. Just my advice.. get your own stadium and the advice goes to Inter and Roma and Lazio, Napoli and all the Serie A teams. They need it and the fans deserve it.
Does anyone think Fabregas could be a useful number 9 for this Barcelona side? Playing him on the left flank is apparently not working out, and in the Spanish national team he played a classic striker-role to very decent effect a few times in 2012, including the Euro final if I recall correctly. With Barça having few alternatives for an out-an-out striker, having Cesc holding the ball up and making runs both dropping deep and into space could provide quite useful. Especially since his relationship with Messi is so good; having the two combine directly in front of goal could do wonders against defenses pushing very deep. Also, Fabregas isn’t the tallest but a good header of the ball and an astute finisher. It’s the closest thing Barça has to a Plan B.
Messi could then drop deeper or more to either flank, to see more of the ball and make the team less predictable. The two might even become some sort of Tevez-Aguero partnership, with each player making space for the other.
With their current approach, I don’t think Barcelona can ever truly develop a “Plan B”. Their players, managers, and club are “all in” on their “Plan A” style of play.
Most of their home-grown talent has been playing the same style and system since they were youth players, and that is the culture they’ve been immersed in throughout their professional careers.
Their developing problem, however, is that as they gained success and international acclaim, they’ve become even more enamored with their own strengths and they’ve failed to notice / address their weaknesses. They’ve continued to assemble more and more of the same style of player – small, quick, intelligent midfielders — and thus have very little diversity in their roster.
They do not truly defend individually, nor are they physically suited to play that way. The only way they can defend is by pressing in groups to win back the ball (forcing poor decisions) and then playing keep-away, and if they ever lose the ball, by committing “professional fouls” to slow their opponent’s counter. And they won’t deign to play quick transition / counterattack themselves because they’ve come to feel that it’s beneath them, and that their possession-oriented style is the pinnacle of the sport’s evolution.
In theory, Barcelona is almost like a science experiment for what would happen if one just played the game with 11 small, quick, ball-possession midfielders. But, if you can find ways to turn the strengths offered by that type of player into a weakness (as Milan and others have begun to demonstrate), then their lack of alternative approaches can be exposed.
A truly complete team can prevail utilizing a variety of tactics. And although Barcelona has gifted the football world a truly wondrous scheme of play, their arrogance in having achieved that may ultimately prove to be their undoing.
What a bunchload of BS… Dont you think that under peps era, guardiola utilized a huge variety of tactics ?
No, to be honest I don’t.
If anything, I think Barca has been more direct at times under Tito than under Pep.
I dont thini you really get it… A team can hage a short-passing approach but at thr same time use a variety of tactics. Swansea for example has a short-passing approach to their game but doesnt use the same tactics as barcelona. Valladolid has a short-passing approach too but doesnt play like barcelona. Get it? Playing direct or short passing isnt a tactic. Its an approach, a style. Just look at the articles written by mr. Cox during peps era and youll see that barca doesnt play the same way all the game, though they always implicate their short passing style.
Curious to see how Barcelona will approach the game, maybe Villa will get a start out on the left with Sanchez currently out of form. Milan will most probably play exactly the same way.
u just copy and pasted that from obove didnt u? fine.
last season against chelsea, they had a mountain to climb – and failed.
now THEY HAVE TO LAND ON THE MOON – and will certainly fail except one of the greatest miracles in recent CL history will happen (eg CL final 2005)
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