Can Barcelona outclass Milan?
At the San Siro this past week, AC Milan well and truly executed the ‘Italian Job’ on a managerless Barcelona, who looked completely hapless. Jordi Roura’s men looked short on ideas and confidence as they allowed Milan – who will not have to worry about the curse of the away goal - to take a 2 goal lead to the Nou Camp. Fair to say, the Catalans did not really make their presence felt on the grand stage.
Milan were brilliant on the night, but Barca were equally bad. The glaring difference between the two sides lay in the hunger on display by both sides. Whereas Milan went all guns blazing to secure the win, Barcelona seemed content to end the night on level terms, and that was a prime factor in the Blaugrana’s failure on the night.
Max Allegri’s side hardly resorted to parking a bus in front of their goal, as has been previously used to great effect by Inter and Chelsea. The key feature of Milan’s performance was their shape and off-the-ball discipline. Barcelona did not get space to breathe in the final third of the pitch, and the wizardry of Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas was largely restricted to sideways passing because of the impeccable closing down of angles by the Milan midfield.
So, the Catalans have it all to do at their fortress in three weeks time. Going by the toothless effort on show at the San Siro, the Blaugrana will need to work overtime on their strategy to break a resilient Milan defense. What are the options available to Jordi Roura & Co? Let’s have a look at three possible tweaks that the interim manager could make to outwit the Rossoneri and ensure progression to the next round of Europe’s elite competition.
Start David Villa -
One could argue that the Lionel Messi was far from his best on Wednesday evening, and a lack of support from his midfielders did not help the hitman and Barca’s cause even one bit. Iniesta and Fabregas could rarely foray into the box because of an impressive defensive shift put in by Boateng and Ambrosini, who pressed the ball and did not allow the Barcelona duo to function at their full abilities. On the right, Pedro was well shackled by Kevin Constant, who did not have much of a problem in reading what the forward tried to do on the night. Keeping this in mind, starting David Villa on the left and switching Iniesta to the right flank could well turn out to be a good move for the Blaugrana.
A prototype of Barca’s starting XI at the Nou Camp.
Quite simply, Messi playing as a False 9 would mean that David Villa will have plenty of space to exploit in the middle of the pitch. And this is where Barcelona could pose a genuine goal threat. Pushing Iniesta in central midfield would restore the telepathy and co-ordination by which the trio consisting of him, Xavi and Busquets have controlled games in the past.
Relentless pressing:
At the San Siro, one of the primary outlets of attack was Stephan El Shaarawy. The Italian forward started on the left of a front 3 for the Rossoneri, and was responsible for initiating most of his team’s counters via the long diagonals played to him by the likes of Montolivo and Ambrosini. He constantly ran in behind the Blaugrana defence and posed a genuine threat to Victor Valdes’ goal. He eventually did end the night with an assist to his name. If Barca are to restrict the forward, they will have to cut the supply of diagonals to him; and that would mean keeping a close check on Montolivo, especially when not in possession of the ball.
This shutting out would require the Barca midfield to press relentlessly so that Monti does not get the time and space to operate on the ball. Milan’s second goal of the night came as a result of Muntari having a free run in midfield. Though the goal came at a time when Barca themselves were going all out to find an equalizer, one can certainly foresee the Milan midfield getting forward to support the forwards in attack. The likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets will have to get closer to Montolivo and Muntari, so that the Milan midfield have a minimal impact on the game in an attacking sense.
Stretch the Milan defense:
This is something that Barca completely failed to do at the Guiseppe Meazza. AC Milan comfortably sat back and allowed the Barca players to play in front of them. Xavi could not get his passing angles correct on the night, and whenever Iniesta/Fabregas received the ball, they had little or nothing to aim for in the box. The impressive marshalling of Lio Messi saw him drop deeper and deeper as the game progressed; on the other hand, Constant kept Pedro’s movements in check.
Both Iniesta and Fabregas, despite being brilliant footballers, are not the best players when it comes to running behind the opposition defense. And thus, Barcelona could not create a meaningful spell of pressure in the final third. This sentiment is clearly echoed in the astonishing stat which states that Barcelona had just one shot on target, and that too from outside the box.
An instance from the game.
Giving the image to the left a close look, we can notice two things -
Firstly, Barcelona seemed content to play in front of Milan. No player in the yellow and orange showed the endeavour of running behind the Milan defence, which clearly had gaps( as shown by the white lines.)
Secondly, Milan defended narrow, which worked to their benefit, as Barcelona’s full backs did not have the best of games in the opponent’s half of the pitch.
These are precisely the two areas which Barcelona will have to exploit at the Nou Camp in three weeks time. The inclusion of David Villa would mean that the Spaniard would time and again look to run behind the Milan defense, and thus stretch the backline. Secondly, the full-backs will have to push forward deep into their opponents box and look to feed the men in the box, thereby adding the extra dimension to the Blaugrana’s attack.
Jordi Roura’s words after the game were bullish yet unconvincing -
“We have total conviction that in Barcelona we’ll go through.This is a bad result but this team deserves for people to believe in it. We are completely convinced: we’ll be at home, with our pitch and our fans.”
Within himself, the former midfielder knows that there is a lot of homework to be done before the second leg is played out at his fortress. With the players that he has at his disposal, Roura may eventually make the task look simple; but then with AC Milan having an advantage of this magnitude, they will be quietly confident of smashing all odds and progressing to the next round at the expense of the best footballing team on the planet.