19 UCL Semi-Finals First Leg

SUMMARY:

This game posed an interesting tactical puzzle as the slow, methodical football of Barcelona up against the “heavy metal” football of Jurgen Klopp’s men. The first half generally played out as one would expect. Barcelona did anything within their power to keep the ball and play through Liverpool who, as expected, were defending very high up the pitch looking to break-up Barcelona’s build-up. Despite a very early chance for Rakitic, Liverpool were mostly successful in their defensive endeavors. The Catalan men appeared to be rattled in the early minutes of the game having trouble connecting passes with their usual patented crispness and accuracy. Liverpool posed their usual threat on the break with Georginio Wijnaldum playing the false 9 position with Firmino not being fit enough to start the match.

False 9

When Liverpool has the ball, Wijnaldum would drop away from the traditional number nine position and act almost as a number ten. This creates confusion for the Barcelona back line as they are unsure whether to follow him, as that would leave holes for the pace of the Liverpool wingers, or pass him onto one of the midfielders. This could allow Wijnaldum to play balls in behind defense.

First Goal (Barcelona):

Liverpool had their chances, but their former number nine broke the deadlock in the 26th minute. The ball was switched the the left side and found its way to Jordi Alba at the corner of the box. Alba played in an inch-perfect low cross to Suarez at the near-post who did very well to touch it over Alisson who made himself as big as possible.

After the goal, it was Barcelona’s turn to put Liverpool under pressure and put them on their heals. Barcelona gave the Liverpool defenders no time on the ball and they were forced to look for the longer option in behind, but it was all too predictable for the Barcelona defenders.

Second Half:

The second half was off to a quick start when Liverpool created clear opportunity through James Milner whose shot was brillianty saved by Ter Stegen. Barcelona still dominated possession in this half, as was expected, but Liverpool were creating a fair bit of chances making Ter Stegen earn his wages.

Second Goal (Barcelona):

Although Barcelona were in control, there was always the question of whether Liverpool could steal a goal at the other end to level it. Unfortunately for Liverpool, in the 74th minute Lionel Messi was having one of those nights. Messi picked up the ball just in front of the Liverpool back four and played a slicing ball into the path of Roberto in the box. The defender was able to touch it away from, but it fell to Suarez who lobbed it over Alisson. The ball struck the crossbar and Messi was there to control it and walk it into the empty net.

At 2-0 down away from home, Liverpool would have been feeling that if they could just get one goal they could go through to the finals with a 1-0 win at home in the second-leg of the semi-finals.

Third Goal (Barcelona)

In the 82nd minute, Messi was awarded a free-kick roughly 30 yards out. He unleashed an inch-curling effort over the Liverpool wall and into the top left corner.

We are all incredibly privileged witness the player that is Lionel Messi. When he is in the mood that he was in against Liverpool, he is truly unplayable and there is nothing absolutely nothing one can do to defend him. That’s truly incredible.

Liverpool created a late chance that was cleared off the line and the rebound was struck off the post by Salah. The game ended 3-0 to Barcelona.

GOALKEEPERS:

Ter Stegen

The German, in my opinion, is the best in the world at the moment. There is no other goalkeeper with as well rounded of a set of skills than Marc Andre Ter Stegen. There is not one part of Ter Stegen’s game that is inferior to other of his skills and he does everything at a very high level. In the first half, Ter Stegen didn’t have too much to do with his hands except for claiming some crosses and controlling his area which his did very well. The ‘keeper seems to be a mix of the German style of goalkeeping and the Spanish style of goalkeeping and has taken the best of both styles. We see aspects of German goalkeeping in that he is very adept at sweeping behind his defenders, he does not go to ground early and stands strongly in his set, very good positioning, and he uses the German style of the 1v1 set which has been compared to the stance of hockey goalkeepers. He has adopted aspects of the Spanish style of goalkeeping in that he has become very good at playing the ball short with his feet in tight scenarios, and he holds onto many of the shots he faces instead of parrying it away. The result is an extremely reliable and technically sound goalkeeper. In the second half, Ter Stegen was called on to make a few key saves. The first came in the 47th minute when Wijnaldum laid the ball off to Milner at the top of the box to Ter Stegen’s right. The defender was blocking the near-post allowing Ter Stegen to know the ball would be curling to his far-post. Milner did exactly that and Ter Stegen generated great power off his left leg to get his top hand the mid-height effort and touch it around the post. The second save came when Salah picked up the ball at the top of the box and took a shot low to Ter Stegen’s right headed for the bottom left corner. Ter Stegen lowered his center of gravity and pushed with his right foot to effectively slide across the grass to tip to effort around the post with his right hand. So many keepers forget that lowering your body to a low shot is crucial before diving, otherwise you will dive up before you get back down. The third save came again from Milner at the penalty spot. His one time effort from the cut-back went just to the right of Ter Stegen and he did very well to keep the ball in front of his face as he collapsed to his right to hold it.

Alisson

Frustrating game for Alisson. He did not have much to do, mostly because there was nothing he could do about the goals. He came out to claim a few crosses and played some short balls to his defenders and he did that well. Other than that, Alisson had one save of note when Coutinho curled a shot from outside the box and Alison used good footwork to his left to eventually collapse to his left on the ball. In the first goal, Alisson had no real chance other than possibly staying on his feet. This would have been a situation in my opinion to use the point blank set with one knee on the ground. However, spread himself out well and it was a fantastic finish from Suarez, so I don’t give him too much of a chance to save the effort. The second goal left him completely stranded after the lobbed ball struck the cross bar and Messi was allowed to walk the ball into the goal. The free-kick in the third goal was incredible from Messi. Alisson did everything right. As soon ass the shot was struck, he used quick footwork and jumped well to his right. Still, his 6′ 4″ frame could not reach the ball. It is not often that you see a free-kick in which the goalkeeper does absolutely everything right and it still goes in. Such was the quality of the free-kick, such is the quality of Lionel Messi.

Barcelona vs. Manchester United 4/16/19 UCL Quarter-Finals, Second-Leg

SUMMARY:

Having gone down an away goal on aggregate last week, it was crucial that Manchester scored two goals away at the Camp Nou. The early signs were good for the opening 15 minutes or so with United looking threatening and creating a few early chances through the pace of Marcus Rashford. This pressure soon broke as Barcelona started to keep possession of the football, something they struggled to do a week ago in Manchester. Another change that the Catalans implemented was that they gave the United defenders very little time on the ball and close them down quickly to prevent them from playing a ball in behind for the pace of United’s front three.

Manchester United’s plan had remained largely the same from the first leg, looking to catch Barcelona vulnerable on the break.

Manchester United’s Plan was to catch Barcelona high up the field, as when they are in possession they push their full-backs very high up the field leaving gaps in behind for the likes of Rashford or Martial to run into.

This plan was thwarted by Barcelona players immediately swarming the United defenders as soon as they had possession of the ball, thus cutting of the outlet for the Red Devils.

The first goal came when the ball was stolen off of Ashley Young who was a victim of this Barcelona press. The ball found its way to Messi on the right wing who cut inside onto his left and nutmegged a defender before using another defender to bend the ball around and curl it into the bottom left corner of the net to De Gea’s right. Shortly after, Messi was there to terrorize Manchester again when he cut onto is right foot this time to curl a shot toward De Gea’s goal. The ball squeezed underneath the Spanish ‘keeper in a moment to forget for David De Gea. At this point, at 3-0 down on aggregate and having seen the extent of the talents of the greatest player the world has ever seen, Manchester United were left deflated allowing Barcelona to completely dominate the match. Manchester United made minimal chances throughout the rest of the game and were chasing the ball for much of the time. To add insult to injury, the former Liverpool man, Coutinho banged one home in classic Coutinho fashion. None other than Messi played the important ball of the move over the back line to an onrushing Jordi Alba who played it back to Coutinho to strike from 20 yards out. The game ended with Barcelona creating a few more opportunities and Manchester United seeing their late attempt at a consolation goal brilliantly denied by Ter Stegen.

GOALKEEPERS:

DE GEA: A tough night out for the Madrid native having conceded three goals on the night one of which coming from a mistake. The first goal was a very good finish from Leo Messi. Perhaps, De Gea could have set his feet quicker as he had only set his feet after the ball had left Messi’s foot which may have given him more time to reach it. It is very difficult, however, to predict when Messi will shoot the ball and even more difficult to anticipate which direction he will shoot as we often see him shoot to the other side of the goal from similar positions. This brings us back to my statement from last week of anticipation, had De Gea gone early perhaps he could have saved it as most of the time the forward will strike in that direction. If you go early you then risk the forward shooting in the other direction leaving you look foolish. The second goal was one to forget for David De Gea. Messi cut onto his right foot to curl one and De Gea collapsed to his left to collect, but it slipped underneath him into the goal. I won’t spend too much time on it as I believe that the pressure put on ‘keepers to be flawless is completely unreasonable hopefully this will change in the future. The criticism of a goalkeeper who makes one mistake only makes him more likely to make a mistake in the future, therefore becoming preoccupied with a mistake is completely unproductive for everyone. The third goal, created by Messi, came when Messi played a ball over the top for Jordi Alba who laid it to Coutinho to unleash his trademark curling strike from 20 yards out. Despite coming close, it would have been miraculous had De Gea saved it, though he is capable of miracles. He only had time to take a power dive and try to reach it with his top hand, but it was out of reach. De Gea made three saves in this match of note. The first came from a glanced header following an in-swung Messi free-kick which was down slightly to De Gea’s left. He did well to be in the correct position and get two palms down to cushion it and gather at the second attempt. The second save was a bit of a mystery to him. Alba lashed a ball across the 6 yard box to the opposite full-back, Sergi Roberto who attempted to tap it in. De Gea had used cross steps to get across his goal and the ball hit him preventing the goal. A lot of ‘keepers would have gave up on the play, but De Gea decided to cross step just in case and luck was in his favor this time. The final save came from Messi who lashed one toward De Gea from 8 yards out to De Gea’s right and he stood up and got two hands on it to beat it away as it was placed close to his left ear. A tough night for De Gea, but even the best ‘keepers in the world have an off day.

TER STEGEN: The German is everything that you would want out of a modern goalkeeper and appears to have it all. It has become such a regularity that we forget just how good Ter Stegen is with his feet and today had he not been wearing the green goalkeeper kit you would think he was a midfielder. The range of his passing is possibly the best in the world being able to play a ball to any player on the pitch with pinpoint accuracy. There were a number of times I thought he would have to kick long given pressure coming from both his left and right, but proceeded to take a touch a find Busquets in the middle to break the first line of pressure from United. Other times, a United midfielder would step up to mark a defender when the forwards were out of position and Ter Stegen would calmly chip dink a ball to the open man in the middle of midfield. He is what allowed Barcelona to keep the ball on many occasions in this game and was a factor to their dominance. His first save came early on when Rashford was played through, but forced to take an early shot on due to pressure from defenders. It was a fairly easy save to collapse dive to his right to pin down the bouncing ball, but I noticed that Ter Stegen is one of the best in the world at always having his feet set at the time of the shot. As we saw with De Gea today and Ederson last week, some goalkeepers have timed their set in a way that they are landing into their set while the ball is moving towards them. This rarely ever happens with Ter Stegen. His second save came from a long range Paul Pogba effort which bounced in front of him, but Ter Stegen smothered it with a front dive, again having his feet set before the shot. Ter Stegen’s biggest moment was in the 90th minute when a cross was whipped in from his left and a glancing header at the near post turned it towards Ter Stegen’s left and appeared to be creeping just inside the post. Ter Stegen had squared his body thinking that the ball would pass by the first onrushing United forward, but he was able to dive and get his head on it. Again, becuase Ter Stegen set his feet he was able to react and get down at his near post to claw it out of the goal despite being slightly out of position. So many other keepers would still be moving across goal and have no chance. It was a fantastic performance from a goalkeeper who I consider to be the best in the world at the moment.

Manchester United Vs. Barcelona 4/10/19 UCL Quarter-Finals

SUMMARY

Given the injuries for Manchester United including: Valencia, Bailly, Darmian, Matic, Herrera, and Alexis it seemed as though the Red Devils faced an uphill battle at home against an in-form Barcelona side. This appeared to be true in the opening minutes of the match with Barcelona enjoying most of the ball, although United were always a threat on the break with the pace of Marcus Rashford. It only took 12 minutes for Barcelona to open up the scoring when a Sergio Busquets played a good ball over the heads of the Manchester defense to Messi who had made a penetrating run. Messi’s first touch took him wide to the left of the box allowing him to use his famous left-foot to find Suarez at the back posts whose close range header glanced off Luke Shaw and found the back of the net for the own goal. When the goal was scored you would be forgiven to assume that the weakened line-up for Manchester United were in for a long night. Uncharacteristically, Barcelona struggled to keep the ball after the goal seeing some key experienced players of theirs give the ball away incredibly cheaply on a number of occasions, it was an extremely rare sight of Barcelona. Their sloppy play in the half still yielded their share of chances, one of which produced a heroic save from David De Gea in the 36th minute. Most of the United chances came from unforced errors from Barcelona which forced them to cease trying to build-out from goal kicks and instead choose the longer route which is borderline sacrilegious to the Blaugrana side. The half ended with the game opening up and both sides showing that they still possess a threat, particularly Manchester United on the break. At the start of the second half, Barcelona looked rattled by the pressure of Manchester United. The renewed energy and most likely an energetic half-time talk from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer allowed united to unleash a press on Barcelona who struggled to get out. The Red Devils had most of the ball, but seemed to lack some creativity in the final third to reward them for their pressure. It seemed that their only game plan was to allow a well-marked Pogba to do his best to create a chance or get the ball wide and swing it into the box. They chose the latter on most occasions which yielded little fruit and became very predictable for Barcelona to defend. It was a game that was crying out for the quality and experience of Juan Mata. The game changed for the better from a Barcelona perspective when Arturo Vidal came on for Coutinho and Sergi Roberto replaced Arthur, perhaps to try to establish a foothold in midfield. After a few hot-headed minutes from Vidal due to watching his side give the ball away, the substitutions seemed to work and the new midfield duo were able to help establish some consistent possession for Barcelona and ultimately see the game to its finish at 1-0 to the away side.

GOALKEEPERS:

DE GEA: The Spaniard had no chance in saving the Barcelona goal due to the quality of the Leonel Messi cross to Luis Suarez. He did prove his worth in this game, despite conceding, by keeping the deficit to one on three occasions. The first was a brilliant save following a Coutinho blast at the top of the box after being laid the ball by Luis Suarez. After coming out to close the angle on Luis Suarez, De Gea’s defenders were able to recover allowing him to get back to his line, set his feet, and produce a fantastic reaction to save the low shot by stretching out his left-foot. We see De Gea make saves with his feet often. His coordination is very impressive having very little time to react and get good contact with his weaker left foot. The second save was from a Leonel Messi free kick. Messi struck the ball underneath the wall from the top-left of the box to De Gea’s left and Dea Gea took one shuffle step toward the balls trajectory. The ball took a deflection and was now headed to the other side of the goal now to De Gea’s right. De Gea does well to shift his weight going in one direction to collapse low to his right to hold onto the ball. The third save came from another save with his feet in which Rashford strikes the ball at his feet as he stood up at the near post from a very tight angle, again, good coordination.

TER STEGEN: Like De Gea, the German was not very busy in this match and I do not believe he had to make a significant save. As always, Ter Stegen was very good with his feet allowing his side to keep possession (or try) on many occasions throughout the game. As it became apparent to Ter Stegen that his side was struggling to string together passes he did well to push them up-field and play good driven balls to Luis Suarez from goal kicks. On a few occasions he played very good low driven balls to the feet for Luis Suarez slicing through two lines of United defenders. The other notable contribution Ter Stegen made was commanding his area by punching away two Manchester United services into the box. Ter Stegen utilized an open stance to crosses and, on both occasions the cross came from the Manchester United right wing to Ter Stegen’s left. The first was a vital intervention in which his open, 45 degree angle stance allowed him take one shuffle and reach the ball with his right fist. He was under pressure and showed good bravery knowing very well that he could be clattered into. The second was similar to the first, although he had less time to react to the flight of the ball due to its flight and could only punch it straight down into the path of Rashford who couldn’t turn it on goal. He got enough power on the punch to put off the United striker.