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.

Ajax Vs. Juventus 4/11/19 UCL Quarter-Finals

SUMMARY:

Despite the routine brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo, this was a match-up that showcased the pure class of this fairy-tale Ajax side. The first half opened with both sides seeming to be feeling the quarter-final nerves in the opening minutes and couldn’t string together a comprehensive string of passes. Juventus opened the game by startling Ajax with an early chance in the 3rd minute after a charging run from Bernardeschi through midfield who then blasted his strike over. Following this, Juventus could not seem to keep a hold of the ball and gave it away cheaply on a number of occasions. This sloppy pattern soon broke and from it spurred a young, fearless Ajax side that displayed exactly what has taken them to this stage in the biggest competition in the world. As Juventus started to keep a small bit of possession of the ball, the home side unleashed a ferocious high-press which effectively pinned Juventus in their own half with little hope of playing their way through. Due to Juventus being forced to play the long ball, Ajax was able and determined to keep a considerable amount of possession which they could immediately put to attacking use making chance after chance with the insurance policy of the press in the event that their attack broke down. The match turned into a modern-day siege, the Amsterdam side akin to the battering ram persistently banging on the castle door and the Turin side like the castle holding steadfast to the barrage. In the late stages of the first-half however, Juventus found a way to break through the press by way of the long outlet, a surging run from deep midfield, or Ajax being caught in possession. In accordance with this vulnerability, just before the half-time whistle none other than Cristiano Ronaldo broke the deadlock. Betancur was able to dribble through the Ajax press starting a counter-attack and play a ball to Ronaldo who was occupying the center-forward position. Ronaldo then played the ball wide to Cancelo and started a powerful run from a deep position. Cancelo dinked the ball over the back line and Ronaldo was their to power the header home from 6 yards out. Cristiano had done it again. When the second-half started, the scene was set for a half of Juventus defending deep in a compact 4-4-2 formation and allow Ajax to try to break them down. This plan was promptly scrapped when in the 46th minute Neres curled one home. The attack came from Ajax playing out of the back from a goal-kick and playing a ball into the channel for Neres. Cancelo was there to intercept, but made a mess of his first-touch allowing Neres to take the ball from him, cut in onto his right foot, and stroke the ball past Szczesny. The game continued in, more or less, the same fashion as it did in the first-half and Szczesny was by far the busier of the two ‘keepers. Despite a flurry of attacks from the substitute, Douglas Costa who provided a pacey escape route for Juventus and struck a low effort against the post in the 85th minute, the game ended level in the first leg of the quarter-final in Amsterdam.

GOALKEEPERS:

ONANA: Andre Onana has emerged as one of the best young goalkeepers in the world at the moment. He is extremely sound and well-rounded as one would expect of a keeper that spent many years in La Masia and has been at a club now for almost four years with one of the best track records of producing young talent. One thing that, as always impresses me about Onana is his distribution and the ice-cold composure he has on the ball. I can only recall one instance in which Onana took only one touch in clearing the ball when receiving a back pass from his defenders which struck as unusual enough to write it down in bold letters in my game notes. There were multiple occasions in the game that the Cameroonian receive a ball inside his 6 yard area with pressure less than 10 yards away and still took a touch and found a teammate with either foot. The incredible thing is how routinely he does this. I believe that he is up in the mix with Ter Stegen when it comes to taking a first touch away from a forward and distributing to teammates. Andre Onana uses a technique when distributing mid to long range balls in which he swings at the ball quickly, but has a short follow-through and almost fades away from the ball after striking it. This appears to be a very efficient technique that not enough goalkeepers use. Another thing that impresses me about Onana is his confidence which seems to be a theme in this Ajax side. He came out to punch a ball in the first half from a corner that many goalkeepers would leave, although it was headed before him by his teammate, you could see that he was confident enough to even come for that ball and might have got their had De Ligt not headed it away. Lastly I am struck by the focus of a young goalkeeper like Onana for 90 minutes. Having had very little to do throughout the game, with the exception of the Ronaldo goal in which he had no chance due to the range and power of the effort, Onana finished the game by making a few interventions that kept Juve from earning the win. The first came from a cross from Cancelo from the right that was headed toward the far-post. Onana waits until the ball passes by all the traffic then springs off of his right foot to push it wide. This is a situation that any goalkeeper knows requires an intense amount of focus and having done virtually nothing all game, Onana pulled it off in the 88th minute. He then collected the driven cross from Douglas Costa on the other side which came from the rebound of the initial save. The second instance was another cross from Cancelo from inside the box which Onana gathered low to his right. It was a driven ball and Onana did well to hold it under pressure. Onana often takes a wide stance a considerable distance from his near post when facing a close range potentially crosser which shows his intent to control his area and his confidence in his apparent athleticism to cover his near-post.

SZCZESNY: Across the field between the sticks for Juventus, Szczesny is a contrast to Onana in that he does not possess the prowess to play out from the back which perhaps Juventus could have used when dealing with the Ajax press. This was highlighted by two stray balls early on in search of his left-back which were played out of bounds. Despite this, Szczesny has really come into his own for the Old Lady. From showing inconsistent flashes of his potential at Arsenal, to proving that he may be able to fill that potential at Roma, I believe that we are finally seeing Szczesny fulfilling his potential. The Polish international was tested early on when Dusan Tadic unleashed a swerving effort from the top of the box. The ball seemed to be heading towards Szczesny’s right and he shuffled towards it. The trajectory of the ball ended up taking a swerve to Szczesny’s left forcing him to collapse to his left to collect. This showed, for me, showed his progression as the Szczesny of old may have spilled it. In the 18th minute Szczesny was tested again by a curling shot from the top left of the box by Ziyech which was arguably the save of the match. As the ball headed toward the top left corner, Szczesny took a cross-step from left to right then took his push-step with his right foot and tipped the ball over with his bottom hand (right hand). I was impressed with how quickly and sharply Szczesny was able to execute the footwork that ultimately allowed him to make the save. He chose to go with the bottom hand as the ball seemed to be dipping and landing almost behind him which presents a better opportunity to go with the bottom hand. Other than this save Szczesny did not have to make any other saves of note in the first half. He was tested very early on in the second half though. I do not believe that Szczesny had any chance with the Neres goal, because he was being screened by a few defenders and the shot was well placed, perhaps he could have taken a shuffle and dove on this occasion instead of cross-stepping as that would be quicker, but that would be asking a lot. Szczesny made a good save in the 65th minute from an effort from Veltman, the right back for Ajax. Ziyech had the ball at the top of the box and played the ball wide to the right where Veltman had made a run into the box. The Juve back line was able to cut off half of the goal which allowed Szczesny to take a step forward to cut the angle. As Veltman strikes the ball, you can see Szczesny anticipating that the ball will be struck to his left by reading the body posture and the position of the defenders cutting of the the other side of the goal. The big polish goalkeeper leans toward the direction that he has read the shot will be taken, allowing him to make the save low to his left. I do not understand the stigma behind a goalkeeper anticipating the direction of a shot. Many goalkeeper coaches would tell young goalkeepers to wait and react, but in some instances a good goalkeeper can read the body posture of a forward and make a save that would not be able to be made had they not anticipated and started their movement in that direction. It would have been extremely unlikely that Veltman could have struck the ball through defenders across his body into the far corner, so why not begin leaning in the other direction? A situation as such reminds me of an interview with Edwin Van der Sar in which he described a free-kick at the top of the box. He stated that 9/10 of the time the shooter will go over the wall, so if he’s playing the odds and wants the highest percentage of success for his team he should anticipate moving in that direction, right?. However, in the one time out of ten the ball goes to the goalkeeper’s side and he is beaten, he has made a mistake. I have the upmost respect for a ‘keeper that chooses to go with the odds and potentially sacrifice himself.