FC Barcelona succumbed to a 2-0 loss in Milan on Wednesday night. What were Barcelona's shortcomings that made them concede two damaging goals? What were the key points that prevented them from scoring the elusive away goal? More after the jump.
Both AC Milan and FC Barcelona went with a starting line up that was very flexible. FC Barcelona went with 4-3-3 and their supposedly best eleven, with Fàbregas and Iniesta exchanging positions as needed and Alba keeping the width on the left. Having Pedro and Dani Alves on the right was meant to stretch AC Milan's defense so that there would be room in the middle. Meanwhile AC Milan went with a 4-2-3-1 that can change to a 5-5-0 when defending and then sprung into a 4-3-3 when counter-attacking. Milan chose the electric Kevin-Prince Boateng on the right and El Shaarawy on the left with Pazzini the lone striker.
The 5-5-0 formation AC Milan employed when defending deep is an extremely difficult system to break down. They defended narrow and utilized a simple two block approach. The front 5 player block will pressure FC Barcelona on transition to slow Barcelona's build up. Then the remaining 5 players block will start building their shell on defense and once they did, the front block will provide cover and refuse to be drawn out from their position. The pitch was of course also in rough shape which slows the ball down on the ground but FC Barcelona should have prepared for that.
In the first half, Barcelona was able to maintain possession and push AC Milan all the way back to search for a goal. However, it is apparent that Cesc and Alba were playing well under par in the first half, creating an imbalance in the team attack. Iniesta can stamp his authority on the game if Alba is on fire, providing link up plays and dividing the concentration of the defense, but sadly it was one of those nights for Alba. Fàbregas on the other hand was very inaccurate with his touches and gave the ball away far too easily. This lack of confidence resulted in him retreating positionally to try to provide link up from the middle. That is one of the first key mistakes FC Barcelona made in the match.
Fàbregas should have been playing close to the goal to occupy at least one defender because AC Milan was playing two blocks of defense which is very hard to unlock via quick short passes alone. Someone needed to go up front and create a scenario for the defender so they can't just wait around for the ball to come. Usually that player is Pedro, Fàbregas, and sometimes Messi, Dani Alves, and Alba. Last night it was only Pedro and Dani Alves doing so, thereby creating a huge disadvantage for Barcelona. The attack was too one-sided and one-dimensional.
The first good chance unavoidably came to Milan on the 16th minute. El Shaarawy beat Dani Alves with a tricky on-time run and he was clean through, only to take a bad touch and get blocked by Carles Puyol. Another chance went begging for Milan after the subsequent corner and it already looked grim for FC Barcelona. Barcelona kept most of the ball but couldn't generate any advantage offensively nor defensively from the dominance of possession.
Milan was also caught out when their defense line was high but Mexes was there to do the tactical fouling necessary and brought down Messi numerous times. This shows that Milan could suffer when Barcelona players hunt down the ball when the home side loses it, but they just didn't do it often enough. They showed that their legs were too tired to do what was needed to gain advantage in this situation.
The first half ended right on the 45th minute with no time added on despite a 3 minute sign being shown by the fourth official. It was strange but FC Barcelona shouldn't have to count on little things like that, especially little things of a trivial nature.
When the second half started, the same team took the field despite the first half's shortcomings. Xavi, who had just come back from an injury, presumably was not fully match fit. Meanwhile Messi, frustrated with the lack of chances Barcelona created, tried going wide where there were fewer people and created several good plays out of it. Pedro's weakness is his inability to beat his man one-on-one and it showed when he received a great ball from Xavi inside the box only to pass it back to a player outside the box. Basically the team was trying to play a tired game against a very well-coordinated opponent and soon it became obvious.
The goal came in a set piece situation. A wild bounce off a longshot hits Zapata on the head and then touches off his stretched right arm and was hit well by Kevin-Prince Boateng to the dismay of the Barcelona players. The referee could have blown either way because it didn't look like it was deliberate, although the hands were stretched and not in their natural state. What sadly happened was that the Barcelona players and especially Busquets, who was totally able to dive in and block the shot, were raising their hands first and didn't clear the ball. The first goal set the mood for the game and Barcelona wasn't able to really come away from their frustration.
Finally Fàbregas was replaced by Alexis Sánchez and things improved for Barcelona. Many times Barcelona was able to get a favorable free-kick position and corner kick from this change. But even the improved situation was not enough to score as Milan defended deeper and deeper with their moral victory already at hand. At this time, every Barcelona player except for Sánchez was always a yard short or a fraction of a second off from winning the ball or being able to get past the defender. The team looked both mentally and physically fatigued, yet until the end there was only a second substitution replacing Puyol with Mascherano which did nothing to chase the elusive away goal.
The second goal, even Roura admitted it in his post-match conference, was a result of over-eagerness from his side. A lot of times Puyol was left alone in the back and this time almost everyone was behind the Milan player in anticipating the ball. In the 81st minute, Milan with an excellent counter attack decimated Barcelona's defense with a simple direct ball that was played high and long. They knew this was needed to get the ball in the right time frame and Muntari exposed the three Barcelona defenders all converging on El Shaarawy.
So Barcelona have lost in Milan for the first time in nine years. It seems fitting that it was also the first year for Tito (and Roura for this matter). The players and the coach look like they are not on the same page on some things. The team is increasingly too dependent on Messi, especially since Tito left to battle with cancer. Winning against Milan 2-0 is far from an automatic exit, and scoring that 3rd and final goal will be the showdown we are all hoping to see in three weeks. But the shortcomings in this match should have been avoided. Barcelona are 12 points away from Atletico Madrid in La Liga and they can afford to rotate their best players to ensure no one is too exhausted and jaded to play. Let's see how the team as a whole responds this weekend.
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