CL semis: Bayern - Barca 3-2 (3-5 agg.)

[serghei]

I am still worried about our midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and Xavi/Iniesta being overran by their 5-men midfield and intense pressing

It will be more men in midfield for us, since Messi, Suarez and Neymar surely won't just wait for service in this game. They will come to help the build up more often than not and seek to make runs from deeper areas.

 

[Vlom]

I am still worried about our midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and Xavi/Iniesta being overran by their 5-men midfield and intense pressing

If that happens our middfield will become iniesta-busi-raki-messi

 

[Alen]

I am still worried about our midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and Xavi/Iniesta being overran by their 5-men midfield and intense pressing

An in form Busi-Iniesta-Messi midfield with Rakitic filling in the holes will not be overrun. I think Messi's form and involvement will be key.

 

[Simmelbert]

I am still worried about our midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and Xavi/Iniesta being overran by their 5-men midfield and intense pressing

that's my only hope.

 

[Bran the Greenseer]

Barca's midfield is always a five-man midfield of the midfield three plus Messi and Alves, 4-3-3 hasn't fully described our play since Pep took over.(except at the beginning of this season)

 

[serghei]

Barca's midfield is always a five-man midfield of the midfield three plus Messi and Alves, 4-3-3 hasn't fully described our play since Pep took over.(except at the beginning of this season)

Plus Alba. Neither Alves, nor Alba stays back on possession play.

 

[skn02]

Exactly. We didn't try to minimalize a Bayern win prior to the game and we didn't do it after the game either. We didn't even complained that much about Kassai, who should have denied Bayern 2 of the 4 goals, even 3 if we take into consideration Dante's foul on Alves. We had no coach for half that season, Messi not fully fit, a rookie CB in Bartra, some horrific calls in Bayern's favour (it was 3-1 for Bayern in major calls) several key absences in defence, and we still din't bitch like Bayern's fans do now. And what's even more crazy is that they are whining BEFORE the game even started.

+1.

 

[Luftstalag14]

An in form Busi-Iniesta-Messi midfield with Rakitic filling in the holes will not be overrun. I think Messi's form and involvement will be key.

I am pretty sure Guardiola will seek to cut off any support our true midfield (Busi-Raki-Xavi) gives to MSN and force Messi to track back and go deep, and then put three men on Messi every time he has the ball to force dispossession or missed passes.

Won't be easy for us.

 

[Ghostmaster]

I am still worried about our midfield of Busquets, Rakitic and Xavi/Iniesta being overran by their 5-men midfield and intense pressing

Pep is certainly a master at pressing, but I think at Camp Nou we'll manage to control the midfield and win possession, although I am not sure what will happen at Alliianz.

 

[Bran the Greenseer]

Plus Alba. Neither Alves, nor Alba stays back on possession play.

True and actually when I think about it Mascherano as CB has been playing almost like a super deep dm with his passing recently. I suppose that's the effect of Pep's thinking that midfielders> all and that we should just buy a bunch of them to cover all positions.

 

[instinct]

force Messi to track back and go deep, and then put three men on Messi every time he has the ball to force dispossession or missed passes.

What's the result of that? Correct, they leave space. Messi dropping deep..space..Neymar..Suarez..Alba..long balls (Van Gaal voice)..

 

[i_bleed_blaugrana]

In fact, there is not a big enough facepalm smiley for this.

Do you HONESTLY believe that Tito had the strength to do any preparations worth much before this tie? Do you honestly believe the players were not completely shaken emotionally from what was going on with him? If you're not joking, I can't believe you're seriously trying to undermine this.

Dude, this is my exact point with most Bayern fans I've met since. A bucketload of arrogance mixed with a complete lack of respect and ability to even recognize the situation Barca was in.

You guys were a tremendous team in 2013, but don't let that victory over Barca fool you to think you were THAT strong as these games made you seem. We all saw how you struggled against Dortmund in the final - that game was more descriptive of your total strength that year. You were better and won fair and square, but not the worldbeater you guys seem to like to remember yourselves as.

But it makes sense that you have to make Barca seem stronger than what they were, after all your whole "we were juggernauts" thing doesn't really work if you were to realize that the 7-0 was against a severely weakened Barca.

It's not like you beat Barça at our strongest, with Pep coaching us and a relatively strong squad. Back then, our team didn't know how to press and was playing a heavily modified and much less effective style that while seemed similar to Pep, lacked key characteristics to making it effective.

Again, no one here is saying you weren't the better team nor that your team wasn't special. It was the failure to see how incredibly stack the odds were against us that season. I'm sorry but not having a coach for half a season and a lack of a cohesive game plan would make any team severely handicapped.

Plus, sorry but at the Allianz, the 2nd goal, Alba was CLEARLY fouled in the build-up to Robben's tap in. That really changed the game a bit and their 3rd was questionably offsides. It's not like you scored golazo after golazo.

Our main point is, Bayern fans, is that we gave credit when it was due. All we ask is the same, like I said, if we advance I'll take this win with a grain of salt because you were so shorthanded. Your failure to do the same in 2013 is what annoys us.

 

[Kohe321]

What?
I merely corrected your initial claim, which simply put, was wrong. I didn't insinuate anything by what I said.



Also, that new claim you make, that Bayern vs. BVB showed how "strong" or "not strong" Bayern were, is just false. BVB - Bayern in that time is not a fair comparison at all. BVB had been Bayern's kryptonite for years and it took monumental effort to finally turn it around, not to mention that Bayern only struggled for the first twenty minutes, but completely controlled BVB the rest of the match, Dante karate kick notwithstanding.

Wow, okay, so you just pointed out that Tito in fact was the coach when we faced you? Well whoop-de-doo, thank you Mr. Obvious. On paper he was. I don't know if Bojan can hand you a special, one-off Sherlock avatar for your sharp observation. Thanks for setting me straight!

 

[Luftstalag14]

Unzue and Co. had better trained even harder on headers. It would be great to kill off Bayern like Ramos did.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

Yeah 2 Goals shouldn´t have counted but then again there were also some penalties calls they didn´t get so meh....