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

[Vlom]

Crowding the space around Messi is not as effective as before we had Suarez, look at the 2 first goals against Cordoba, or City, or or or .., at any point any of the middfield can send a through ball in the back of their defenders for suarez to finish, Messi doesn't have to dribble 6 players for us to be able to score anymore.

Pep has more headaches to solve than Messi.

 

[Yannik]

Barely anyone in 2013 said Barca were in the middle of a hard time. The full credit went to Bayern and most Barca supporters were upset with the team and not looking for excuses at all.

That is quite a one-sided perspective.
Almost anyone talked about "Messi injured", "ref giving 3 illegal goals in 1st leg", "2nd leg lost because barca had to attack because ref giving 3 illegal goals in 1st leg"
You guys are as holy as the bayern fans you are trying to mock and by acting like them you degrade yourself to their level back then.

 

[Ghostmaster]

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

What did happen in last years semi-final bwt, I saw the highlights, but how come Bayern hasn't managed to score a single goal?

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

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

It would be hilarious if we score 2 Goals from CKs/Fks.

 

[Alen]

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.

Yeah it will be a difficult tactical game. We are collectively strong, as they also are, but we have three players who can win the game on their own. I'm kind of counting on that.

 

[instinct]

If Bayern puts 3 players on Messi, at least one Barca player has more than enough space to operate and I think it'll be either Iniesta or Rakitic as well as Alba and Alves. Alba will cut-in to receive a typical Messi long ball (he is able to do that no matter how many players mark him), Iniesta will have space to operate which is deadly for opponents or Rakitic can spread the ball to free teammates without being under pressure.

Furthermore, if Bayern mark Messi with 3 men as well as trying to keep Suarez and Neymar out of the game, they won't have enough players left to press our midfield, especially Busquets and if they do, Messi, Neymar or Suarez will automatically have more space.

Pep already said it. It's impossible to control Messi for 180 minutes and Suarez + Neymar will be a huge worry for him too. Long story short: Some players will have enough space to make them suffer no matter how many players will mark Messi or press our midfield.

 

[Kohe321]

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.

This, exactly. The selective memory shown by most Bayern fans is astounding. All they seem to remember is the scoreline, and then use that as a celebratory banner in their "we're awesome" campaign, not remembering the fact that Barca was barely holding together at the seams at the time, and even that some of their goals were cheap (own goal Pique) or should not have counted (fouls/offside).

 

[Yannik]

If Bayern puts 3 players on Messi, at least one Barca player has more than enough space to operate and I think it'll be either Iniesta or Rakitic as well as Alba and Alves. Alba will cut-in to receive a typical Messi long ball (he is able to do that no matter how many players mark him), Iniesta will have space to operate which is deadly for opponents or Rakitic can spread the ball to free teammates without being under pressure.

Furthermore, if Bayern mark Messi with 3 men as well as trying to keep Suarez and Neymar out of the game, they won't have enough players left to press our midfield, especially Busquets and if they do, Messi, Neymar or Suarez will automatically have more space.

Pep already said it. It's impossible to control Messi for 180 minutes and Suarez + Neymar will be a huge worry for him too. Long story short: Some players will have enough space to make them suffer no matter how many players will mark Messi or press our midfield.

Which is why i expect Bayern to go out all pressing. The best way to cut Messi and co. off the game is by interupting their supply and counter them out

 

[serghei]

That is quite a one-sided perspective.
Almost anyone talked about "Messi injured", "ref giving 3 illegal goals in 1st leg", "2nd leg lost because barca had to attack because ref giving 3 illegal goals in 1st leg"
You guys are as holy as the bayern fans you are trying to mock and by acting like them you degrade yourself to their level back then.

A lot of those talks were after the game, and they were pretty mild and certainly not the dominant discussion. Overall, Bayern was aknowledged at the time as the best team in the world by most Barca fans here. It is normal to talk about referee mistakes and best players not being fit, but there is a limit. Bayern fans want to make a positive out of anything. If they lose, it was Bayern B, it's normal. If they win, they'll start saying they beat us with ther 2nd team or smth like that. Please, these tactics are ancient already, everyone sees trough them like fashion designers through fancy eyeglasses.

 

[Alen]

If Bayern puts 3 players on Messi, at least one Barca player has more than enough space to operate and I think it'll be either Iniesta or Rakitic as well as Alba and Alves. Alba will cut-in to receive a typical Messi long ball (he is able to do that no matter how many players mark him), Iniesta will have space to operate which is deadly for opponents or Rakitic can spread the ball to free teammates without being under pressure.

Furthermore, if Bayern mark Messi with 3 men as well as trying to keep Suarez and Neymar out of the game, they won't have enough players left to press our midfield, especially Busquets and if they do, Messi, Neymar or Suarez will automatically have more space.

Pep already said it. It's impossible to control Messi for 180 minutes and Suarez + Neymar will be a huge worry for him too. Long story short: Some players will have enough space to make them suffer no matter how many players will mark Messi or press our midfield.

Marking Messi with 3 men is more dangerous than not marking him at all. Pep would never do that. I think they'll press high and try to keep the ball. We'll need our midfield in form or we'll be crushed, like the first half of the clasico.

 

[instinct]

Which is why i expect Bayern to go out all pressing. The best way to cut Messi and co. off the game is by interupting their supply and counter them out

Rakitic is our weak link in midfield when it comes to pressing. If things don't go well, I expect Xavi to solve a lot of problems in the 2nd half.

Iniesta and Busquets in top-form are almost immune to pressing though.

I wonder if they'll be able to press like maniacs throughout the whole game. Many players who were forced to play many games due to injury seem very tired.

 

[Icarium]

The match is not over yet, any team can win. Why are bayern fans already coming up with the excuses. That comes after the match right?

Anyway the point many barca fans want to make is, bayern was well credited for 2013 win over us even considering the situations. But it looks like you guys won't return the favor and instead look for excuses. But discussing these things is very premature. We did not win it yet, and it will not be a cake walk. It is an even match.

 

[Hamzah]

Which is why i expect Bayern to go out all pressing. The best way to cut Messi and co. off the game is by interupting their supply and counter them out

All of our back four plus busi can play out. Its when they have the ball I think we might be pinned back.

 

[Vlom]

Marking Messi with 3 men is more dangerous than not marking him at all. Pep would never do that. I think they'll press high and try to keep the ball. We'll need our midfield in form or we'll be crushed, like the first half of the clasico.

Busquets wasn't playing in the last Clasico I think that contributed a lot in what we saw in the first half.

Also, the team wasn't pressing as it is now, our defending and getting back the ball was more sparse and relied on Alves (ahum) getting it back or Piqué saving us, we also misplaced a ridiculous amount of easy passes in the middfield, I hope we don't repeat that perf.

 

[instinct]

Marking Messi with 3 men is more dangerous than not marking him at all. Pep would never do that. I think they'll press high and try to keep the ball. We'll need our midfield in form or we'll be crushed, like the first half of the clasico.

The 1st half of the Clasico would've never turned out to be as horrible as it did, if Busquets had started the game. Mascherano is miles away from Busquets when it comes to keeping posession under pressure.