Match date: 1 May 2013

After a terrific performance by Bayern Munich in the first leg of the tie, Barcelona found themselves 4-0 down in the Champions League semifinal. Despite such a deficit, Barcelona decided against starting Messi even after he came come against Athletic Bilbao and scored a brilliant goal and setup another to give Barcelona a 2-1 win.

Without Messi, Tito Vilanova opted to start Cesc Fabregas through the middle, with Villa and Pedro on either side of him, though Villa became more central very early on. Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were also out, so Alex Song and Adriano took their places, respectively.

Bayern Munich fielded the same side with the exception of Van Buyten in for Dante and Manzukic in for Gomez, setting up in a 4-2-3-1.

Bayern Without the Ball

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Bayern’s 7-0 win over the two legs was not their attacking ability, which was a sight to behold, but rather their work rate off the ball and Heynckes ability to get Ribery and more notably Robben to track back and help their outside backs.

In the last leg, Robben was successful in all 4 of this attempted tackles and made two interceptions deep within his won half and while he failed in both his attempted tackles in this match, his willingness to work back was still evident despite their 4-0 lead. Ribery had to deal with Alves, who was able to get a good amount of balls into the Bayern penalty area, but Barcelona’s forward runners failed to get on the end of them.

Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez were again both very impressive in their displays as they looked to contain Iniesta and Xavi, both of whom had to drop very deep at times to receive the ball as Bayern allowed Pique and Bartra to keep the ball between them. This disrupted any tempo that Barcelona looked to build and didn’t allow for Xavi and Iniesta to build the attacks in midfield, only combining 7 times compared to the combination of Bartra to Pique which happened 21 times.

When Barcelona managed to play into midfield, Schweinsteiger and Martinez were quick to close down. Both were successful in all of their attempted tackles which broke up Barcelona’s play and allowed Bayern Munich to counter quickly, exposing Barcelona.

In the last leg, Gomez and Muller both dropped onto Busquets to make sure he couldn’t get the ball and, if he did, make sure to put immediate pressure on him. Busquets, however, wasn’t fit enough to play in this leg and so Alexandre Song got the start and played the role slightly differently that Busquets has this season. As mentioned above, Bayern’s pressing forced Barcelona to play between Pique and Bartra and it forced Song very deep to receive the ball and look to build attacks, which Mandzukic seemed willing to let Song do. Once Song dropped and played the ball out, there were numerous times where he would stay as deep as Pique and Bartra and act as a third centre back, something that Barcelona did a lot under Pep Guardiola, but not so much under Tito Vilanova. It allowed Alves and Adriano a bit more cover on the flanks as they had Bartra and Pique behind them, respectively, with Song playing through the middle.

Bayern Munich’s Attacks

With the quality of Robben and Ribery going forward, Bayern looked to attack on the flanks, whether it be with a bit of build-up play or on counter-attacks, and they did so very effectively as Barcelona are always going to be caught on the counter, but have also struggled to defend the wide areas when a team builds attacks against them.

All three goals came from wide areas. The first was Alaba’s long diagonal ball to Robben, who cut in and hit a far post shot past Valdes. The next was from a cross resulting in an own goal for Pique and the third was again a cross with Muller finishing at the far posts. It is interesting to see that all of their successful crosses came from the left side, from Ribery and Alaba, which is where all three goals originated. Each created chance that they made came from wide areas as well.

Many of the chances were fluid counter attacks helped on by the running of Alaba and Lahm and the skill of Robben and Ribery, who were very successful in taking on the Barcelona defense.

Barcelona Lacks Penetration

It’d be easy to say that the exclusion of Messi in the Barcelona XI was the reason they looked so flat, but he was in the side that got beat 4-0 just last week and while it is wrong to say either way what impact he would have had on the match, Bayern’s defensive shape in both legs limited Barcelona.

Fabregas found himself free when he dropped into midfield to get the ball and received the ball in good areas, but rather than look to run at the Bayern Munich defense, a quality that a fully fit Messi could have done, he looked to play passes which Bayern were capable at dealing with.

Iniesta had chances to run at the defense and when he did, Bayern looked a little shaky, but Iniesta usually took one too many touches and wasn’t able to get the ball off to anyone running in behind.

Conclusion

Bayern Munich outplayed Barcelona in the first leg and it never looked like there was real belief in the Barcelona camp that they would be able to overturn a 4-0 deficit, the first sign being Messi starting on the bench.

As I said it the opening, Bayern were impressive in their attacks and their defensive discipline against Barcelona was phenomenal as they pressed at the right times and dropped, but not too deep, when they needed to, but perhaps the most impressive part of the tie and this Bayern Munich side, something that the likes of Barcelona lack, is the ability to adapt. Bayern Munich have played possession football against every other side they’ve faced in Bundesliga and the Champions League, but against a side that has undoubted ability to simply keep the ball, Bayern were able to adapt their play to what could beat their opposition.

The displays throughout the Champions League knockout stages from Barcelona have raised a lot of questions about Barcelona. Tito Vilanova started his tenure well, but it was disrupted by his cancer treatment and with his absence, Barcelona’s weaknesses became more and more exposed. They’ve seemed to abandon some of the aspects of their game that were so important under Guardiola, such as pressing high and quickly once they lost the ball. Vilanova’s side still does it, but it has dropped off and one must wonder what effect Vilanova’s absence has had on the side, but even more so, what effect Guardiola’s has had on the side as they broke down this season.