Match date: 26 November 2013

Barcelona have already qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but could have sealed their first place seed with a win against Ajax.

Frank de Boer named a relatively young side. He moved Daley Blind to a holding midfield role and was without both Siem de Jong and Kolbeinn Sigthórsson.

Ajax Press, Possess

There are two ways that teams have been successful in defeating Barcelona over the last 6 years under Guardiola through Martino. The first, and more commonly deployed tactic is to defend them in a low block, with two well organized lines of 4 and 5 or 5 and 4 and then one player putting some pressure on Barcelona’s centre backs and holding midfielder. When chances present themselves, counter quickly. It’s worked for the likes of Real Madrid domestically and for Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Bayern Munich in the Champions League. For a neutral, and someone that likes to see good football being played from both sides, it is generally a let down as the opposing team usually seems to have the mentality to first make sure they don’t concede (in Champions League ties), try to get at least a draw, and counter when possible.

The other way to go about playing Barcelona is to press them when they look to play out of the back, possess the ball, and bring the match to Barcelona, which is just what Ajax did. The first 45 minutes of the match saw Ajax on the front foot, winning the ball back quickly and high up the pitch and moving the ball very nicely around Barcelona’s midfield.

Ajax’s brilliant first half started with their pressing in Barcelona’s half. They looked to get numbers around the ball and crowd out Barcelona players and forced Barcelona into a number of uncomfortable moments and errors. The numbers that Ajax were able to get around the ball were excellent, as they squeezed the pitch, playing a high line and pushing Barcelona back. Below you can see the numbers they consistently got around the ball as well as the high line.

Three Ajax players are around Xavi, who is carrying the ball, with four players on the same side of the pitch acting as cover and squeezing the space that Barcelona can play in. Near the bottom left of the picture, you can see van Rhijn a few yards off of Neymar. Behind him are both Ajax’s centre backs, playing a high line as they did throughout the first half. Below you can see just how effective getting these numbers around the ball was for Ajax. They looked to make a number of tackles in Barcelona’s half and won the ball back numerous times high up the pitch.

Ajax’s second goal came with good pressure on Mascherano and a bad pass out of the back by the Argentine being intercepted by Serero with the ball going to Klaassen who laid the ball off to Viktor Fischer. Pinto parried Fischer’s shot to Hoesen, who was able to slip the ball into Barcelona’s net.

Daley Blind’s role in Ajax’s first half cannot go unnoticed. Although typically deployed at left back, Blind was played in a holding midfield role by Frank De Boer and really excelled until he had to move to left back just 32 minutes into the match. His passing set the tempo for Ajax; it was his good diagonal out to van Rhijn that setup the attack for Ajax’s opening goal. He had himself available to the Ajax centre backs as they built from the back and got forward well to support the attack while also attacking as an anchor for Ajax’s pressing. As others would press, he attacked as the covering player and was good at breaking up Barcelona’s attacks through the middle, but was able to get wide quickly to cover van Rhijn and Boilesen as they both pushed on well.

In the first half, Ajax created 6 chances, their total for the match, with Barcelona creating just 5 in the match and only two in the first half. Their tempo put Barcelona on the back foot and their passing was expansive and quick as they worked out of tight areas caused by Barcelona’s own press and into space. Below you can see a ball being played out by Serero, who scored the opening goal and had a terrific game overall, to van Rhijn in a huge amount of space. It was a theme for the opening 45 minutes for Ajax.

Boilesen on the Left

Puyol started his career at right back for Barcelona, but perhaps it was a bit naive by Tata Martino to play Puyol out of position up against a talent like Viktor Fischer. However, it wasn’t Fischer that caused the aging Spaniard the most problems, but rather Nicolai Boilesen. From the beginning of the match to 32 minutes in when Boilesen, after some good footwork to get past Xavi and Puyol, was fouled by Pique and had to be subbed, the young Dane ran well on the left side of Ajax’s attack.

While Boilesen’s time on the pitch was ended prematurely, his energy and enthusiasm to get at Barcelona, while shared by all his teammates, was a good example of Ajax’s approach on the day; positive, adventurous, and willing.

Barcelona’s First Half Attack

One of the big problems in the first half for Barcelona was their lack of options when going forward. Cesc Fabregas was played in a false 9 role with Neymar and Pedro on either side of him, but because of Ajax’s possession and Boilesen’s willingness to get forward on the left, both Fabregas and Pedro dropped deep to support Barcelona’s defending players. This left Neymar has Barcelona’s only forward outlet and their attacks became relatively predictable. Just compared where on the field Neymar is receiving passed as opposed to Pedro.

Despite Neymar being the only outlet, he wasn’t too effective as van Rhijn defended the Brasilian with relative well and on quick breaks, Neymar was offered little support from his teammates as they were slow to break from their low and mid block positions.

Second Half

The first half looked set to repeat itself in the second half with Pique losing the ball 9 seconds into the half with a clearance to half intercepted by Christian Poulsen who had come on in 32nd minute for Boilesen. However, just a few minutes into the half, van Rhijn played a poor back pass, which Neymar intercepted was brought down by Veltman, with first contact looking to be just outside the box, though the referee ruled it a penalty and a red card. Xavi scored the resulting spot kick and Ajax were down to 10 men with about 45 minutes to go.

In response, De Boer brought on Denswil for Schöne and reverted to a 5-3-¼-4-¼-3-2. Ajax, for all their good pressing and positive play in the first half, had to play in a low block for the rest of the match, conceding both possession and territory to Barcelona. Below you can see them in a 4-4-1, but they are still playing a relatively high line and are in a mid block shape. Viktor Fischer would usually be given the freedom to press when Ajax got the ball forward, but would always make sure to get back to the left side of the midfield four to support Blind at left back.

In transition, Ajax’s midfield would stick close together as they tracked the ball. Klaassen, Poulsen, and Serero would keep themselves tight and shifted to whichever side Barcelona initially attacked, which was usually to their right as Barcelona tried to get the ball to Neymar often. Below you can see the Ajax midfield in a triangle on the right side of their defense as Barcelona as quickly played a ball up to Neymar. You also notice that Fischer is out of the frame, as he was pressing with Hoesen.

When Barcelona pushed them back to their penalty box, Ajax got numbers back, making it incredibly hard for Barcelona to penetrate. Christian Poulsen would at times find himself acting as a third centre back as well.

Pedro and Neymar were both hugging the touchline, making the field very spread. Again a lot of the play was down the left side, which may have been more effective if Neymar was partnered with a naturally left footed player rather than Montoya, who did not really support the Brasilian well by opening up space with overlaps. Despite their good possession, Barcelona were only able to create one chance from opening play in the final third following the red card.

Conclusion

Ajax were able to hold onto their goal advantage for the remainder of the match and it was clear that the players and staff were delighted. Barcelona were beaten in the first half by the football that Michels and Cruyff brought from Ajax to Barcelona and the football that has made Barcelona the best team in the world for the last decade.

De Boer believed that the Spanish side didn’t expect a performance quite like the one put on by Ajax and they were certainly the better side in the first half and it was unfortunate that they went down to 10 men for majority of the second half. They still have work to do to qualify for the next round, but if they are as good as they were against Barcelona, their quality might see them through.