Match date: 18 March 2015
The first leg of the tie saw Barcelona score two away goals, while Joe hart saved a penalty from Messi in the dying minutes of the match which could have seen Barcelona 3-1 up with three decisive away goals.
Sergio Busquets was ruled out of this match due to injury so Luis Enrique was forced to make one change to the side that won in Manchester. Mascherano moved from his centre back position in the first leg to playing as the holding player in Barcelona’s midfield trio with Jeremy Mathieu slotting in alongside Pique at centre back.
Pellegrini changed both his shape and personnel. In the first leg he used both Džeko and Agüero from the start in a 4-4-2, but despite needing at least two goals, Pellegrini started with just Agüero up top with Silva behind him. Milner and Nasri were out wide in a 4-2-3-1 while Yaya Toure was selected alongside Fernandinho in central midfield. Both Clichy and Zabaleta were dropped in favour of Kolarov and Sagna at outside back.
City’s Spatial Struggles
Manchester City had to go for goals, which means they had to commit players forward, but they did so in a way that left the game extremely open and it allowed Barcelona huge amounts of space to play into. When Manchester City got forward with the ball, they often had both Sagna and Kolarov trying to push up the field in order to support the attack and to push Messi and Neymar as far back as possible. Yaya Toure would get forward and Fernandinho would often be too high up the field when Barcelona won the ball back, which has been an issue for the Brazilian throughout the season, but mostly when playing alongside Fernando when their roles were not as defined.
The problems for Manchester City came when Barcelona won the ball, but the start of their problems began before that moment and Suarez was key. Suarez was able to stretch Manchester City. The English side’s pressing would have been much better had Kompany and Demichelis been able to play higher up the field and help squeeze the space when Barcelona won the ball back, but Suarez was a threat in behind and pushed the centre backs deeper than they would have liked and deeper than that would have had, say, Messi been playing in the centre forward role rather than Suarez. Below is an excellent example of how stretched Manchester City. Barcelona have the ball inside of their own penalty area and you can see the English side trying to push on to win the ball, but also the new space in behind, with Kompany, Demichelis, and Sagna pushed back by Neymar and Suarez.
As mentioned, the deep position of the Manchester City centre backs were the start of their problems, but it was a crack that could have been covered had the Manchester City players closed the ball down quickly and were more reliable in winning the ball back. Barcelona’s goal is a perfect example of what happened when they failed to do so; the big gaps that they left open were easily exposed by the likes of Messi, Neymar, and Suarez. For the goal, Alba was able to run into a huge amount of space before finding Messi. This was far from the only time that Barcelona exploited these huge spaces, but it was probably the only time that Joe Hart, who had an outstanding game and kept Barcelona from scoring four or five on the night, did not stop Barcelona from scoring. Unless Manchester City were immediately able to put pressure on or isolate the ball carrier, as they managed to do to Jordi Alba with Neymar high up the pitch, they struggled. You can see below where Manchester City won their tackles, with most being on Alba’s side, and you can see how many chances Barcelona were able to create from around the middle third through their quick counter attacks into the space City allowed them to exploit.
Barcelona Sit, Force Manchester City Wide
With their lead, Barcelona were more than happy to allow Manchester City to have the ball. In both halves, Barcelona had majority of the possession, but when they lost the ball, they didn’t look to win it back high up the pitch which any sort of tenacity, instead they were more than willing to sit deep and allow Manchester City to look to break them down before winning the ball back and breaking into the spaces that English side left open as mentioned in the above section. Below is a screen capture from very early on in the match. Manchester City have possession in their half with Demichelis while Barcelona are defending in a midblock and looking to close the forward passing lanes rather than win the ball.
In the above screen capture, you can see Mascherano in a good amount of space behind Iniesta and Rakitic, allowing him to sweep up any balls that Manchester City looked to play into the likes of Agüero. Mascherano was very important to Barcelona’s play, not only because of his ability to close down the spaces like above, but also because he tracked David Silva very well throughout the match and it made it hard for the Spaniard to get on the ball and create chances for his side. Silva was forced into the wide areas in order to get on the ball, and Mascherano followed him out, and so much of Manchester City’s play came in the wide areas, particularly on the left through Nasri, while Sagna was able to force Neymar back, more often than Kolarov was able to do with Messi, allowing the right back to support Nasri and Silva.
Messi Owns The Night
Barcelona controlled the match and were able to get the ball into Manchester City’s penalty area often with their excellent, intricate play around the box. The Spanish side were able to move the ball with ease in the final third and while Suarez, Neymar, and Iniesta were all excellent, there was none better than Messi. The Argentine saw space and took it, not matter how tight that space may have been. The link up play between him and his teammates was incredible. While the highlights showed his nutmegs of James Milner (and Pep Guardiola’s reaction) and Fernandinho, the most telling moment of Messi’s dominance on the night was just prior to the games only goal. Messi picked up the ball at about the halfway line in a 1v1 with Kolarov, which became a 2v1 with Milner and Kolarov. As Messi approached the penalty area, Kompany and Fernandinho had slid over to help and the English side would have thought they had the situation managed. Suarez had pushed into a very wide area, Neymar was marked by Sagna in the middle, and Messi had four players in pressure and cover positions to stop his forward movement, but Rakitic’s run to the back post was found so simply by the Argentine.
Pellegrini’s Changes
At half time, the Manchester City boss took off Nasri, who was booked for a petulant foul on Neymar in the first half, and replaced him with Navas. Perhaps this was in hopes of getting at Alba in a more direct manner and that Navas may help Sagna when Neymar was able to isolate the full back. Regardless, it was the first of three changes that had little influence on the game for Pellegrini. Yaya Toure, who had a poor game and has looked a shadow of the player he was last year, was replaced by Wilfred Bony, who allowed Manchester City to play a bit more direct with long balls from the back, but overall, the January signing did little to change the game. Lampard was brought on in place of James Milner in the last few minutes of the game, but only after Ter Stegen had saved Agüero’s penalty.
Conclusion
The best team won both legs. It says a lot about the match that Joe Hart was certainly Manchester City’s best player. On a night that the English sided needed to score at least two goals, their goalkeeper was the player that stood out. Hart made a few excellent saves against Neymar, Messi, and Suarez and was helped by the post on two separate occasions, which Hart will credit to knowing his angles.
Manchester City killed their chances of winning the match with how stretched they were. Enrique did not surprise anyone in his team selection, but Pellegrini failed to offer any change that would have allowed his side an advantage. One answer may have been Mangala, who has the pace that would have allowed Manchester City to play a bit higher up the pitch, but the centre back was injured.