Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich: Martinez-Bastian masterclass dominates narrow Barca

Munich players celebrate reaching the final following their team’s 3-0 victory during the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg against Barcelona at Nou Camp on May 1, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. (Getty Images)

Tito Vilanova chose to rest Lionel Messi and later commented that the Argentinean wasn’t injured but did not feel well enough on the day. Injury to Sergio Busquets meant that Alex Song came in as the destroyer. Marc Bartra and Gerard Pique started at the centre-back with Adriano playing at left-back for the suspended Jordi Alba. Cesc Fabregas came in at the false 9 with Pedro and David Villa on the wings.

Jupp Heynckes had fewer injury worries as only Dante missed out from the first leg. Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger constituted the midfield with Thomas Muller pushing upfront with Mario Mandzukic. Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery played on the wings, but more so like wing backs. Daniel van Buyten came in for Dante at the back alongside Jerome Boateng.

Down four goals going into this tie, one would have expected Barca to attack from the start, but Tito’s shape in midfield showed no such intent. He started with a 4-3-3, with Song playing in a particularly deep role allowing Xavi and Andres Iniesta to venture ahead. A 4-3-3 is ideally intended for the wide men upfront to push-on to the opposition fullbacks, but in this case the Catalan duo of Pedro and Villa played much narrower and rarely caused either Philipp Lahm or David Alaba any worries.

Martinez on Iniesta, Fabregas makes Schweinsteiger shift away from Xavi

Heynckes didn’t have any reason to change his tactics as Barca stuck to their 1^st leg tactics. His stalwarts in midfield Martinez and Schweinsteiger had another massive night as they shut down Xavi and Iniesta with ease. Martinez continued his job of closing down Iniesta in midfield and rarely was the Barca man allowed to receive passes in advanced areas. Martinez’s constant marking meant that Iniesta easiest pass was to Xavi in the middle, and unsurprisingly that was the most played in the game.

Schweinsteiger on the other hand needed to have a much better performance than the one in Munich, as he was given the role to close down Xavi initially. He stuck to Barca’s captain closely for the initial 10 minutes and this led to Xavi having to release the ball immediately when he received it. This made Xavi move into extremely deep positions to get away from the German.

Though Martinez continued to close down Iniesta even after he entered Bayern’s half, Schweinsteiger did not follow this pattern after the first 10 minutes. This was mainly due to Fabregas’s presence as the false no.9. Fabregas started the game quite high up the pitch next to van Buyten, but Bayern’s dominance in midfield pulled him back soon enough. Playing as the ideal false no.9, he tried to get in front of the Bayern midfielders.

Schweinsteiger started to fall away from Xavi once the Spaniard entered Munich’s half. And as Fabregas had started to press him as well, he allowed Cesc to remain goal side of him but positioned himself so as to block any balls to the false no.9. This made Xavi look for passes other than his dangerous pick-outs to the forwards, and mostly resulted in him finding Iniesta who was immediately picked up by Martinez.

Song held by Muller and Mandzukic alternately

If the midfield battle was being dominated by the Germans even though being outnumbered by Barca’s false 9, the scuffle behind Barca’s midfield duo was also tending towards Bayern. Song would have been identified as the Catalans’ weak link pre-match, but the Cameroonian performed pretty well. Song sat very deep in defence from the start of the game and barely engineered a different pass than one to Xavi. His deep role was mainly due to Bayern’s unbelievably energetic duo of Muller and Mandzukic.

Right from the first pass of the game, Mandzukic was the key to flick-on headers towards the box for Muller to run after. This continued throughout the game, as Muller even though being the advanced midfielder on paper, was pushed into the striking role due to Mandzukic’s great work ethic of falling back with Song.

The duo constantly threatened when on the break, and off the ball they were a nightmare for Song. Whenever the Cameroonian was shown the ball by Xavi or Iniesta, Mandzukic was quick to close down. And similarly when Pique played him the ball to distribute from the back, Muller was at hand to close him down.

Gerard Pique of Barcelona reacts after scoring an own goal during the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg match agaisnt Bayern Muenchen at Nou Camp on May 1, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. (Getty Images)

Ribery and Robben’s efforts off the ball

Heynckes pretty much decimated the Catalans on the wings. This Barca has never been a team to inculcate traditional wing play, and their shape was probably the narrowest one has seen them play. This made matters much easier for the duo of Robben and Ribery, though both of them worked their socks off in defence.

Robben and Ribery are not considered as the traditional defensive wingers, but this transformation created by Heynckes was perfected by the presence of some of the most attacking fullbacks in Lahm and Alaba. Ribery stuck onto Dani Alves throughout the night and rarely allowed the Brazilian a moment’s peace on the right flank. Often Xavi sought out Alves with the long ball as he seemed to be the only option, but Ribery won everything from the aerial duels to tackles on ground.

Robben demonstrated a similar work ethic on the left, though not much of this was used in tracking Adriano. Barca have often been seen to prioritize attacks to one flank, and tonight it was Alves’ flank for the majority of the first half. So Robben’s major role was to drift into midfield and cover the extra man running in from the wings, mostly Pedro. With Robben shifting into the midfield well, Bayern now had 2 solid banks of 4 off the ball, which rapidly shifted into an attacking trio on the ball.

While Robben and Ribery made life easier for Bayern’s fullbacks, they were often called on to track Barca’s narrow wingers. After a slow start in the centre, Fabregas seemed to shift to the right with Villa cutting in. But Cesc often positioned himself in the hole initially and then pulled out wide when on the ball. So this saw Alaba coming into central midfield many a time to continue marking him when off the ball. Similar was the case with Lahm tracking Pedro into central zones. Villa started to get more space between the lines due this movement by the wingers and fullbacks, but the Spaniard was not able to get away with his long-ranged attempts.

2^nd half substitutions ineffective, Bayern utilise space on wings

With 4 goals required in the 2^nd half, Tito’s reluctance to bring on Messi from the break suggested Barca’s mentality. It was clear that the Catalans were just another La Liga team if without the Argentine, and their 2^nd half display did not prove otherwise. Tito instead brought on Alexis Sanchez for Xavi, which shifted Fabregas into midfield and Villa to the centre. As the midfield duo was not broken, Martinez and Bastian continued their excellent marking.

Bayern’s first goal signalled the end to the tie, and it came about from the route where Barca were the weakest. Alaba’s cross-field ball from one wing to the opposite one meant that neither he nor the receiver Robben was covered by Barca’s narrow midfield.

Similarly the second and third goals also resulted from Bayern’s fluidity on the wings. Ribery humiliated Alves on both occasions and his crosses were expertly knocked in; one by the ever-deserving Muller and the other by Pique, who on the whole had a decent game in defence.

A score line of 7-0 reverberating around the Camp Nou at full time showcased what many critics have been pointing out from long; that Barca without the trickery and guile of Leo Messi are just another Liga team, as even though they have the masters of passing in midfield, they do not have the firepower upfront to finish of the good work. Tito had 5 differently styled attackers other than Messi in his squad, and the inability of his midfield to find even a single one of them in 90 minutes just shows the over-dependence of this team on ‘the world’s best player’.

Top of the match: Bastian Schweinsteiger

Flop of the match: Andres Iniesta