UCL Quarterfinal Preview: Alves and Welbeck pivotal for Barca and Manchester United

Champions League returns to the fore with 8 teams locking horns in the Quarterfinal stage of the world’s most exciting competition. With most of the usual suspects managing to reach this stage, the draw was always going to be a complex affair. But, for those who expected some fierce matchups, Luis Figo’s hands delayed that eventuality until the semifinals. What we have now are four clashes, which have fairly clear favorites to make it to the semifinals. Atletico Madrid take on their Spanish title rivals Barcelona, PSG play Chelsea, Manchester United take on Champions, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid get to meet Dortmund again.

The first set of midweek matches take place on Tuesday with Spanish League leaders Atletico Madrid travelling to Catalunya and European and German Champions Bayern Munich flying to Manchester for their respective first leg ties. The latter fixture might be a relatively easy contest, but the all Spanish affair of the former is a potential firecracker. We take a look at the strengths, weak spots and possible tactics the teams could employ for the first leg.

Barcelona – Atletico Madrid

The focus this season has shifted to the other big gun in Madrid as they have risen to prominence with their intense and adventurous brand of football. Barcelona and Real Madrid have met very frequently over the past few seasons, but the scenario has changed and Atletico Madrid find themselves facing the Catalan giants, as many as 6 times this season. These two sides have met 3 times already this season and all those games ended with both teams sharing the spoils, though Barcelona edged the Rojiblancos on away goals in the SuperCopa. They are yet to face each other 3 more times by the end of May, twice in the Champions League and once in the Spanish League.

Last week, Victor Valdes suffered a serious knee injury in the match against Celta Vigo, and he will be not play in a Catalan jersey again. This means, Pinto will have to slot in between the posts for the rest of the season. Carles Puyol didn’t train with the team due to a knee complaint, but has been included in the 22 players list for Tuesday. Alex Song and Pedro recovered from injuries and are available for selection. For Diego Simeone’s Atletico, Raul Garcia is unavailable due to suspension and Javi Manquillo is out with an injury. All other players are available for selection.

Barca players train ahead of the mammoth clash against Atletico

Two legged ties are probably easier in match preparation terms than single knockout ties. There is always a chance to cover for the shortcomings in the first leg and adapt to the tactics of the opponent better in the second leg. Teams facing Barcelona usually try to nullify them at Camp Nou and then try to take them on in the home game. For Atletico, this strategy is worthless, as their style of football allows them to play both the legs with similar tactics. Both these teams play with contrasting styles, one relying predominantly on possession and the other thriving off it.

Atletico’s intense off-the-ball play and tackling has been the hallmark to their success. With a starting XI that doesn’t see much changes, Simeone will not have troubles choosing his lineup. With Raul Garcia not taking part, its almost certain that David Villa will start beside Diego Costa in attack. Barcelona, though having tweaked their approach to games under Martino, still rely heavily on possession to dominate the play. Lionel Messi is making the false-nine role his own, with a string of impressive displays after comign back from injury, while Neymar has struggled to adapt to European conditions. In the Liga clash, Messi was on the bench and Fabregas played as the false-nine. Now, with Messi on the pitch, Atletico might find it a tad bit tougher than usual to impose their tactics.

Simeone might take inspiration from Valencia’s victory at Nou Camp, by adding an adventurous aspect to their play. Valencia had two players positioned deep in midfield, while the third midfielder acted as the shuttler, contributing in both attack and defence. It was this third player that made the difference, and in an analogous Atleti side, David Villa could emulate a similar role. But stopping Messi would be one of the prime objectives, so we can expect Koke to tuck inside and track the Argentinean, while Tiago stands his ground cutting out the passing lanes. But the downside of this for Atletico would be that Dani Alves will have no one marking him for large parts of the game. This is potentially hazardous as most of the Barcelona goals result from attacks down the Alves flank.

Though, Jordi Alba is an attacking fullback, Barca tend to use Alves as their major weapon. This fixture could be potentially decided by the amount of freedom Dani Alves enjoys on his flank. When Messi drifts into deep positions, he vacates the space behind the defensive midfielders Gabi and Tiago. Neymar and Fabregas then get a chance to run into that space and receive passes. In an attempt to overload Messi, Koke and Villa double up on him, leaving Dani Alves alone, with only Filipe left to mark him. But instead of running down the flank, Alves chooses to either cross from deep or play neat one-two’s. And this is where the role of Tiago becomes crucial. It is Tiago’s duty to cut these killer passes from Alves into the space vacated by Messi, which means Neymar will be free and will prompt the Atletico centrebacks to close them down. This sort of movement from Atleti defenders leaves pockets of space around the box, and again Dani Alves will try to exploit them.

Dani Alves holds the key for Barca progressing to the Semis

Another feature which could bring this tie to life, is the counterattacks of Simeone’s side. In this context, Dani Alves will be the villian for Barca with his high positioning and the role of Sergio Busquets becomes crucial. Arguably the best DM in the world, Busquets will drop deep into defence when Barca have the ball and Atletico players press them high up, making it a 3 v 2 against Villa and Costa. When dealing with counterattacks, Busquets will have to be careful not to concede space to David Villa. Xavi will automatically get dragged onto the wings to cover for Alves. How fast the Atleti players in Turan, Koke and Gabi get into advanced positions will be the key for them to get any sort of chance at goal using counterattacks. On the other hand, if Atleti manage to have good spells of possession, Barcelona will find it tough to mark so many technical players.

Manchester United – Bayern Munich

One recent classic moment lights up in the memory when we hear the names of these clubs. No, it’s not 1999. Ribery’s corner taken on the volley by Robben and slotted into the far corner. Back then, Bayern edged through on away goals and Man Utd were relatively a tough opponent. Now, things have changed, Bayern are the bullies and Utd have slipped from the top team status. Optimists might suggest Man Utd can take inspiration from Chelsea’s UCL heroics in 2012, but back then, Bayern were probably only half good compared to the current squad. Pep Guardiola has transformed the Bavarians into an unstoppable force, and his Champions League pedigree makes Bayern the out-right favorites to win over two legs.

Ryan Giggs and David Moyes in the press conference.

David Moyes had some good news for the Man Utd fans today. Defenders Evans and Smalling are back to training along with Antonio Valencia. Rafael and Cleverley didn’t take part in the training session and are a doubt for tomorrow’s clash. Robin Van Persie is a long term absentee, while Patrice Evra will be serving his one match suspension. Pep Guardiola has few concerns ahead of the quarterfinal clash, as Thiago Alcantara picked up a serious injury against Hoffenheim. Dante is suspended after accumulating yellow cards and Diego Contento is absent with a foot injury.

Bayern Munich has been ruthless under Guardiola this season. They haven’t lost only two matches all season, once to Dortmund in Super Cup and the other was to Man City in the Champions League. The tiki-taka brand of football has been infused into the already present total football concept in Germany. While the tiki-taka that Bayern practice is already being termed as a far superior version of the Catalonian one, a major emphasis in Guardiola’s style this time around has been the movement and passes on the flanks.

Robben, Ribery and Shaqiri: Three deadly wingers in training.

In Ribery and Robben, Bayern have a set of wingers who prefer receiving the ball deep in midfield and then dribble ahead. This allows the 2 fullbacks to make their runs inward rather than on the overlap hugging the touchlines. This movement by the fullbacks Alaba and Rafinha is seen right from when Bayern’s defence has the ball, as both CBs spread out in the backline while allowing Philip Lahm to take up the 3rd Centre Back role, and now the fullbacks move into a Central midfield position. This would see a 5 man formation at the back which would always outnumber United’s front 2 Rooney and Welbeck.

In Van Persie’s absence, Moyes has started to bring the likes of Kagawa and Mata into a more central role, though the Japanese has not been used as the orthodox No.10 prominently. But with Mata cup-tied, this game seems to be the perfect opportunity for Kagawa to take up the role in the “hole” and he will be directly pitted against Kroos and Lahm.

While on paper none of the United’s central midfielders match the strength of the Bavarians, the one area that United could prosper in is the space behind the Bayern fullbacks. Arsenal were able to utilize this space on many an occasion against Bayern in both the legs, as initially Chamberlain and then Podolski were able to time runs into these areas. So 2 key players for David Moyes in this aspect would be Danny Welbeck and Ryan Giggs. Welbeck has been always seen as a big match player in the Fergie era, and the youngster had done a credulous job against Xabi Alonso in the CL last year. But with Rooney and Kagawa being the more realistic contenders for this job now, Welbeck will be a more counterattacking option for Moyes to play in the space behind Rafinha.

Welbeck could be the difference for Man Utd on an epic night.

The other option Ryan Giggs will need to be a crucial call for the manager, although Giggs offers an avenue of providing precise balls into the channels for the striker (first 2 goals in the 3-0 thrashing of Olympiacos), the veteran is no longer a dependable option against a team who just completed 1000 passes in their last game. The other option would see either Fellaini or Fletcher coming in, and the latter would surely be a more sensible choice considering that the main responsibility would be to contain the cutting-in runs of Ribery and Robben.