Park The Proverbial 'Bus'
If there’s one strategy that teams have used to eliminate Barcelona in the Champions League it has to be parking the bus. Inter Milan under Jose Mourinho did it and eliminated Barcelona on their way to winning the cup. A few years later, Chelsea, under Roberto De Matteo did it as well and managed to eliminate Barcelona.
In both instances, those teams parked the bus to stifle out Barcelona’s creative players and shut out Lionel Messi. In fact, in the ties where teams have parked the bus and played behind the ball, Messi really struggled to have a foothold in those games.
If Ole and his charges are to stand a chance, they should consider using the same strategy. Though, some football pundits have defined the method as anti-football, trying to out-play Barcelona usually ends up in defeat for the opposition.
Ole Gunnar has the players that can implement this strategy well and with David de Gea, they know they have a strong last line of defence.