A dominant Barcelona won as circumstances nullified Valverde's tactics
Prologue -
This clash was about two big clubs sailing in the same boat. Both FC Barcelona and Dortmund had wonderful talents, who were suffering at the hands of inflexible coaches. While Dortmund’s results reflected their poor state of affairs, Barcelona’s current position in all competitions were totally misleading for a struggling team.
Team selections:
For this crucial clash - Barca did not have a number of regulars like Jordi Alba, & Semedo (due to injury), Pique (due to suspension) and Arthur Melo (for some baffling technical reason). Hence Valverde was forced to play a new set of players together in the game. Umtiti, Firpo, Roberto and Lenglet formed the back four in defense.
Rakitic got a rare start while De Jong and Busquets formed the rest of the midfield.
Unlike the league game against Leganes, Dembele was selected ahead of Griezmann. Luis and Leo were the other two attacking options.
Meanwhile for Dortmund, coach Favre left out the in-form Sancho (due to lack of focus!).
Match Summary:
It was a disastrous start for Barca, when Rakitic gave away the ball in the very first minute of the game that led to a dangerous attack. But thanks to the ever dependable Ter Stegen, who came up with a terrific double save and the last ditch efforts of Umtiti, Barcelona averted the danger. From then on, there was an unexpected turnaround in attitude and play from Barca.
Dembele’s pace was causing problems to the high line defense of Dortmund. Similarly a calm De Jong worked doubly hard and dictated play in the mid field. Busquets, despite winning the ball several times misplaced a number of passes. But Rakitic was impeccable after the early hiccup.
Umtiti recovered well after the initial scramble, while Firpo grew in confidence as the game progressed. Roberto did everything possible to keep the ball and was an eager ally when going forward. Lenglet, was forced back to return, despite not being fully fit and it showed in his performance. Though he struggled, he continued manfully and did okay.
The momentum was clearly with Barca as they zoomed forward with confidence. There was speed and purpose in Barca’s attacks. Roberto and Firpo on the flanks, tracked forward linking well with Dembele, De Jong, Rakitic and Messi.
A motivated and energetic Messi had alarm bells ringing among the opposition and was all over the Dortmund defense, linking well with the likes of Roberto and De Jong and providing inch perfect passes from deep.
The constant pressure up front forced mistakes from the Dortmund players. At times almost 9 of the BVB players were pinned into defensive positions leaving them with very less to counter . Suarez passed the ball to Messi who dribbled past Hummels and gave it back to Suarez who scored. But VAR rightly ruled it as offside.
Unfortunately (or was it?) Dembele had to be subbed off due to injury and Griezmann came in his place. Despite the set back, the momentum was with Barca. Soon De Jong found Suarez from deep and Suarez teed it off to Messi. Messi’s lovely return pass was slotted home by Saurez, through the legs of the goalkeeper Burki. Barca led 1–0.
In a few minutes Hummels came up with a howler that provided an easy opportunity for Messi who was on target, after having a quick one-two with Suarez. Barca were up 2–0. The first half ended with the La Liga Champions in total control.
In the 2nd half, the misfiring Schulz was replaced by Sancho by Favre. Valverde held back his remaining two substitutions. Messi managed a great cross to Griezmann whose shot was saved by the goalkeeper. In the meantime Messi also received a yellow card for a dive in the penalty box.
Later the same diminutive guy rose the highest, much to the shock of the lurking defender, to head a cross from Roberto. But it missed its mark narrowly. Once again De Jong threaded the ball to Messi, who did wonderfully well to create a sweet pass to the darting Griezmann on the left. For once the Frenchman was at the right spot at the right time and this time he did not make any mistake. Barcelona were up 3–0.
Later Roberto earned a free-kick for Barca. Messi took it, from a wide angle on the right, and luckily for Dortmund, the ball came off the crossbar. Barca’s pace dropped and there was not much action as both teams moved the ball around. Rakitic, De Jong and Roberto were tiring as Dortmund managed to take the ball away from them. Still there was no sign of any substitution for Barca.
Finally Sancho scored for Dortmund through a fantastic strike to make it 3–1. Dortmund attacked with more vigour as Barcelona switched off. Vidal came in for Rakitic (!). Sancho continued to threaten and had another effort saved by Ter Stegen, who palmed it away and it came off the bar.
Towards the fag end of the game, Wague made his Champions League debut, coming in for Suarez. The game ended with Barcelona wining 3–1.
Analysis:
This was a disaster class from Farve for Dortmund whose team selection left much to be desired. By leaving out Sancho and Hazard, he played right into the hands of Barca. Despite the so called problems, it was the substitute Sancho who injected the much needed spark into the Dortmund attacks in the 2nd half. His exclusion was a huge mistake. Dortmund's defense was slow to react many times. Hummels especially was very poor and had a forgettable night.
Unlike Favre, destiny favoured the equally moronic Valverde. The forced inclusions and substitutions worked favorably for Barca. Once again, Valverde was insistent on putting Busquets and De Jong together, despite the strategy not bearing any good results till date. Not including Arthur in the team was another absurd decision (unless something else is brewing behind the scenes, in this regard).
Ter Stegen was superlative and was on hand to make some great saves that kept his team in the game, whenever Dortmund put the new look defense under pressure.
Though a defensive Dortmund did not threaten much, Lenglet, Umtiti, Roberto and Firpo stuck to their guns and did much better than expected. Junior Firpo was a revelation especially in attacks from the left. He looked a good candidate to replace Alba. Sergi was effective on the right. Messi has a unique understanding with Roberto and he trusts him a lot when it comes to attacks from the right.
A casual Busquets wavered between okay and bad. But the brilliant De Jong and Rakitic worked extra hard to keep the mid field under control with Roberto assisting whenever possible. The calm and composed De Jong was the best player in the midfield, by a mile.
At the start, it looked like a disaster in the making for both Barca and Rakitic. Pleasantly enough, the resilient Croat brushed off the bad start and came up with an assured, top notch performance for the rest of the match.
Dembele despite his pace and finding spaces upfront, was totally unpredictable. As expected he was wayward and indecisive leading to nothing solid, from waves of attacks from the left. Sadly, his injury saga continues, making things worse for the young player. His early substitution proved to be a blessing in disguise for Barcelona.
With not much defensive duties weighing him down, it was wonderful to see Griezmann linking up well, from the left, with Messi and Suarez. For the first time, he was more involved in the attacks and he was rightly rewarded with his first UCL goal in Barcelona colors.
As always was the case, Suarez was a nuisance making dangerous runs from the middle and never giving the Dortmund defenders a minute of peace. His perfect understanding with Messi was visible in the first two goals. It was Messi to Suarez for the 1st and then Suarez to Messi for the 2nd. Things looked pretty simple when these two were into their telepathic mode.
Now about that bearded, little guy, who took the Camp Nou by storm with his enthralling performance. He danced down the park regularly and left Dortmund dizzy. Messi was just being Messi - insane, beautiful, cute, intelligent and delightful. He constantly kept running at the opposition leaving them light headed and frustrated. At times the magician was reaching indescribable levels. (How blessed are we to witness this crazy magic!)
Though I am not a person who looks too much into a player's statistics, there were a few Messi stats in this match, that caught my attention. This was Messi’s 700th game for FC Barcelona and he left his indelible mark on the match with an excellent finish (his 613th goal for Barca), created 4 tremendous chances and two remarkable assists (which totals to an astounding 237 now). Dribbling like a man possessed, Messi completed 10 take-ons which was more than what the entire team of Dortmund managed in the match. He has now scored against a record 34 opponents in Champions League.
Lionel Messi was extraordinary on a night when his team looked in much better shape and played tenaciously. Except for the first few minutes and the last 15 minutes it looked more like the FC Barcelona that we were used to.
While Dortmund paid for Farve’s poor tactics, fortunately for Barcelona, Valverde was forced, by circumstances, to do things that he would not have experimented with, otherwise. Still, his tendency to delay the substitutions and his stubbornness in selecting the same ineffective players to play together, to prove his point, almost cost Barcelona. Luckily the players managed to hold on to secure an emphatic win that ensured their qualification into the UCL play offs.
It was an encouraging performance that ended in a morale boosting win for Barcelona, though problems continue to exist.
There is only one wish from Barcelona's fans like me - may FC Barcelona be blessed with more of such circumstances that will effectively counter Valverde's game plans and allow the players to work their way out of the whirlpool created by the coach.
Finally, Griezmann and Messi hugging each other, joyously, after the 3rd goal - would remain the most enduring image of this game.
Image credits - Google Images
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