Pep Guardiola’s early tactical shift meets its match in Lionel Messi
|
Version 0 of 1. The mystique of Pep Guardiola is quite amazing: here, his team were battered in the opening 15 minutes, were completely open at the back, forced to depend upon Manuel Neuer’s heroics to stay level and entirely changed their system to cope. Yet it still felt like this was his intention all along, to trick Barcelona into thinking they were playing against one system, then hitting them with another. Guardiola has done something similar in his Barcelona days, switching from a four-man defence to a three-man backline successfully for a 3-1 win at the Bernabéu in 2011, later confirming it was essentially a ruse. Here, however, the plan almost backfired immediately. Guardiola always demands pressing, especially in big matches, but here he was essentially asking his players to man-mark Barcelona all across the pitch. This broadly worked in midfield but meant Bayern were exposed at the back: Medhi Benatia was up against Neymar, Jérôme Boateng faced Luis Suárez – and, most worryingly of all, regular right-back Rafinha was deployed on the left of a three-man defence against Lionel Messi. Related: Barcelona 3-0 Bayern Munich | Champions League semi-final first leg match report Bayern prevented Barcelona playing out from defence effectively but when the home side were able to bypass the pressure they found oceans of space in behind. Suárez was the initial threat, going to ground under a clumsy Boateng tackle inside the penalty box and then wasting an opportunity after Messi headed on a long ball. After around 15 minutes, Guardiola changed: Rafinha moved to his customary right-back position, Juan Bernat dropped into left-back, and Bayern now played in a 4-3-1-2 system. Perhaps it was Guardiola reacting desperately to prevent the Barcelona onslaught but there were no panicked hand gestures from the dugout, no quizzical looks between players. They all shuffled across into their new positions instinctively, suggesting Guardiola had always intended to switch formation. Immediately, the game completely changed – there wasn’t such intense man-marking in midfield, there was more of a defined pattern to the proceedings. When Neymar or Messi tried to dribble past their opponent, there was usually an extra defender on hand to sweep up. Barcelona were generally on top, however, and started to create chances when pushing the full-backs forward. Jordi Alba overlapped energetically down the left and was picked out by a couple of excellent diagonal passes, stretching Bayern laterally. On the opposite flank, Daniel Alves played a similar role, and nearly opened the scoring when racing on to a superb Andrés Iniesta chipped pass. Guardiola responded by asking his forwards, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller, to play wider, making it more dangerous for Alba and Alves to advance. At one point midway through the second half, despite the game being played at breakneck pace throughout, it felt like a stalemate – neither team could find sufficient space to create, especially compared to the frantic opening minutes. Bayern, if anything, seemed in control. Guardiola’s starting approach was all about pressing, but it was the home side’s pressure that upped the tempo in the closing stages. They started to regain possession higher up the pitch, with Ivan Rakitic winning possession in the opposition third for a Neymar chance, and then, crucially, Alves shutting down Bernat to win the ball for Messi’s stunning long-range opener. When Messi received the ball it was the first time he had enjoyed genuine space. Related: Pep Guardiola returns to Barcelona and finds little has changed | Jacob Steinberg Bernat was arguably culpable for Messi’s sublime second, too, with the Argentinian finding space behind him before bamboozling Boateng en route to goal. Messi then assisted Neymar’s goal, which surely killed the tie, and it was tough to escape the conclusion that, whatever the tactical decisions of the managers, Messi decided the game. Nevertheless, the difference in tempo from the first 15 minutes, and the rest of the game, showed how crucial systems can be – it was only surprising Barça’s forwards won the game in the final 15 minutes, rather than the first 15. |