When Barcelona can not run

Yesterday 11th February 2015, FC Barcelona won 3-1 vs Villarreal for the first leg of Spanish King's cup semifinal.

Unlike the last games when the culés could run and enjoy counterattacking, this time there was no space to take advantage from. Let's have a look a what happened.

1) FC Barcelona played 4-3-3, with Messi mostly on the right flank.

2) But as usual, Messi moved often from the flank to get in the center, behind Suárez.
Barça then formed an asymetrical 4-3-3, even though Rafinha sometimes filled the void.


3) Villarreal played a flat and compact 4-4-2 when defending.
They positionned themselves low on the pitch.
Their goal was to shut all internal spaces and not allow the azulgranas to run.


4) The "yellow submarine" did not hesitate to use the forwards to defend low, as Gio on this picture.



5) The plan was to be really compact and counterattack quickly.
They used mainly Cheryshev on the left wing, who is very fast, together with Vietto and Gio.
Alves did help during transitions. But above all Mascherano did an excellent work at cutting numerous counterattacks.



6) Villarreal defended very well on the sides, moving their block with great harmony.

For Neymar, there was one defender on him, one behind that defender, and a third one in case Ney could dribble along the touchline.



For Messi, Villarreal left the flank empty but put 2 players behind Cheryshev to prevent Leo from cutting inside.


Therefore Villarreal did not suffer that much from take-ons on the sides.

7) Barcelona could not move their opponent compact block. The ball was not going quick enough from one flank to the other, so Marceliño's team was not suprised.
Besides, the ones from Luis Enrique did not play between Villarreal lines.
There was no play inside, so all the balls went to the flanks for Messi and Ney to dribble.



8) Since the plan was not working very well, Messi, Suárez and Neymar tried several times to combine in the very center. Despite their magnificient technique (maybe not the Uruguayan), it was so crowded that it was very difficult to succeed.



10) The game ended 3-1, Neymar having missed a penalty.
Although it was not the impressive Barcelona we saw in Bilbao, this is a very good result for the second leg.

We could see that the main part of the culés plan depends massively on the ability of their wingers, having the responsability to create from nothing.
They are sufficiently talented to achieve it.
But will it be enough for the great nights of the Champions League ?

11th February 2015.
Camp Nou.
1st leg of semifinal of Spanish King's Cup
FC Barcelona 3 - 1 Villarreal (Messi min.40, Trigueros min.48, Iniesta min.49, Piqué min.64)