Ticket for the final

Yesterday 4th March 2015, FC Barcelona won 1-3 at El Madrigal against Villarreal for the 2nd leg of the Spanish Cup semifinal.
Luis Enrique's team qualified for their first final, to be played next 30th May against Athletic Club.
The game was different from the first leg, where Villarreal sat very deep and waited for the culés.
1) Villarreal used a flat 4-4-2 positionned quite high on the pitch.


2) FC Barcelona tried to use the space at the back of the "Submarino" defence. 
They passed the ball to the side, and then attacked the space in the center. 


3) Messi stayed wide on the right wing. 
He had several opportunities to look for his special pass to the back of the defence.

4) The culés  tried to recover the ball high when Villarreal built from the back. 


5) FC Barcelona had troubles defending in their own half.
This is not the first time this concern shows up, and Villarreal knew how to take advantage of it

Sometimes - not always, though - the 3 forwards do not help much in defence. It seems reasonable to not waste a superstar in defending, but three of them at the same time is difficult to afford.


6) The space between the midfield and defence is not well covered. 
The azulgranas only have Busquets in that zone.
The yellow forwards knew that they could gain a huge advantage there. 
The looked for his back, dropped to receive and oriented the game.





7) Villarreal's goal was very interesting.

a-They got the positionnal superiority between the lines.
b-They opened to the flank because they are very wide.
c-They took advantage of the no-return of the Barça forwards - although it seems difficult to ask Neymar to follow Dos Santos on that action.



 




Game finally ended 1-3, same as first leg, and FC Barcelona goes to the Spanish Cup final.
But the match shows that there is still work to do in positional defence. 

4th March 2015.
El Madrigal.
2nd leg of Spanish Cup semifinal.
Villarreal 1 - 3 FC Barcelona (Neymar min.3, Dos Santos min.39, Pina sent off min.65, Suárez min.73, Neymar min.87)

Just for fun:
They say about Neuer, but we have Ter Stegen.
;-)



Header picture via @Emenderk