First off all I dont think anyone realized what was really happening on the field.
Before the game, much of the talk had been about whether Madrid would press high and stop Barcelona building up transitions from the back or sit deep and shut off space in the final third. They went for the former.
What they did was when the ball was at the fullbacks Madrid press fwd via Ronaldo and Di Maria to put pressure on the Barca defenders. Now Ozil or Benzema would have pressed Pique, while the other dropped deep to stop the overload and ball going into midfield. Other thing Madrid did was by pressing the CB with the fwd and the wingers and Ozil would cut the ball going into the midfield. Real Madrid did this very well early on, making it very difficult for Barcelona to work their transitions around in defence and forcing them back. Now remeber the keyword in football is transitions. Im going to explain to you how Barca really plays. I mean if you ever watch a football match try to technically analyze it.
It becomes such a intriguing game and so more exciting once you start to look at it that way.
Barca is a position based team who likes to build up their transitions from the back. Now next time watch them carefully when they play and they go into defense. Messi goes into the centre midfield and drop between the lines. Now that lines is between the oppositions midfield and their defenders.
Now what really happens is their CB Pique and Puyol let the fwds com onto them then they will quickly press to win the ball where the loose ball will normally end up with one of the CB. Now what happens they pass it to Messi in that center midfield role he has taken up. Look at the first goal of Barca. Did you see him going through the center before setting Sanchez on his way? Now thats the position he takes up. Now reason they give it to Messi and skip the midfield like Xavi and Cesc is because they have their backs turned towards goal. Now the idea of a transition is to go from defense to attack with a free flowing motion without passing it to a midfielder or a player who is in a bad position. That is facing their own goal. So you want to go fwd plus get Xavi and Cesc turned. So they will give it to Messi who will control it from there. Either run pass to Sanchez or to a winger or play the short lay off to Xavi or Cesc who is facing the correct way now and start the link up.
In the first half this was certainly needed when in possession at the back. Because of the Barca midfield dropping deep, thereby enticing Real Madrid to press them, there was space in between the lines if the ball was moved there, often in between the full backs, wingers and defensive midfielders. With Iniesta the main player on the left for Barca and Messi and Alexis drifting around further forward, they were getting the ball out of defense and actually creating spells of possession. Towards the end of the first half, Barcelona were increasingly keeping more of the ball thanks to their quick combinations in the center and between the lines.
Now where Sepp taught Jose a lesson in tactics was in the second half. Every time Barca got the ball. Puyol moved to RB Pique CB Busquets to the other CB roll. Alves went fwd in a winger position either cutting inside when he gets the ball or linked up with Xavi. That meant that the Madrid pressing game was nullified which means Barca now had more time in the midfield to create their link up play and create overloads. That was the peace of tactic that decided the outcome in the end. Busquets moving to CB when in attack and alves bombing down the wing. The width that came from it and the option for the diagonal outball to him was important particularly as Iniesta was coming quite narrow to create overloads in the center and possible interplay, often between him and Fabregas and so there was no one wide and high up on the left for Barcelona. Messi was also allowed more space. Real Madrid in truth actually did a very good job on him thanks to some terrific tackling, most notably from Diarra. However he did play a part in two goals, finding space in front of Madrid's midfield for the first goal and slightly to the right for Barcelona's third.
The problem when facing Barcelona. If you sit deep and compact, you allow them onto you from deep, allow them to push you back and have the risk of their pressing game suffocating you. If you press high up, then there's space between the lines for players like Iniesta and Messi and their quick combinations and interchanging will open you up.
Sepp gave Jose a schooling in tactics. Jose didnt adapt didnt think he even saw what was happening. Now what if Ronaldo did there or what if he did that or Messi sent off. Thats poor excuses from people not really seeing the truth and what happened. So much pressure on Ronaldo and it showed. They really rely on him a lot. If madrid scored 2 then Barca wouldve scored 4.
Barca dont have a big squad. The reason for that is their passing game is simple in theory and looks simple on the pitch, it is far from easy to pull off. Their moves are practised for hours in training and it’s not just the possession that’s hard. Their movement is probably the best I’ve personally ever seen. Their interchanging of positions, making sure each major zone is has at least one player in it has to be done as a team and they have to work together to pull it off. This matched with their high intensity pressing game means that it takes a lot of work to fit into the team. Plus amongst all these things, you have to be good on the ball.
It is extremely difficult for new players to immediately come in and fit into their team. Caceres, Hleb, Maxwell, Chygrynskiy, Ibrahimovic, Adriano and arguably Mascherano came in for plenty of money and couldn’t have a positive impact on the team. They failed to live up to the extremely difficult style that Barcelona have and many of them were shipped out immediately after failing to impress, the main exception here being Mascherano, who after a poor started has impressed recently. Unlike most other teams, Barca can’t just go out and buy top players, in the knowledge that their squad depth will be secure. They have to be extremely clever and make sure each player has the ability required and can develop into their team
