In the highly anticipated UEFA Champions League continental classic, Bayern Munich secured a spot in the semi-finals by 8–2 away from FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
The Bavarians entered the game with a transparent plan. The players executed him very well and massacred Barcelona, recording one of the biggest victories in the history of the competition. Bayern showed no mercy, attacking at the last minute while keeping Luis Suarez and football legend Lionel Messi at bay for most of the match.
Victory is not just a demonstration of the remarkable individual quality of Bayern players. It is a demonstration of the tactical dominance of German football and an example of what Bayern can achieve with the right coach. In this cinema, we will read about the master plan of coach Hansi Flick, who turned the so-called “best club in the world” into a Bundesliga minnow.
Bayern Munich’s strikers and midboxers invaded the playing area with their tension and never let Barcelona settle on the ball. It was from kick-off, when Bayern won the ball moments after the initial beep.
When Barcelona played from behind, he had no response to pressure from Bayern. Marc-André ter Stegen has been forced to play long balls over Bayern strikers. Flick organized his team accordingly, so that players in the back can simply win the balls at the moment from the surface and hit Barca at halftime.
Bayern’s backpressure forced the culés to make erratic passes, backward passes or simply lose the ball pressure.
Thomas and Robert Lewandowski unleashed the fierce “press addict” from the inmates through just snatching the ball from Barcelona’s players. According to FBref, FC Bayern’s resident terminator tried 7 tackles and the Bavarian work junkie implemented 34 pressures, the team’s figures.
It is unexpected that Bayern’s first two goals were the result of their backpressure.
In particular, it amplified the rigorous effect of Flick’s pressing. He has a wonderful instinct to identify the right player to press and rate from the right angles. In the preparation of Bayern’s first goal, it was their “theft” that led to Bayern’s attack on half-time.
In the middle of the field, Barcelona’s so-called “anti-Bayern” plan jumped out the window in the face of the wrath of FC Bayern Hulk: Leon Goretzka one of the match’s notable top players. Goretzka executed highly anticipated locks and controlled to avoid Barcelona’s counterattacks on his way. The cash-to-cash profit recorded the maximum number of tackles won (2) and interceptions (4) on the team.
Hansi Flick very aware of the formula that Barcelona will play. He developed the game plan and perfectly prepared his team to exploit the flaws of Barcelona’s defence.
Barcelona opted for a narrow 4-4-2 defence configuration to prevent Bayern from playing in the spaces between defenders. In response, Bayern’s sides provided breadth and then crossed the ball in the middle where the strikers used positional play to penetrate the defense. Alternatively, Bayern strikers forced Barcelona’s defence to move to one side, creating side area on the other side.
Barcelona played with 4 midfielders but their midfield absolutely flat. The 4 midfielders moved into a unit in a straight line, leaving plenty of area where Muller and one from Lewandowski or Gnabry can simply roam between the lines.
In addition to his outdoor frames with the ball, he wreaked havoc on Barcelona’s defence with his fast play and accurate decision-making in a split second. He made thirteen passes under pressure, five in the penalty shootout and 7 (!) That resulted in one shot, all being the best numbers for the team.
As mentioned above, Bayern have occasionally tried to win the ball and attack in quick transitions. He and Lewandowski were well aware of the area created on the ground. Whenever Bayern had the opportunity to launch a counterattack, the dynamic duo exploited the space behind the sides of Barcelona.
Once again, Bayern’s defensive top line took advantage of the attack of the rivals, this time composed by Luis Suarez and Leonel Messi.
Suarez ran backwards and around the defensive line that they went remarkably to those he made in the 2015 semi-finals.
But is the top line a blatant weakness of Flicki-Flacka, Hansi Flick’s typical configuration?
Not necessarily.
First of all, Bayern’s taste of counterattack is different from that of Real Madrid. Real Madrid opted for a classic approach, in which he introduced attacks at lightning speed after winning the ball in the field of attack.
In contrast, Bayern use the counterpressure to win the ball in the third attack position or midfield, and then move the opposition into a volatile state. To do this, the top line becomes a necessity to close the entire area available to opposition players on the field.
Secondly, the first line is the explanation for why Bayern disabled Messi for most of the match. As the footballers indicated in their pre-match interviews, protecting the opposite of La Pulga would not be the paintings of one player, yet of all.
Due to the short distance between the players, the team was able to score in greater numbers, interrupting the vertical service for the Azulgrana strikers, and then defended together each time Messi won the ball. As a result, Hansi Flick’s team limited Barcelona to a slow-loading distance of 976 meters and dispossessed Messi 4 times.
Flick also used off-game traps and adopted the classic technique of asking his players to temporarily catch the ball.
Bayern Munich performed one of the most dominant and terrifying performances in football history. By winning 8-2 in a singles match, Bayern veterans took revenge on their European rivals for the 2015 semi-final defeat.
Once again, the Incredibly smart Bayern Board decision-making in the moving window has paid off. Goretzka, who joined Bayern as a flexible agent, beat Dutch sensation Frankie De Jong by 75 million euros. Overall, the team delivered exemplary functionality of German taste for football, in honor of their coach Hansi Flick.
With all The Spanish groups eliminated, the Red Team of the Farmers League is potentially facing a much more powerful challenge in the semi-finals. However, if there is one thing we have learned from the matches between Chelsea FC and Barcelona, it is that Flick’s men will be able to face any challenge.
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