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Real Madrid Vs Barcelona - A Tactical Analysis As Jose Mourinho's Men Prepare For Yet Another Attempt To Dethrone Barca
Goal.com's Debjit Lahiri analyzes the two heavyweights as they prepare for yet another 'El Clásico', this time in Spain's premier cup competition...
17-Jan-2012 9:45:00 PM
Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid - Pep Guardiola, Barcelona
ANALYSIS
By Debjit Lahiri
Barcelona's Daniel Garcia powers his way through the Chelsea defense and scores in the dying minutes of a decisive Champions League second leg encounter at the Nou Camp, to prevent what could have been one of the major upsets of the season. Back in the Barca dug-out, a man in his mid 30s; and assistant to the more illustrious Louis Van Gaal, is one the first to come out and dance around the touch-line; celebrating the massive goal.
Little did one know then, just around 11 years to that fateful European night, the low profile 'assistant' would be back; back preparing for yet another assault to overthrow the legacy of the very team he had danced for in that night. Jose Mourinho's rise as a football manager over the last decade has been one of the most fascinating leap to stardom and glory.
His shrewd yet tactical approach made him one of the best in the business and ever since then the one thing that has always been common in all his tenures with different clubs over the years has been his intense rivalry with Barcelona.
Comin' Back Atcha!! | Jose Mourinho Will Try Once More To Dethrone Barcelona
In fact he did manage a considerable amount of success with Chelsea and later with Inter Milan against the Catalans, and when the 47 year old eventually took over as the head coach of arch rivals Real Madrid, one felt that the final nail in the coffin would be just a matter of time. Yet surprisingly, despite all his past records, his endless efforts to over-power Barcelona and elevate Real to the peak of Spanish football has failed with disastrous results, barring a lone success in the Copa Del Rey.
Barcelona, under the able guidance of Pep Guardiola, has coped up with almost everything that has been thrown out at them and have further fortified their strong-hold over their arch rivals. And although, they still trail by five points in the La Liga this time around, one may assume that the all important bragging rights are still very much with the Catalans.
So, as these two heavyweights once again face off this Wednesday, in Spain's premier Cup competition (mind you! This is the only tournament where Mourinho's Madrid has had one over Barca), the stakes are higher than never before!
Barcelona's accurate passing and indisputable fluidity, makes them one of the toughest opponents to play against. Mourinho, both during his days at Chelsea and Inter Milan, had mostly resorted to a traditional 'Catenaccio' formation in the encounters against Barcelona; soaking down every possible attack; and hitting the opponent hard in counterattack with breath-taking pace.
A style which was perfectly demonstrated in the Champions league semi-final first leg between Inter Milan and Barcelona at the San Siro couple of seasons back; with the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o tormenting the Barcelona defense with swift attacks on breaks. To an extent, Guus Hiddink's Chelsea side had displayed a somewhat similar approach a year back at the same stage against the Catalans, and had quite nearly achieved the same result.
Soak The Pressure & Counter-Attack | Mourinho's Ploys Worked Well With Inter
Nevertheless, results weren't as fruitful as in the past during Mourinho's first season in-charge of Real, with this very approach seemingly not matching the strengths of the 'attack-minded' team. What it turned out in the end was more of "How to stop Barca from winning?" rather than "How to win against Barca?" and thus quite understandably the end outcome was nothing short of disastrous.
However, it has often been said that it is Mourinho's 'second season' that turns out to be the most lethal and it almost proved the nemesis for Barcelona when they faced them in the league a month back.
Having had learnt from his mistakes, the Portuguese decided to do away with the previous approach and resorted to a more 'pressing game' rather than be content in soaking down the pressure. And it bore an instant result as Barcelona tried to play out from the defense in the first 30 seconds of the match, only to gift possession to Karim Benzema, who slotted the ball home.
Yes, Barcelona did go on to win on the night, but it took a lacklustre Cristiano Ronaldo, a piece of tactical genius from Guardiola and a high-flying Lionel Messi to turn the tide in the latter stages of the match.
Perhaps little tactical errors such as the use of Mesut Ozil in the centre of the park, at the end played as a spoilsport to what was a perfect outline to get past Barca. The German, despite seeing a lot of the ball, neither made good use of it nor managed to congest the midfield with his presence.
In another improvisation, Guardiola moved Sergio Busquets to centre-back, allowing right-back Dani Alves to play further up the field, which in the end proved quite effective. It virtually converted the system into a 4-4-1-1 formation rather than the more traditional 4-3-2-1, enabling Barca to be a front runner in the midfield battle.
The Champions now no longer need to tinker with the setup they had already used. David Villa's injury means Guardiola would play Alexis Sanchez in a false 9 position. Their sole aim will be to make diagonal as well as forward runs (as shown in the figure), so as to keep both the centre-backs occupied,while the likes Messi and Cesc Fabregas could orchestrate their attacking exploits.
Xavi Hernandez should have a dependable presence in the midfield while Andres Iniesta may play a more wider role to put further pressure on Madrid's already weakened full back slots.
Guardiola generally prefers Jose Manuel Pinto at goal in cup matches but given the magnitude of the occasion, he may well be persuaded to play a more dependable Victor Valdes.
For Mourinho too, the equation is more or less the same. The pressing game should stay intact and two formidable presence in the midfield along with Xabi Alonso would only help.
However, Ozil was fantastic in the last match against Mallorca and his inclusion, ahead of the likes of Kaka and Nuri Sahin, wouldn't surprise anyone. One must note here that Alonso has a key role in keeping Xavi, who is virtually the opponent's engine, at check. It is imperative to understand that the only way to nullify Barcelona is to choke up the midfield.
The Portuguese, who is not much known for his defensive abilities, was seemingly over-loaded and over-worked with the attacking prowess of Barca, the last time these two sides met. He was no less than an accident waiting to happen, with the dual threat of an advancedly positioned Sanchez and the deep playing wide player Iniesta, causing him more than a few troubles.
This should surely play in the mind of Mourinho, and he might well make an adjustment shifting Diarra to right back and thus playing Coentrao in the midfield.
Follow Debjit Lahiri on
Do You Agree With Our Analysis? What Do You Think Should Be The Ploy Of The Two Teams? Give In Your Views...
By Debjit Lahiri
Barcelona's Daniel Garcia powers his way through the Chelsea defense and scores in the dying minutes of a decisive Champions League second leg encounter at the Nou Camp, to prevent what could have been one of the major upsets of the season. Back in the Barca dug-out, a man in his mid 30s; and assistant to the more illustrious Louis Van Gaal, is one the first to come out and dance around the touch-line; celebrating the massive goal.
Little did one know then, just around 11 years to that fateful European night, the low profile 'assistant' would be back; back preparing for yet another assault to overthrow the legacy of the very team he had danced for in that night. Jose Mourinho's rise as a football manager over the last decade has been one of the most fascinating leap to stardom and glory.
His shrewd yet tactical approach made him one of the best in the business and ever since then the one thing that has always been common in all his tenures with different clubs over the years has been his intense rivalry with Barcelona.
In fact he did manage a considerable amount of success with Chelsea and later with Inter Milan against the Catalans, and when the 47 year old eventually took over as the head coach of arch rivals Real Madrid, one felt that the final nail in the coffin would be just a matter of time. Yet surprisingly, despite all his past records, his endless efforts to over-power Barcelona and elevate Real to the peak of Spanish football has failed with disastrous results, barring a lone success in the Copa Del Rey.
Barcelona, under the able guidance of Pep Guardiola, has coped up with almost everything that has been thrown out at them and have further fortified their strong-hold over their arch rivals. And although, they still trail by five points in the La Liga this time around, one may assume that the all important bragging rights are still very much with the Catalans.
So, as these two heavyweights once again face off this Wednesday, in Spain's premier Cup competition (mind you! This is the only tournament where Mourinho's Madrid has had one over Barca), the stakes are higher than never before!
Barcelona's accurate passing and indisputable fluidity, makes them one of the toughest opponents to play against. Mourinho, both during his days at Chelsea and Inter Milan, had mostly resorted to a traditional 'Catenaccio' formation in the encounters against Barcelona; soaking down every possible attack; and hitting the opponent hard in counterattack with breath-taking pace.
A style which was perfectly demonstrated in the Champions league semi-final first leg between Inter Milan and Barcelona at the San Siro couple of seasons back; with the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o tormenting the Barcelona defense with swift attacks on breaks. To an extent, Guus Hiddink's Chelsea side had displayed a somewhat similar approach a year back at the same stage against the Catalans, and had quite nearly achieved the same result.
Nevertheless, results weren't as fruitful as in the past during Mourinho's first season in-charge of Real, with this very approach seemingly not matching the strengths of the 'attack-minded' team. What it turned out in the end was more of "How to stop Barca from winning?" rather than "How to win against Barca?" and thus quite understandably the end outcome was nothing short of disastrous.
However, it has often been said that it is Mourinho's 'second season' that turns out to be the most lethal and it almost proved the nemesis for Barcelona when they faced them in the league a month back.
Having had learnt from his mistakes, the Portuguese decided to do away with the previous approach and resorted to a more 'pressing game' rather than be content in soaking down the pressure. And it bore an instant result as Barcelona tried to play out from the defense in the first 30 seconds of the match, only to gift possession to Karim Benzema, who slotted the ball home.
Yes, Barcelona did go on to win on the night, but it took a lacklustre Cristiano Ronaldo, a piece of tactical genius from Guardiola and a high-flying Lionel Messi to turn the tide in the latter stages of the match.
Perhaps little tactical errors such as the use of Mesut Ozil in the centre of the park, at the end played as a spoilsport to what was a perfect outline to get past Barca. The German, despite seeing a lot of the ball, neither made good use of it nor managed to congest the midfield with his presence.
Guardiola was quick to realize this loop-hole and he ensured Messi would play from a lot deeper position. That allowed him to distance himself from the towering centre-backs and add more pressure on the already struggling Ozil. Quite understandably, the defensive threat from Ozil was minimal to the Argentine and he could then easily control the flow of the game.
| BARCELONA POSSIBLE FORMATION |
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In another improvisation, Guardiola moved Sergio Busquets to centre-back, allowing right-back Dani Alves to play further up the field, which in the end proved quite effective. It virtually converted the system into a 4-4-1-1 formation rather than the more traditional 4-3-2-1, enabling Barca to be a front runner in the midfield battle.
The Champions now no longer need to tinker with the setup they had already used. David Villa's injury means Guardiola would play Alexis Sanchez in a false 9 position. Their sole aim will be to make diagonal as well as forward runs (as shown in the figure), so as to keep both the centre-backs occupied,while the likes Messi and Cesc Fabregas could orchestrate their attacking exploits.
Xavi Hernandez should have a dependable presence in the midfield while Andres Iniesta may play a more wider role to put further pressure on Madrid's already weakened full back slots.
Guardiola generally prefers Jose Manuel Pinto at goal in cup matches but given the magnitude of the occasion, he may well be persuaded to play a more dependable Victor Valdes.
For Mourinho too, the equation is more or less the same. The pressing game should stay intact and two formidable presence in the midfield along with Xabi Alonso would only help.
However, Ozil was fantastic in the last match against Mallorca and his inclusion, ahead of the likes of Kaka and Nuri Sahin, wouldn't surprise anyone. One must note here that Alonso has a key role in keeping Xavi, who is virtually the opponent's engine, at check. It is imperative to understand that the only way to nullify Barcelona is to choke up the midfield.
Angel Di Maria and Ronaldo should be playing in either wings and unlike the last El Clasico, both will be hoping to provide better end products. Upfront, it has to be a lottery between Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema. In the second half of the match, Mourinho had interchanged the wings, playing Ronaldo in the right, but the move did not quite prove effective as the star man remained more or less a peripheral figure as he was in the first half.
It is unlikely that the manager will again deploy the same and hence both Di Maria and Ronaldo should start in their usual positions, i.e. right and left wing respectively. There has been few reports on Di Maria having received a knock, which may rule him out of the match. Well, in that case, one of the possible options is to play Benzema slightly out wide with Higuain at the centre. The impressive Jose Callejon could also play this 'Benzema' role.
Real would have liked Sergio Ramos at right back but the injury to Ricardo Carvalho means he has to remain in the centre back slot. He will be partnered by Pepe, who despite being considered by many as a solid no non-sense defender, has had a dismal record in 'El Clasico'-s.
It has often been his recklessness that has left his team in more than a spot of bother and it remains to be seen how he approaches this particular fixture this time around. On a different note, the Portuguese might well be employed as a defensive midfielder too.
In the Copa Del rey Final encounter last season, it was Pepe who was instrumental in checking the threat of Xavi and Messi. He, infact, played in a more advanced position, higher up than even Alonso. When the roles were reversed in the Champions League encounter at the Bernebeu, Pepe played just in front of the back four and was red carded!
In some latest developments, however, there is a shadow of doubt over his availability due to a minor thigh injury, but it is expected he would be fit anyway.
Alvaro Arbeloa's failure to get his red card over-turned could therefore see Fabio Coentrao filling in the right.
It is unlikely that the manager will again deploy the same and hence both Di Maria and Ronaldo should start in their usual positions, i.e. right and left wing respectively. There has been few reports on Di Maria having received a knock, which may rule him out of the match. Well, in that case, one of the possible options is to play Benzema slightly out wide with Higuain at the centre. The impressive Jose Callejon could also play this 'Benzema' role.
| REAL MADRID POSSIBLE FORMATION |
 |
Real would have liked Sergio Ramos at right back but the injury to Ricardo Carvalho means he has to remain in the centre back slot. He will be partnered by Pepe, who despite being considered by many as a solid no non-sense defender, has had a dismal record in 'El Clasico'-s.
It has often been his recklessness that has left his team in more than a spot of bother and it remains to be seen how he approaches this particular fixture this time around. On a different note, the Portuguese might well be employed as a defensive midfielder too.
In the Copa Del rey Final encounter last season, it was Pepe who was instrumental in checking the threat of Xavi and Messi. He, infact, played in a more advanced position, higher up than even Alonso. When the roles were reversed in the Champions League encounter at the Bernebeu, Pepe played just in front of the back four and was red carded!
In some latest developments, however, there is a shadow of doubt over his availability due to a minor thigh injury, but it is expected he would be fit anyway.
Alvaro Arbeloa's failure to get his red card over-turned could therefore see Fabio Coentrao filling in the right.
This should surely play in the mind of Mourinho, and he might well make an adjustment shifting Diarra to right back and thus playing Coentrao in the midfield.
Follow Debjit Lahiri on
Do You Agree With Our Analysis? What Do You Think Should Be The Ploy Of The Two Teams? Give In Your Views...
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Goal.com Poll
Poll runs from 16-Jan-2012 to 18-Jan-2012
Poll runs from 16-Jan-2012 to 18-Jan-2012
Can Barcelona Beat Real Madrid At The Bernebeu Again?
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