Three Xavi games, three different defenses. Barça adapts to the rival to protect itself while trying to impose its style to win.
1. Two shots that jeopardized success
Two wins and a draw keep Xavi undefeated in his brief career at Barça. Just eight days. Two wins and a draw that could have been two losses and a draw. The technician’s priority is for the team to take flight, if it can be with the model that he brings with him. The results have been positive, but could have been negative. Starting with the derby, when he lined up a conventional four defense. It was not even noticeable that Òscar Mingueza out the right back, of so many times that he played in that demarcation with Koeman.
Not a hurry happened to Barça during two thirds of the game. But Espanyol had chances to draw or even win. Dimata and De Tomás they headed alone in the area in the final five minutes. De Tomás launched a free-kick that brushed the stick and kicked out on another clear occasion.
The Mingueza-Piqué interval It was the weak zone of the defense and that is why De Tomás stood there, heeling towards the left wing of his attack.
The clearly visible problems of Barça began when Espanyol withdrew David López and stretched the team, but, above all, they began with the Barça disorder from the withdrawal of Sergio Busquets. Riqui Puig entered for the captain and De Jong went to the center of the field. Possession of the ball was also lost and Espanyol threatened the premiere of the Xavi era.
2. A choice for the physique of the rivals
Two ideas prevailed on Xavi’s head before the duel against Benfica. One was fundamental: the victory It provided the pass to the second round and saved many days of anguish and the serious danger of not beating Bayern in Munich. That is why he devised the most offensive scheme possible.
The path consisted of keeping Benfica in their midfield, thus deactivating the other Portuguese virtue that worried the coach: the physical capacity of the forwards. And he opposed physical, giving entrance to Araujo and Lenglet to contain Rafa Silva, Yaremchuk and Everton (the surprise, since Darwin Núñez was expected). Then came in Seferovic, author of the most serious ruling “in 30 years” as confessed Jorge Jesús, the coach of Benfica.
It was a counterattack of two against one (Eric) when Barça desperately sought the goal that would break the 0-0. The numbers proved that the formula worked. Barça finished 14 times, twice that of Benfica (7). But there were only three well-targeted shots from each team. The defect was in the lead.
3. A defense hybrid that bordered on tragedy
Xavi recognized that Barça had had “a pinch of luck”. The scoreboard was misleading. “Villarreal did not deserve to lose”, he admitted, while Unai Emery’s speech affected the referee’s mistakes. He did not speak of the mistakes of Barça, which there were also. And more.
The return to the defense of four was a hybrid of the previous two because it was intended to be of three and that Alba could stretch more. The one who stretched was Eric leaving his area harassing Moi Gómez. The center-back was a right-back and had a bad night that began with a catastrophic back pass that gave Danjuma and caused the controversial penalty.
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Moi Gómez took Eric on an excursion, causing that area of the field that they were to occupy to be empty. Araujo was assigned to watch over Danjuma, and Jordi Alba was paired with Yeremi Pino. The invaluable free space was at the disposal of Danjuma to go find a ball, or for Pedraza, who deepened and forced Abde to chase him. That duel, between a defender attacking or a forward defending, was won by Pedraza, while Moi continued to distract Eric.
Lenglet warmed up when Piqué and Alba were injured, but ended up entering Mingueza, the central room, as a left back. He had a bad time again and was in the photo of the goal, unable to close the chain of errors that was concatenated.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com