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This will be the game that will separate the men from boys. In the first leg of the semi-finals, the dominant side of European football Barcelona got thrashed 4-0 by Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday morning.
A couple days before the game, Barcelona’s Dani Alves talked about their upcoming game against Bayern.
“It is a tough but thrilling challenge. We face a European giant, and once again football sets us before the chance to prove that we deserve to play the final,” he said.
Now the question is, does Barcelona deserve its popular image as the best team in the world?
If so, it will have to prove itself in the next game.
This is their biggest defeat since 1997. The second leg of the semi-finals to be held next week, when they face Bayern again, will determine whether their home ground advantage can enable them to overcome Bayern’s strength
Last Wednesday game was definitely testing for both teams but it was Bayern’s strong attacking tactic from Ribery, Muller, Robben and Gomez that gave them the result in the end.
After the game, Robben said they were quite confident that the result would be coming their way.
“We knew we were able to give them a good competition,” Robben said. “This team has dominated Europe over the last five years and if you beat them like this, I think you can be proud,” Robben concluded.
In order to defeat Bayern next week, Barcelona will need to score at least 5 goals. Hopefully Messi will be able to perform for Barcelona this time, as he didn’t seem to be on top of his game on Wednesday morning due to injuries.
It will be very interesting to see what Guardiola’s selection for the second game will be. The return of David Villa, who always links well with Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, will create goal-scoring opportunities.
Another factor to look at is Victor Valdez’s recent underachieving performance. Was this the reason why Bayern managed to score so many goals or does the responsibility for the loss lie with the defenders Pique, Alaba, Alves and Bartra?
Maybe Bayern is just really that good with their attacking play?
After their convincing win against Barcelona, it is safe to predict that Bayern’s line-up for the second round of the semi-finals will stay the same.
Bayern does not focus on holding position, preferring the offensive approach. Interestingly Guardiola early this year, announced his transfer to Bayern at the end of the season.
It will be very intriguing to see how he will work with Bayern given that Barcelona has a completely different style of play. Should Bayern win the title, will Guardiola be able to sustain their success?
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