Re: FC Barcelona - AC Milan | Tue March 12th | Champions League 2nd Leg

by The Franchise Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:28 pm

He did okay, but lets be real, our pressing saved us a heck of alot of actual defending.

Furthermore, Milan attacked his side repeatedly. Luckily, they didnt have the players to really punish it.

Superb tackle and you gotta praise his effort to make that run in the dying minutes.

by The Franchise Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:30 pm

messixaviesta wrote:So true dani. Pressing was so crucial. This was vintage Barca. The whole team had a 2010-11 feel to it with only Abidal unfortunately not being there. The formation and style of play were kind of carbon copy of Pep's great team. Even Alba was asked to curb his overly attacking instincts and play in the Abidal way as far as possible. We have rarely seen matches played in that similar a manner for the last one and a half years or so.

BTW I forgot to mention but it seems like Jordi Roura finally learnt football. Taking off Villa may not have been best but bringing Alexis with fresh legs and running was not bad. Bringing Puyol on for Mascherano because despite his age and lack of stamina would be important in reading the game correctly in the crucial last few minutes. Bringing Adriano on for Pedro was good because he is better defensively and athletically and that matters in the last few minutes. Not bringing Fabregas on was fabulous. When I saw Villa was being replaced I thought Cesc was coming on and was about to kill Roura but tonight he did his part.

I agree, all 3 subs were spot on which have been a big change from previous games. Not sure I can give him credit for the starting line up, I dont know whos responsibilty that was, but credit were it is due.

by messixaviesta Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:30 pm

The Franchise wrote:He did okay, but lets be real, our pressing saved us a heck of alot of actual defending.

Furthermore, Milan attacked his side repeatedly. Luckily, they didnt have the players to really punish it.

Superb tackle and you gotta praise his effort to make that run in the dying minutes.

Agree completely.

BTW tonight we saw XAVIESTA after what seems like an eternity.

by dream departure Tue Mar 12, 2013 6:00 pm

some brilliant comments on iniesta, couldnt agree more.

iniesta was our best defender tonight. an inspirational leader that turned milan's counters into our best attacks. just how many crucial interceptions he made.. i could not believe what i was seeing.

he saved the team from rushing back for scrappy defending, and most of all, that fear of over-committing in attack to only end up conceding. iniesta instilled confidence and belief into the team to play without fear. he was a god tonight and personified our fighting spirit.

thats what tonight was all about for me -- proving that our tiki taka midgets have got the steel in them to overturn the most unthinkable hurdles. it's magic. cos this team is by no means perfect. but i'm just stoked our players gave the performance of their lives.

by windkick Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:17 pm

Pure bliss Smile

I literally wanted to cry when Alba's goal finally sealed the deal that there would be no way back for Milan

by windkick Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:12 pm

So what did people think of Villa playing as the striker with Messi rotating around behind him as the runner, and then right wing all match? I thought it was masterful and it might be a sign of things to come going forward with out next evolution

by Donuts Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:32 pm

I don't think much of it, on the wing he didn't really create anything hence why all his goals came from the middle of his usual position, and Villa scored his from the RW.
What did work though was Pedro playing wide along with Alves.
as for marking, it gave the defenders confusion from what I saw but eventually teams will just adjust and be ready for it.
When we start with two forwards we play well when Iniesta starts on the wing and then drift to the middle with Cesc sharing the same role we suck bad.

by svt Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:41 pm

What a comeback!

For the first time in a long time I had real doubts... we were on a conceding spree and I believed for sure we would concede in our search for goals tonight and would need a 4-1 scoreline to go through.

Then the pressing came back! I haven't been so proud of our team in forever, they limited turnovers, increased pressing tenfold and remained patient making the correct plays!

Regardless of how far we go in the tournament, I'm super proud of our guys! Fantastic performance!! The difference tonight was Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Alves all showed up and put in great performances. When your 5 most important players play as a unit, it's something special!

Visca el barca!

by ronalessi Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:14 pm

Well, congrats.

by windkick Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:11 pm

Donuts wrote:I don't think much of it, on the wing he didn't really create anything hence why all his goals came from the middle of his usual position, and Villa scored his from the RW.
What did work though was Pedro playing wide along with Alves.
as for marking, it gave the defenders confusion from what I saw but eventually teams will just adjust and be ready for it.
When we start with two forwards we play well when Iniesta starts on the wing and then drift to the middle with Cesc sharing the same role we suck bad.

Not that he scored from the right, but it worked in the sense that it was hard for them to collapse and mega mark him like they did first leg. If they did, then Villa would of been left open. Matter of fact thats one the reasons why Villa eventually just got Constant on him and nobody else to beat when he scored.

by •MilanDevil• Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:22 pm

I'm happy for Barcelona despite being a Milan fan because they are my second team (pretty big margin though). However, I would have liked us to beat them so that all those glory hunters out there leave this team alone. There are Barca fans out there that don't even know who Laudrup is :facepalm:

. Luckily at Goal legacy, I haven't seen a Barca glory hunter, instead, I see true Barca fans who actually know the history of their club. However, this time, like I stated in after math thread, I will support Juve for the sake of Serie A.

Also, I would've liked for T.Silva to go to Barca instead of PSG. In the next window, I hope Barca signs T.S. and Pato if possible, just because I would love to see my favorite player's (Pato) career rejuvenated.

by •MilanDevil• Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:23 pm

Oh btw, Messi's first goal was extra crispy.

by Kaladin Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:28 pm

This was basically Istanbul over 2 legs

by windkick Wed Mar 13, 2013 12:19 am

Respect to both of you guys and your team. Good luck on your quest in the league going forward

by The Sanchez Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:36 am

windkick wrote:Respect to both of you guys and your team. Good luck on your quest in the league going forward

Love the sportsmanship bro Thumbs up

by Blackmore. Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:48 am

I was reminding myself of 4-1 Arsenal and all the best nights in Europe over the past six years. I remembered how I loved this team and that gave me a good feeling going into the game. Orgasmic jubilation post game. Literally.

by Rossoneri Ninja Wed Mar 13, 2013 2:21 am

Just wanting to pop in and say that your performance was one of the very best i've ever seen ,reminiscent of Milan's 5-0 reverse over Madrid when the first leg finished 1-0 in Madrid's favor.

Very well deserved victory,

by BarrileteCosmico Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:03 am

As stated in the OP I didn't get a chance to see the game, and i haven't been able to DL it yet, but I'm incredibly surprised we were able to pull it off (I was hopeful of victory but definitely didn't think it was probable) and can't wait to watch this match.

by The Franchise Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:39 am

windkick wrote:So what did people think of Villa playing as the striker with Messi rotating around behind him as the runner, and then right wing all match? I thought it was masterful and it might be a sign of things to come going forward with out next evolution

I think it really helped Messi. I like this line up for a sort of big game surprise, wouldnt mind seeing it again.

by free_cat Wed Mar 13, 2013 7:09 am

Crackovia anticipated the comeback Very Happy

there are english subtitles.

by free_cat Wed Mar 13, 2013 7:25 am

The Franchise wrote:
windkick wrote:So what did people think of Villa playing as the striker with Messi rotating around behind him as the runner, and then right wing all match? I thought it was masterful and it might be a sign of things to come going forward with out next evolution

I think it really helped Messi. I like this line up for a sort of big game surprise, wouldnt mind seeing it again.

I don't think it's an evolution. imo it's actually going back to basics, as we used this same strategy vs Manu in cl final 2011.

As always, it's going back to basics and to the tactics proven what works.

by The Franchise Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:09 am

I dont think its evolution no.

But I do think it was slightly different to that final. Villa was a little more middle, Dani Alves a little higher and Alba more withdrawn than usual, but yes more like Abidal's role in the final.

So I agree, its not evolution and its basically, getting back to whats proven to work. But we havent been doing that and even when we played Villa together with Pedro and Messi this season, it has been Pedro very wide on the right and Villa on the left. This was a nice, all subtle change.

by vivabarca38 Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:13 am

This had nothing to do with the form we've had in the past few weeks but this was by far the team's best performance since the 10/11 CL Final.

by messixaviesta Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:43 am

Rossoneri Ninja wrote:Just wanting to pop in and say that your performance was one of the very best i've ever seen ,reminiscent of Milan's 5-0 reverse over Madrid when the first leg finished 1-0 in Madrid's favor.

Very well deserved victory,

That's so classy of you. Thanks a lot.

by messixaviesta Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:51 am

cat, that's a super cool video. Thank you very much for posting.

by free_cat Wed Mar 13, 2013 9:24 am

The Franchise wrote:I dont think its evolution no.

But I do think it was slightly different to that final. Villa was a little more middle, Dani Alves a little higher and Alba more withdrawn than usual, but yes more like Abidal's role in the final.

So I agree, its not evolution and its basically, getting back to whats proven to work. But we havent been doing that and even when we played Villa together with Pedro and Messi this season, it has been Pedro very wide on the right and Villa on the left. This was a nice, all subtle change.

Yeah, slightly different mainly because in a CL final starting 0-0 you don't instruct Alves to bomb the flank constantly, but the backgroun idea was the same: Get Villa getting the CB's busy and stretching.
When on defence, Villa came to the right just as he did in the CL final 2011.
It could have been done with Villa on the left too, and we've done it several times.

IMO, it would have been good to alternate and give Alba the chance to bomb forward too. Alves had a tremendous game in terms of energy, but Alba could have delivered more in the final third with his better crosses and dribling.

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