Football has a crush on the dramatic and a tendency for exaggeration, but none of the claims of cruelty, pain and other fatalistic conditions became some spot after Atletico Madrid left the Champions League on Wednesday evening. To their most bitter rivals, for the sixth time successively, with one of their penalties that is not allowed.
Regardless of what you thought of Diego Simeone's theatrical attempts to raise the fans of silence a last time of silence, in mutual appreciation between beaten heroes and a defeated support, you must admire his presence of mind not to sink in similar despair. The fact is that when the game ended, few less than four days were separated from another competition that is branded 'seasonal provision', and now even more.
“It is always difficult, it is not, if you have the opportunity to turn the draw at home against your direct rival, and you don't do it. It will be difficult to vote for the team. They have been two difficult games [against Real Madrid and Getafe]But he will have to pick them up and concentrate their minds, “says Albert” Chapi “Ferrer, Legend of Barcelona, a manager in itself, and now one of the sharpest spirits in football coverage.
“As a manager you have to be the leader to make the team think positively again. It is difficult, and of course there are clearly also leaders in the dressing room, whose responsibility it is to cheer up the team and make them believe again. “
The question is how? The somewhat tired interrogations of whether Simeone should be more brave, of this change and that decision on the field is already in an ether, because if Simeone can find a way to restore that focus and balance of the mind on Sunday, Atletico will play against more than just Barcelona on Sunday evening.
“If you look at the end of the game, when Simeone went around the field on this kind of honor, so the manager was the one who encouraged the players and supporters and was in fact with the team.”
“Knowing the manager, knowing Atletico,” says Ferrer, who saw them in action during Simeone's time as a player and manager, “the history of the club, how strong they are and how competitive, it will not be a problem, and they will be 100% focused on Sunday.”
Even if Simeone can separate from the circumstances on Sunday, it is perhaps the shape side in Europe opposite him, from a 17-game unbeaten run and a much more quiet Tuesday victory in Benfica. Barcelona not only looks coherent as a unit under Hansi film, most players have shown something like the best football in their career this season. Despite their 'suicidal' high line, the Blaugrana lived better on the edge than in many years with more room for errors.
“On Sunday, Atletico will have more options for hurting Barcelona, if it attacks the outdoor game, in transitions, it will be another game,” Ferrer argues. There is an argument, certainly supported by results and Ferrer, that this game fits much more with Atletico. Los Rojiblancos scored six times in two games against Barcelona, and is the only side confronted with the edition of Flick without suffering.
“Barcelona as a team is, so offensive, that they are in fact looking to play just one way, they have no other plans, so they are offensive, aggressive, they push and have the line of defense very high. The big difference for Atletico Madrid with which they will be confronted on Sunday is that they will have spaces. “Even if drawing up the recipe is not difficult, the steps are a bit easier to explain the five-time La Liga champion.
“Real Madrid is a team that has no problem falling back, not to leave spaces for Atletico to meet. It is therefore more complicated than against Barcelona. Against Barcelona it is difficult because they usually pose a constant threat, usually offensive. “
Only one point separates the two parties at the top of La Liga, with Real Madrid between them in second place. Barcelona, however, has a game in hand, and there is certainly a concern that although a loss in the Metropolitano may not be fatal for their title challenge, it can be very good for lifestination.
“For Atletico Madrid, the first is to ensure that they do not have the space to come across, and in fact the only way is to do that to fall deeper. The few times that Barcelona has struggled this season are with teams that do exactly that: a little deeper and attack on the counter. So that's what I expect from Atletico. “
The Catalan giants have been much more successful with the shocking defensive approach to Flick this season. In the beginning, the wisdom of a radical change is doubted, but after he largely calms the attack that is caused in the concept itself, the following thinking pieces wonder if a less absolutist idea can be more logical for everyone. And in all honesty it was questioned by the chief engineer of Flick after the last meeting between the two.
“I remember the game, the first draw in the Copa del Rey, Pedri said something in the interview after the game. “We have to learn from that. We were ahead in the draw, so we cannot keep pressing, keep going high, keeping to be exposed. We just have to be aware of it. ” He may mean by not having the line of defense that high and defending more. '
The panting Pedri reflected, or perhaps a lot of the accusations against Barcelona directed in the aftermath of that 4-4 thriller. Flick said that less than an hour after the game was over that he was happy with 95% of their performance, and Ferrer sees no sign of German that instruct his men to give themselves an extra garden, despite the success of Atletico to find out.
“I'm not sure if the manager will share these words. I have not seen a competition this season in which Barcelona changed from tactics, in terms of ahead in the score sheet, and in the last 20 minutes and just falling. So I don't think he's going. “
“I think it looks more like when I was a player and we had Johan Cruyff, he said:” Listen, if they score three goals, we have to score four. It's so simple. “So I think that's the approach.”
Cruyff in Barcelona was perhaps the closest approach to a religious prophet in football, and while the principles of his philosophy have set the blueprint for several of the most successful periods of Barcelona in their history. For others, however, the style debate seemed to catch those blueprints managers.
“The history of Barcelona shows us that the DNA is more or less the same,” says Ferrer in front. “With Cruyff, Guardiola, even Luis Enrique, Xavi or Flick. Barcelona is a dominant team, and they will go on the field to dominate, and you can do it in different ways. “
An authority on the subject, Ferrer was in the C team when Cruyff returned to the club as a manager and spent six years under him in the first team, by the ranks with Guardiola by his side.
“I think the piece that the team shows is similar to Johan's, similar to Luis Enrique's, but I think Pep wanted to dominate completely in his final phase in Barcelona, he wanted to dominate the ball. Flick is more like our time with Cruyff, with fast transitions and the attack of the room. “
“It is true that in the second half of the season, with teams that see how dangerous they are and with the space, we have seen that teams have fallen a bit and defend a little deeper. So that caused Barcelona to have a little more possession and to be a little less direct. So they have more of the ball and play out, it is a bit slower, but the moment they have room, they go in. “
Xavi Hernandez, who played with Guardiola and subsequently occupied a similar direction as Pedri in his magical four-year-old run as a coach, was generally expected to perform a similar revolution when he himself returned as a manager. Yet the victory of the La Liga title that he, by design or compromise, was the furthest of that style that was seen since the exit of Guardiola.
The debate that Hoged Xavi has hardly been mentioned this year. There is little doubt that Barcelona has been attractive this year to look at, but is there a feeling that the transition from Xavi to Flick has widened the reach for what is again 'the Barcelona style'?
“It is true that Barcelona has a philosophy and they try to control games, but I think it is not that important now. When Barcelona La Liga won with Xavi, they defended very well, and there were many 1-0s, but nobody said something because Barcelona La Liga had to win. “
“This season it is the same. Barcelona does not play like the philosophy they 'have to play', have a lot of possession and mastering games, but I think the goal wins something, and people are happy with winning games, so it doesn't matter this season. “
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