2008-2009 UEFA Champions League – Quarterfinals: Barcelona Crush Bayern, Chelsea Stun Liverpool
April 11th 2009 04:27
After draws by Manchester United (2-2 against Porto) and Arsenal (1-1 against Villareal), fans were treated to more goals on Wednesday as Barcelona easily took care of Bayern at the Camp Nou while Chelsea silenced the Anfield crowd with a 3-1 victory over Liverpool.
After Bayern's impressive performance in the round of 16, everyone expected an entertaining game against the blaugrana. Sadly, the Germans' porous defense were no match for Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi as Barcelona found themselves up 3-0 (Messi at the 8th minute and 37th, and Eto'o in the 12th) before Bayern had even registered a shot on Victor Valdes. The reason for that total dominance was pretty simple. From the opening whistle, Barcelona put pressure on the German defense who had no support from their midfielder, leading to several giveaways and panicky clearances which resulted in the home side having the ball most of the time. Bayern's defense also couldn't deal with their opponents' movements. All four Barcelona goals came from great passing around the edge of the box as the ball was perfectly distributed from side to side.
The Bavarians, on the other hand, had only one avenue of attack and that was through Franck Ribery. Their right wing was completely non-existent as they focused on getting the ball to Ribery. The strategy made Barcelona defenders' job a lot easier as they only had one wing to shut down. So, Barcelona ended the half with a 4-0 lead (Henry scored a couple of minutes before half-time), and since the first fifteen minutes of the second half looked more of the same – Barca attacking, Bayern defending – my TV station decided to switch over to the Liverpool-Chelsea game right after Ivanovic had put Chelsea in front with his second of the game.
Five minutes later, Drogba made it 3-1 (that goal was offside by the way, but I'm not going to complain) and Liverpool had no choice but to attack, and that's where Rafael Benitez's system started to fail. With Essien firmly planted in front of Chelsea's back-four, Steven Gerrard didn't have the same freedom of movement as usual and had to stay back to build the Reds' attack. Despite the changes brought by Benitez in the final minutes, Liverpool couldn't breach an hermetic and aggressive Chelsea side. Fernando Torres was firmly marked by both Alex and John Terry, and the flanks were shut down by having the wingers backing up the fullbacks.
In the end, Liverpool were probably a bit too overconfident heading into this game and it cost them dearly. Not only did they lose on home field, but Chelsea's three away goals will surely hurt their chances of going through. Next week should be a cracker.
After Bayern's impressive performance in the round of 16, everyone expected an entertaining game against the blaugrana. Sadly, the Germans' porous defense were no match for Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi as Barcelona found themselves up 3-0 (Messi at the 8th minute and 37th, and Eto'o in the 12th) before Bayern had even registered a shot on Victor Valdes. The reason for that total dominance was pretty simple. From the opening whistle, Barcelona put pressure on the German defense who had no support from their midfielder, leading to several giveaways and panicky clearances which resulted in the home side having the ball most of the time. Bayern's defense also couldn't deal with their opponents' movements. All four Barcelona goals came from great passing around the edge of the box as the ball was perfectly distributed from side to side.
The Bavarians, on the other hand, had only one avenue of attack and that was through Franck Ribery. Their right wing was completely non-existent as they focused on getting the ball to Ribery. The strategy made Barcelona defenders' job a lot easier as they only had one wing to shut down. So, Barcelona ended the half with a 4-0 lead (Henry scored a couple of minutes before half-time), and since the first fifteen minutes of the second half looked more of the same – Barca attacking, Bayern defending – my TV station decided to switch over to the Liverpool-Chelsea game right after Ivanovic had put Chelsea in front with his second of the game.
Five minutes later, Drogba made it 3-1 (that goal was offside by the way, but I'm not going to complain) and Liverpool had no choice but to attack, and that's where Rafael Benitez's system started to fail. With Essien firmly planted in front of Chelsea's back-four, Steven Gerrard didn't have the same freedom of movement as usual and had to stay back to build the Reds' attack. Despite the changes brought by Benitez in the final minutes, Liverpool couldn't breach an hermetic and aggressive Chelsea side. Fernando Torres was firmly marked by both Alex and John Terry, and the flanks were shut down by having the wingers backing up the fullbacks.
In the end, Liverpool were probably a bit too overconfident heading into this game and it cost them dearly. Not only did they lose on home field, but Chelsea's three away goals will surely hurt their chances of going through. Next week should be a cracker.
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