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.
If you follow the three “big” leagues in Europe like I do, you would know that Real Madrid have been simply stunning in La Liga as the Champions League's round of 16 drew closer. They had reduced the gap between them and Barcelona to four points (now six); an amazing feat considering the fact that Barça were 18 points ahead of the Meringues at some point. Now explain to me how the same team can get so thoroughly humiliated on the big stage against Liverpool?
Yes, Rafael Benitez seems to be a Champions League guru, always getting the Reds to the semifinals - at least - but a 4-0 beating? Were Madrid that bad or is the Premiership's “Big Four” too good for the rest of Europe? We can only speculate but unless Barcelona meets one of those teams and goes through, we must concede that “maybe” they're that good.
Madrid probably expected Liverpool to sit back and hold tight, protecting their away-goal while their opponents could try to break through. Instead, the Reds didn't give their visitors one inch of space until the score was 3-0 Liverpool. The Whites simply weren't prepared. By the third minute of play, Iker Casillas had to make two amazing saves almost back-to-back: one on Fernando Torres, the other on Javier Mascherano. Torres and Steven Gerrard were simply on fire toying with Madrid's defense as if it was child's play. And when Madrid tried to catch up to them, Ryan Babel was thrown into the mix with runs to the middle to confuse the defense even more. Torres opened the score at the 15th minute and five minutes later, Casillas was forced into another great save. As the Spaniard made save after save, Madrid had no control whatsoever on the game. Making two consecutive passes was a hassle and the pressure from Liverpool's forwards prevented them from building anything from the back.
Heinze's foul inside the penalty box at the 27th minute was the end of the game for me. The call was borderline at best. If it had happened in a Manchester United game, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't get called (the refs at Old Trafford missed much worse). But it did, and Gerrard put his team 2-0 up, 3-0 on aggregate.
Reina was finally tested at the 41st minute with surprise-shot by Sneijder but the goalkeeper reacted just in time to put the ball out for a corner. The half ended on that note, and Juande Ramos used the break to make some much needed changes.
Ramos replaced the shockingly invisible Arjen Robben by Marcelo on the left-wing, but the impact wasn't immediate as the Reds scored their third goal of the match via Gerrard one minute after the kick-off. The hosts cooled down after that, and Marcelo's presence proved to be a definite upgrade over Robben as the young Brazilian did exactly what Babel was doing on the other side of the pitch for Liverpool. Unfortunately for Madrid, Liverpool's back-four was solid and the visitors rarely ventured inside Reina's box. The introduction of Van der Vaart and Guti didn't influence the end result as Liverpool scored a fourth goal in the dying minutes of the game, twisting the knife in Real's gut.
In the end, Real Madrid were surprised by Liverpool's quick tempo and didn't react quick enough. Juande Ramos' inexperience on the European was probably a big factor in how Benitez created his gameplan, but there's no excuse for the disappearance of both Robben and Higuain who deserted their teammates when they needed them the most. Casillas has nothing to reproach himself of (why do I feel like I just murdered English grammar with that sentence?), but the rest of the team should take a long look at themselves in the mirror and figure out where it all went wrong.
Highlights video below...
Real Madrid's line-up: Iker Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Fabio Cannavaro (Rafael Van der Vaart, 63rd), Gabriel Heinze; Arjen Robben, Fernando Gago (Guti, 76th), Lassana Diarra, Wesley Sneijder; Gonzalo Higuain, Raul.
Similarly to the game opposing Manchester United and Inter Milan, the match between Liverpool and Real Madrid was a story of halves with each team dominating a part of the game.
Like Inter, Liverpool were unable to build anything from the midfield due to the tenacious work of Diarra and Gago. However, the Reds did a great job in containing Madrid's attack by preventing Robben from cutting to the inside where he is the most dangerous. Every time Robben started his run down the wing, a defender would follow him while a midfielder hovered near by so that the Dutch winger couldn't come back to the middle. With this simple adjustment, the visitors considerably reduced the threat of Madrid's offense. I think that Raul was trying too hard to go for headers in every set-piece situation. Sometimes, a chest control and a good first touch could be a lot more effective than diving in an impossible angle.
At the other end, with Gerrard on the bench, Liverpool relied too much on Fernando Torres, hoping that the striker would make some sort of magical move that would give them a goal. Unfortunately, in Madrid's back-four, Pepe was probably playing his best game of the season with well-timed tackles and a good sense of anticipation.
With Robben isolated from the action by Liverpool, Juande Ramos decided to replace Marcelo by Guti in order to have a playmaker on the field instead of relying too much on attacks from the flanks. Ramos also brought an adjustment to Robben's situation. When he had the ball, Sergio Ramos slipped past behind him to either draw a defender or cross the ball himself. Still, the substitution threw Madrid's offense off-the-kilter for awhile. Indeed, from the start of the second half, they really had only one 'functional' wing. The absence of Marcelo's speed on the left side provided a gaping hole for Yossi Benayoun who could easily use his pace to get by Heinze.
It was that same Benayoun who silenced the Santiago Bernabeu with a powerful header at the 81st minute on a free-kick. Casillas had already started his exit when the ball was struck, but Benayoun somehow found himself free in the players' movement inside the box, and crucified the goalkeeper.
The Champions League's first knock-out stage is upon us, and there are already several match-ups that can make any fan drool with anticipation. Here's how things look up this year.
On Wednesday, the two must-see games will probably be Chelsea against Juventus and Real Madrid against Liverpool
Chelsea – CFR Cluj: 2-1
The return of Joe Cole and Didier Drogba proved to be instrumental in Chelsea's qualification for the next round as Droga scored the winning goal after coming on as a substitute
Bordeaux – Chelsea: 1-1
What is going with the Blues lately? Not only they are slowing down in the Premiership, their Champions League latest performances are leaving a lot to be desired. After convincingly defeating Bordeaux 4-0 in Matchday 1, they could only get a draw in the return match. Are they simply exhausted or are other teams figuring them out? Thanks to this draw, Bordeaux still have a chance to qualify. They'll have to defeat Roma on Matchday 6 to get through
Chelsea – CFR Cluj: 0-0
Cluj are continuing to impress everyone on the European stage. After defeating Roma 2-1 on Day 1, they held Chelsea to a scoreless draw which keeps them in second place. Granted, Chelsea didn't play very well. Without Joe Cole on the wing, they lacked the mobility necessary to stretch Cluj's compact defense. The Blues started with a 4-3-3 formation but suprisingly looked better with a 4-4-2 once Anelka came on in the second half. However, Drogba's injury before the hour-mark erased all the momentum they had at the start of the second period while Cluj gained in confidence as time went on. The Romanian even tested Cech late in the game but everyone could tell that they were equally satisfied with a draw
Things get more balanced in Group D where Liverpool striker Fernando Torres will face his old teammates of Atletico Madrid. Rounding out the group are Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and French regulars Olympique de Marseille.
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