A new Barcelona come to London with even MORE attacking menace
Barcelona won the European Cup by destroying Manchester United at Wembley. They had more firepower and created more chances. So what did Pep Guardiola do in the summer? He signed more attacking players. PETE JENSON reports from Spain.
PEP GUARDIOLA’S obsession with keeping Barcelona one step ahead of their rivals saw him push for the signings of alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas last summer.
Those who watched andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Xavi Hernandez control midfield in the Champions League final against manchester United at Wembley last may and witnessed David Villa, Pedro and Leo messi all getting on the scoresheet wondered how the new signings would get into the team. Voices in and around the club also questioned why a side with a threadbare defence needed to blow the transfer kitty on more big-name attacking players. But they assumed guardiola knew what he was doing … and soon it became clear he did. If there were fewer defenders and more forwards, then guardiola would pick more forwards and fewer defenders. Simple. The classic 4-3-3 became 3- 4- 3, with Fabregas playing at the top of a
midfield diamond (allowing Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets to carry on as they were) and Sanchez playing alongside messi and either Pedro or Villa.
The start Fabregas made to the season in his new position was testament to how the team changing for his benefit had worked perfectly for him. He raced to 15 goals in all competitions, linking up with messi as if the two had never parted since sharing a dressing room at Barcelona as 13-year-olds.
But he has not scored in La Liga since January and in any competition since February, and that is why the form of Sanchez has been so important as Barcelona have closed the gap on Real madrid from 10 points to four and are now 180 minutes from a possible meeting with them in the Champions League final, too.
Sanchez has the burst of pace that Thierry Henry still had when he joined and his direct style has helped open the space up for messi playing as a deeper-lying striker. He has also contributed goals — so important with Villa missing most of the season with a broken leg. He scored a header at the weekend — still a Barcelona collector’s item.
The 3-4-3 system has not been used in every game, but the fact that guardiola used it in the team’s group game against ac milan at the San Siro and again at the start of the quarter-final against the Italian side — he changed back to 4-3-3 after Barca scored — shows he is not afraid to use it in any situation.
‘Is it more of a risk? Of course it is,’ he told one reporter asking about the difference between the two systems. It was abandoned at half-time earlier in the season when Dani alves’ right flank became a freeway for Valencia’s left- sided pair of Jordi alba and Jeremy mathieu.
When the three-man defence has worked well, Javier mascherano has been a fixture in the under-manned rearguard.
Wry smiles were shared when mascherano was presented as someone who could play in two or three positions. apart from the occasional game as a full back he seemed to have played his entire career as a holding midfielder, but again guardiola saw something nobody else had and has converted the former Liverpool player into his most effective central defender.
mascherano’s form since eric abidal’s season was cut short by the devastating news he needed to have a liver transplant has been one of the key reasons Barcelona have gone on a run of 10 straight wins in the league.
‘ mascherano has been the key,’ says guardiola. ‘He has played the role of abidal; he plays with that same high level of concentration.’ The argentine has not committed a foul in his last three games for Barcelona — playing 90 minutes against Levante, getafe and Zaragoza without putting a foot wrong.
He is likely to line up alongside Carles Puyol and gerard Pique tomorrow. alves will be on the right, giving Barcelona the option of switching between a back three or a back four. On form, Sanchez is likely to start in attack against the side who were also interested in signing him from Udinese last season.
The big question will be if Fabregas starts. He watched miserably from the touchline at the San Siro in the quarter-final but will not want to do the same back in his second favourite city.