Real Madrid was slightly superior in the 1st half. They build-up their positional attack mostly from the left side of the pitch which allowed them to threat the opponent’s control of the wing on that side and create spaces in the last third of the pitch. A special reference to the movements in support of their striker (Benzema) that created an advantage. Real Madrid’s Defensive Organization wasn’t outstanding but they managed to control their opponent more effectively when compared to what Barça did.
When Barcelona was in their Offensive Organization they played mainly through the left wing (CB – Lenglet) where they essentially sought their winger’s (Coutinho) support dynamics and the Left back’s (Alba) break from the outside to the inside to dismantle Real Madrid’s defensive line of 5 that had the Fullback as an individual reference in order to “control” the wing.
Barcelona was quite fragile without possession: they displayed a 1st line of indefinite pressure, that didn’t condition or pressure the opponent and only managed to control the wings sufficiently well. Besides that there were some space between the elements of the last defensive line (especially between the CBs).
These behaviours did not change in a significant way and the spaces that were created in the 1st half were still there in the 2nd. A final reference to how the CB (Sérgio Ramos) managed to annul and overcome the Attacking Midfielder’s (Messi) individual reference several times as well as his behaviour to remove depth.
This match highlighted two Defensive Organizations that didn’t show an outstanding behaviour. It also highlighted a Barcelona’s Offensive Organization with few solutions given Real Madrid’s effectiveness without possession.
Author: João Cancela
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