Bayern Munich: Reliving the memorable night in Barcelona
A Tactical Masterclass by Heynckes
The tactical approach in this game from Die Roten was fascinating, making it an intriguing game to watch. Bayern fans all know how good Jupp Heynckes was as a manager, and seeing his game plan in action against a European giant further proves his greatness.
Even without Lionel Messi in the starting lineup, Barcelona still had an abundance of talent on their roster and had it all out on the pitch for this second leg. However, that didn’t matter as Heynckes’ tactical instructions completely negated Barcelona’s tiki-taka playing style.
The main instruction for this match was to completely nullify Barcelona’s midfielders. Their trio included Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and Alex Song. If one of these players received a ball, they were immediately picked up by one of Bastian Schweinsteiger or Javi Martinez.
Die Roten’s midfielders were warriors and didn’t give Iniesta and Xavi an inch to dictate play in the final third. This resulted in many back passes to defenders and a reset of the attack. Barcelona couldn’t get into a rhythm; their quick passing style was reduced to long balls over the top, which were mopped away by Jerome Boateng and Dan van Buyten. Another result was crosses by the attacking fullbacks. However, those crosses didn’t cause any problem to Die Roten’s defense as Barcelona lacked a traditional number nine in their team.
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This match was another example of a primary difference between Pep Guardiola and Jupp Heynckes. Guardiola was all about possession, breaking down opponents with lots of passing, whereas Heynckes was about the direct attacking play.
The difference between two coaching philosophies was displayed in the match by the fact that even though Barca had the majority of possession and shots, Bayern was more clinical with their chances. They took a direct approach for scoring goals, feeding the ball to Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery after bypassing Barcelona’s midfield. These two instructions helped completely disrupt and break down Barcelona, giving them no chance to make a comeback in the tie.