BARCELONA WILL GO THROUGH THE FINALE OF 2015 CHAMPION LEAGUE: A MATCH PREVIEW

The brilliant stuff was shown by Barcelona by winning 3-0 over Bayern Mὒnchen at Leg I semifinal match of the 2015 Champion League last week. The goals scored in less than 30 minutes by Messi (2 goals) and Neymar (1 goal). It was superb to watch. It could have been more goals for Barca if Manuel Neuer, a goalkeeper for Mὒnchen   hadn’t played magnificently. The Catalan players were fantastic. They are now flying to Munich to have the Leg II match with absolute pride and confidence facing the host team at Allianz Arena stadium. 

It will be a mission impossible for Pep Guardiola to bring his team to the finale for the following reasons:

(1)  The Mὒnchen defense did not do their job very well at the first leg match. Even Messi’s first goal in the match was the defender’s fault (Bernat). It was followed by the other two goals. Also look at the last Bavaria Derby, it was Reina’s fault. The defenders need to accelerate their sprint skills to cope with ones of the Barcelona’s attacking trio (Messi, Suarez, and Neymar). The defenders had no choice but to stop them.

(2)  The Mὒnchen midfielders were vulnerable in facing Barcelona’s counterattacks. At the first leg, Barcelona’s midfielders, Iniesta and Busquets, were so freely penetrating into the Bavarian penalty box.

(3)  The injuries of Robben, Ribery, Thiago, and Martinez make Mὒnchen lack penetration and under pressure in facing Barcelona’s unpredictable formations and interchange positions.

(4)  The Bavarians has recently been beaten by Ausburg with the final score 0-1 after they were crowned the Bundesliga Champion this season. This has affected the squad psychologically, especially when they prevail as the underdog team. They now lack of mental and physical sharpness. Guardiola must motivate and encourage his squad to perform to their absolute limit and show their high standards. The will not want to be eliminated before their own fans’ eyes.

(5)  Guardiola have to find out a “magic” formula to have a winning chance. He absolutely knows the ups and downs of the Catalans he left behind. He had better apply a man-to-man strategy to Barcelona as they are not better in this instance.

(6)  The Bavarian forward players, Mὒller and Lewandowski, failed to show their elite quality in their last two matches against Barcelona (Champion League) and Ausburg (Bavaria Derby of Bundesliga). The fans have been awaiting Guardiola’s  strategy to accelerate their performance and the core of the squad must not remain the same, especially when Barcelona has 3-0 huge advantage to take to the Allianz Arena this time.

Though it is a mission impossible or an improbable task for Guardiola’s  squad, there is still a small ray of hope for Mὒnchen to win the match as they did when they defeated FC Porto at the second leg quarter final. It was sensational!