Champions League Final Review and Preview
The most recent instalment of the Champions League has been one of the best in living memory in terms of drama and excitement. Ajax’s team of precocious youngsters became giant-killers as they took out Juventus and Real Madrid before eventually falling to Spurs on the last kick of the game. Bayern Munich and Juventus, two of the most experienced campaigners in the UCL were made to look mortal by younger, hungrier sides. Over four games in the Semi-Finals, two teams advanced in spectacular fashion, Spurs overturned a three goal deficit to beat Ajax and advance to their first ever European final. Liverpool came back to beat Barcelona at Anfield and ran the dynasty off the turf by winning 4–0 on the night and 4–3 on aggregate. For the first time since 2008, there are two English teams in the final of Europe’s most prestigious competition.
I do not say this lightly but the era of Spanish dominance created by Real Madrid and Barcelona seems to have tapered off with Ronaldo heading to Juventus and Barcelona’s core aging every single year. Both teams will enter a period in which there is uncertainty about their competitiveness in Europe and how each team can move on from painful losses. Real Madrid, the Kings of European football and recent winners were dispatched by a talented Ajax side with ease. Barcelona suffered their second devastating loss in consecutive years, the mental strength displayed by Barcelona when they were managed by Luis Enrique in 2015 seems to have fallen by the wayside. It is hard to see either side being competitive in Europe without significant re-tooling, Real need at least six new signings who are hungry to achieve success whereas Barcelona need to look a little deeper.
Barcelona definitely need more offensive creation outside of Messi, one man cannot do everything. Phil Coutinho has struggled at Barcelona massively during his time as a Blaugrana, he looks a shadow of his former self. At Liverpool, Coutinho constantly impacted the game as he drifted into central spaces and picked the right ball over the top constantly. Now, he runs down the wing and waits for Jordi Alba on the overlap, his confidence has fallen to pieces. Barcelona could also do with another striker as Luis Suarez enters the twilight of his career, a pacy forward who works hard to create space up top would be incredibly valuable. Moreover, the changes at Barcelona go deeper than the roster of players who Valverde can choose from, there has to be stylistic changes.
Barcelona for the entirety of their club’s history have played passing football, it is a philosophy of the club that came from Johan Cruyff. The term ‘Total Football’ gets thrown around so much in football today without people fully understanding the thinking behind it. ‘Total Football’ is a concept built of holding the ball, probing for weaknesses and then exploiting said weaknesses. As styles go, it has been adopted and adapted for the modern era as each manager has taken different aspects of the philosophy to develop their own style of playing. The most common adaptation of Cruyff’s philosophy is ‘Tiki-Taka’. ‘Tiki-Taka’ takes the high defensive lines and emphasis on passing the ball from Cruyff’s philosophy but then builds on it. The style of football becomes ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ as technically sound footballers work the ball around before eventually striking a death blow.
Barcelona had a lot of success under Guardiola at the turn of the decade with this style of football as they had the talent. Iniesta, Xavi and Messi could all work the ball nimbly and proficient in offensive situations. Every single player in those sides were comfortable with the ball which was the primary reason for Barcelona winning two Champions Leagues in 2009 and 2011. However, over recent years this style has become less effective. Barcelona do not have the same calibre of players who all came through La Masia and learnt the style of football from childhood which is one of the reasons why the team has not experienced success in the Champions League in the last three years. The other reason is that football has changed hugely philosophically.
Arrigo Sacchi is one of football’s greatest managers. He presided over an AC Milan that was dominant in late 1980s and is responsible for the development of a different footballing philosophy. He believed in the core tenets of the ‘Total Football’ concept established by Cruyff, the team should control the ball and find attacking opportunities through probing the defence but he had different ideas defensively. Typical derivatives of Cruyffism such as Tiki Taka did not press the ball intensely, the style of football is designed to contain the opponent and let them burn themselves out. Sacchi with his commitment to perfect physical and mental preparation installed a high press in which the ball was won back further up the pitch and attacks were created in transition. This style was highly successful and created a style tree similar to the tree that Johan Cruyff left with Barcelona.
This style of pressing football became more common as teams tried to find a way to beat the technical, passing game that Barcelona dominated Europe with. The most unusual disciple of Sacchi’s press was a German ex-pro who was a one-club man at Mainz. The ex-pro believed that a team should dive into tackles to win the ball back and then move the ball forward quickly before defences could set up. The manager succeeded hugely as he beat Munich to the Bundesliga and led Dortmund on a fairytale run to the Champions League run. That man is Jurgen Klopp, one of modern’s football visionaries.
He has an unwavering commitment to his style of football that demands the high press and a desire to play aggressive football at all costs. He does not necessarily care about constantly holding the ball and not achieving anything with the ball, it is more of a holding pattern than the team rests in while in a neutral state. Klopp is at the forefront of the change in philosophy but many managers have adopted this strategy including Pep Guardiola and Eusebio Di Francesco whose Roma side dumped Barca out of the Champions League last season.
It is hard to say this but Barcelona need to embrace some of the football concepts displayed by other European teams so that they can remain competitive. The style of football designed by Valverde makes the most of the team’s ability, Barcelona can hold the ball and keep teams out of the game for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. However, the lack of a press invites pressure onto an already conservative defensive set-up. The statement that every player is needed to commit on the defensive side of the ball has never been truer as we see players like Bobby Firmino or Raheem Sterling harry opposing defenders into mistakes in bad areas of the pitch, you see players like Sadio Mane or Heung Min Son track back defensively to win the ball back for the team. Defending in numbers creates more security for a team and does not lead to a numbers disadvantage. Barcelona for the last few years have always left Suarez and Messi up, they do not track back defensively which can create holes. Barcelona can make these changes but it is unknown whether the club’s faithful will countenance an abandonment of their core principles.
Another interesting trend from the Champions League this season was Paris St Germain’s failure to beat Manchester United. United this season has been a dysfunctional mess out of bad defenders, overpaid stars and managerial turmoil. Yet, this team managed to beat a PSG team that on paper should have been serious contenders to win the Champions League this season. Paris had a squad that was roughly the right age to win in Europe and had the necessary experience to navigate the tough challenges presented by knock-out football. They also had two game-changers who could win games by themselves in the form of Neymar and Mbappe. The latest knock-out of the Champions League for PSG was at the hands of Manchester United, there will be an inquest.
The changes for Paris St Germain are not obvious as they have already overhauled the roster offensively and added a talented coach in the form of Thomas Tuchel who has built a good relationship with his team. The team on paper has the talent to succeed at the highest level and a supreme level of financial backing by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the tangible factors are great so therefore it must be to do with the mentals. It is entirely possible that the constant losses in the Champions League (Barcelona, United etc) have broken the players’ spirit in terms of not expecting the worst when it starts to go that way.
There was a distinct changing of the guard in the Champions League this season as two previously unheralded teams made it to the Champions League Semi-Finals, Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax. Tottenham have built a talented football team under the direction of Mauricio Pochettino without spending a huge amount of money. The Tottenham core has been together for four or five years and for many people, it felt like their best opportunities had passed Spurs by. Spurs had multiple chances to win the Premier League or to advance in Europe but on each occasion, it got away from them. When Tottenham were drawn in a group with Barcelona and Inter Milan, it felt like a ‘Group of Death’ that they could not escape. Spurs showed a lot of veteran experience to get out of the group and into the Last 16 where they met a white-hot Dortmund team. Dortmund were rolling behind the talents of Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus, Spurs beat Dortmund and found themselves playing against Man City.
Manchester City were arguably the favourites to win the tournament as they had the right combination of talent and experience. City have such a talented squad in terms of being able to bring on a substitute who is as good as the starting player, this luxury is not common across European football. Moreover, Guardiola being known as a serial winner of cups gave a lot of credence to City being favourites. Tottenham were not pressured by the giant that stood in front of them as they answered each one of Manchester City’s hay-makers with their own punches. Eventually, Fernando Llorente scored the winning goal which sent Spurs to the Semi-Finals to play a very game Ajax side.
Ajax were not regarded to be serious challengers for the Champions League at the start of the tournament. For years, Ajax has been the footballer factory of Europe as they churned talented youngsters who eventually went onto bigger things. For the first time in a while, Ajax had a young side that had plenty of potential while also having veteran experience from Dusan Tadic and Daley Blind. The effect of these two players was undeniable on the squad, they calmed some of the younger players down when the game became tense while not taking away any of their creative freedom. When Ajax were drawn against Real Madrid, it was expected that their season would end and key players like Frenkie De Jong, Matthis De Ligt and Donny Van Der Beek would move onto to a bigger side where they would win domestic and European honours. Real were an experienced who had gone through the ringer over the last five years in the Champions League and then came out as serial winners.
Instead Ajax turned up to the Bernabeu brimming with confidence and playing fantastic football. The way that Ajax move the ball, with speed and precision decimated Real Madrid, they could not keep with the telepathy of Ajax. The front men for Ajax, Ziyech, Neres and Tadic played as if they were one wave of attackers instead of being individuals. Erik Ten Hag’s team played some of the nicest football that I have seen from a team from a teamwork standpoint. Ajax got Real Madrid on the ropes and did not let up as they won the second leg 4–1 and the tie 5–3 on aggregate. They had defeated the reigning, defending European championships but faced an even tougher challenge.
Juventus have been perennial contenders for the last few years in the Champions League, they have reached two Finals since 2015. The team was used to making deep runs in European competitions but they never the game-changing talent that Barcelona did when Suarez scored the winning goal in the 2015 Final nor the individual magic of Ronaldo. The club made a huge splash in signing Ronaldo, a player who lives for the lights of Europe and has turned the competition into his playground. In the last 16, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to defeat Atletico and he seemed to finding the extra gear that he seemed to reserve for the Champions League. Ajax could not be considered favourites against a veteran squad who had added a multi-time Champions League winner who had a fear factor about him. Ajax beat Juventus and took out another giant of European by continuing to play fearlessly. Ajax beat Juve 3–2 on aggregate and they continued their dream run.
The match against Tottenham was unbelievably well-balanced, there was not one outstanding favourite, it was possible to see the match going either away. However, when Ajax went 3–0 on aggregate at the end of the first half at the Johan Cruyff Arena, it felt like Spurs had an insurmountable mountain. It would be impossible to score three goals in one half against a team that keeps the ball so well however Lucas Moura was up for the challenge. Moura was the last purchase by Spurs and it took time for him to be integrated into the squad. However, he came into the season raring to go and showed why Pochettino had picked him to join a fairly settled side. Against Ajax, he has a world class performance, truly an amazing game from Moura. He provided the quick two-goal burst just after half time that rocked Ajax and gave Tottenham a reason to believe that the comeback was possible. The last goal of the game scored by Moura felt surreal. Spurs had lumped the ball forward, Llorente set the ball and Moura tucked the ball away into the corner on the last kick of the ball. You cannot make that up, he scores a hat-trick which is the winning goal in a Champions League Semi-Final to take his club to their first European Final.
Liverpool had a different road to Spurs but they started in a similar manner. Liverpool were uncharacteristically poor in the early stages of the competition that they went to the Final in the previous year. Losses to Napoli and Red Star Belgrade posed serious questions about whether Liverpool was a flash in the pan side who had benefitted from luck on their way to Kiev in 2018. Mo Salah was dreadfully off the pace and Liverpool had struggled to adjust to the new style of football that they played. At the start of the season, Jurgen Klopp made Liverpool a little more conservative offensively so that the team would not leak goal-scoring opportunities to the opponent. It had worked wonders in the league as Liverpool went through teams week in week out but in the Champions League, it hurt Liverpool. They did not have the explosive goal-scoring burst which had determined key victories in last season’s run. It also meant that Liverpool ended up playing Bayern Munich in the Round of 16, an experienced campaigner and previous winner in the UCL.
It was obvious to all that Bayern Munich were on a down-turn this season, they did not dominate the German league in the same manner that they had previously done over the last two seasons. Moreover, Bayern had an aging sqaud with the team still heavily reliant on veteran wingers, Ribery and Robben. Bayern carried this air of confidence of authority that suggested that they were natural favourites, they did not seem to get scrappy in the big moments and remained incredibly calm. The actual result of the game could not be any more different. Sadio Mane caught the defence out off a Neuer error with a collected finish before Liverpool went through the gears in the second half. One of the best sides in Europe were nullified offensively by the combination of Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip while Liverpool scored two goals after the half which secured the victory.
In the quarter-finals, Liverpool played a Porto side that they had embarrassed the season before. In 2018, Liverpool strolled into the Estadio Do Dragao and won 5–0 against a very talented Porto team. The 2019 version of the fixtures went in a similar sort of manner, Porto had a few chances that they could not convert while Liverpool was efficient offensively. Liverpool won the tie 6–1 on aggregate and there was real hope building around the squad. Naby Keita had hit a rich run of form while Mo Salah looked to be rounding into form, he was now converting the chances that he missed earlier in the season. The next game against Barcelona was now being relished by the team instead of being worried about.
Barcelona is one of these clubs that carry a fear factor around Europe due to the fact they have been incredibly successful, it was expected that the glory of Messi would carry Barca against Liverpool and win Messi another UCL title. The first leg went that way as Barcelona were more clinical as they scored three goals and seemed to decide the tie before the second leg had even taken place.
Anfield has been the scene of many amazing European triumphs, in recent memory the comeback against Borussia Dortmund in 2016 was astounding. Anfield needed to produce another miracle for Liverpool against one of the best European teams as presently constructed. The atmosphere and the sound of the fans created an intense element to the game, Liverpool came out of the game firing as they attacked Barcelona mercilessly. Barcelona did not know what to do with the high-pressing and energetic football being played by Liverpool, they looked disheleved at the first fifteen minutes. Origi grabbed an early goal and gave Liverpool the hope to beat Barcelona and advance to a consecutive UCL Final. Suddenly Barcelona looked to be an average side, they couldn’t cope with not having any time on the ball to create chances or to think. Jordan Henderson was magnificent pressing Barcelona back and over-running Sergio Busquets and Rakitic, it completely took away their ability to create deep from midfield. The second half started and Liverpool started a barrage that brought bad memories back for Barcelona. Wjinaldum’s quick two goals off the bench levelled the tie and created panic for Barcelona as their minds went back to the humiliation that happened in the Stadio Olimpico last season.
Barcelona mentally switched off, their collective brain was overwhelmed by the constant stream of assault by Liverpool and it eventually resulted in one of the best set pieces in the Champions League this season. Trent Alexander Arnold earned a corner off Sergio Roberto, dummied walking away from the ball before whipping a superb ball in for Divock Origi to finish. The coolness to pick the pass and the precision to hit an inch perfect ball in pressure situations was special especially for a player who is starting out on his football journey. Alexander Arnold, a local Liverpool lad, created the goalscoring opportunity to win a tie to send Liverpool to the Champions League seems unreal.
In terms of the Final, Liverpool and Spurs are so evenly matched. Both teams played cagey, tight games in the Premier League against each other this season and there was not much to pick between both teams. There are some injuries for Spurs that could be crucial in deciding the tie, it is unknown whether Jan Vertonghen or Harry Kane will be fit for the Final which could swing the tie in Liverpool’s favour as those players are core guys for Spurs. Liverpool’s only injury entering the tie is Naby Keita who did his abductor muscle and is out for the season. Given that both managers understand each other’s game-plans so well, I would not expect a high-scoring encounter. I feel that tie will swing Liverpool’s way due to the offence being a little more varied and I feel that a 2–0 scoreline to Liverpool is pretty accurate.
