Against all odds Roma pulled off the seemingly impossible task by knocking out FC Barcelona with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over the visitors at home.
For the 3rd Season in succession, FC Barcelona, favourites to win the Champions League with Bet365, was knocked out of the Quarter-Final stage in UEFA Champions League. Now that's a seriously dangerous pattern which needs to be addressed soon. All of us believed that Barcelona had the tie rapped up after the 4-1 victory at the Camp Nou.
But a combination of complacency and tactical mistakes from the Manager resulted in Barca being at the receiving end of a wonderful come back once again at this stage of the tournament. Now they may have to once again watch from sidelines their biggest rivals (who despite the hiccup against Juventus) script another glorious chapter in European Football.
FC Barcelona gets Dominated from the Beginning
We have faced many times opponents who have made our lives difficult; but this one was different. From the starting whistle to the final whistle Roma made us look as some average La Liga side. We were not able to connect a series of passes and whatever possession we were having were near to our box rather than theirs.
The main reason was the tactical switch Roma made. Roma went this match with a 3-5-2 formation and the five man midfield was completely bossing around our four man midfield. And to make matters worse, Valverde for some reason went with the same line-up which featured against Leganes; and in that match we weren't that great either.
It’s a dreadful defeat because nobody expected this. When you do wrong things, commit lots of mistakes, when we do not adapt to a CL game, it’s like that.Iniesta
Valverde's Defensive Approach Hurt us the Most
It's normal to get your initial line-up wrong, it happens. But not to read the game and the way it was going; that was quite scary from Valverde. It wasn't like Roma were hitting us on break or they were dominating some segments. It was a total domination and it was clear for everyone we needed either a change of formation, style and personel to deal with it.
In that backdrop it was shocking to see we not making a single change even though the game called for one. There are reports emerging of Pique personally asking Valverde to change the style following the second goal but the Coach refused to do so.
In the end we missed out of a sure semi-final spot due to the pragmatic approach of our coach. Had the first leg scoreline was a bit narrower, he may not have moved in with a defensive approach. But what hurt us most is the inability of him to adjust the tactic on the ground.
Barca has never been dominated like this in any game and not to make adjustment was close to criminal. Valverde with his approach would have sowed enough doubts on every fan's mind - "Whether he is the right man to manage Barca".
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