Barca, who are in good shape, have remained unbeaten with a record of six wins and two draws in the previous eight games and have averaged 2.75 goals per game, and manager Xavi has played a very important role in recent matches, leading the team to stop the decline in consecutive losses and actively bringing in new signings such as Traore and Aubameyang in the winter window to help the team get out of trouble and return to the Champions League zone. Barca are out of the Copa del Rey and 15 points behind Real Madrid in La Liga, making the Europa League their only chance this season to go all out for the title.
Turkish Super League powerhouse Galatasaray has also experienced a bad half season like Barca, except that they have not been able to get out of the predicament until this European matchup. The second-place team in the Turkish Super League last season has been in a slump this season, and Galatasaray has not made the top half of the Turkish Super League table (18 teams in total) since December last year, and is currently only in 12th place. In January 2022, former Barca assistant coach Domenek Tulum was appointed head coach, but he had a very bad start, losing all three games, winning two and drawing twice in the next four games, and after just showing the momentum of recovery, he lost to Konya Sport, who is second in the Turkish Super League table, and once again suffered a heavy blow.
The two teams, at their low point, met in the Europa League round of 16, the first time the two teams have met in nearly 20 years. In this match, although the host Barca were in an advantageous position in the game, they did not cause trouble for the goalkeepers and could only reluctantly end the first leg of the match between the two sides in a 0-0 draw. However, the tactical showdown between the two team coaches is still worthy of in-depth analysis.
Two teams starting lineup: an authentic offensive and defensive duel
Xavi once again used the traditional 4-3-3 formation, with the double centre-backs Eric and Araujo, the left and right wings alba and Dest, the midfielder De Jong in the center, Pedri and Nico Gonzalez on either side, and the forward trio being Depay, Ferran and Traore. As can be seen from the average touch position chart, Barca's two wings use different offensive forms, with Depay often closing in to the middle and acting as a center forward in the second half, providing a forward pressure channel for Alba on the left. The Durst attack and defense on the right are relatively balanced, and Traore maintains the width at the high position on the right to gain more offensive space.
Galatasaray under Tulum still maintained a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Boy, Nelson, Marco and Van Anholt forming a defensive line, Antaryar and Kutlou as double backs, Arturco and Babel as left and right full-backs, Fegouli as the forward to occupy the middle, and the arrow forwards to Mustafa Mohammed. Referring to the average touch position map, Galatasaray adopted a very pragmatic strategy, they put up a defensive posture on the road, the overall formation sat low, the player position distribution is relatively close, which will test the ability of Xavi and Barca to crack the dense defense.
Barca besieged but attacked inefficiently, and Traore's right-hand shock was successfully contained
Barca's home presence showed a strong momentum at the start of the match, and due to the defensive posture of the away team, Barca controlled 75% of the ball in the first fifteen minutes, and their 2-3-2-3 offensive formation easily broke through Galatasaray's 4-2-3-1 midfield blockade, especially The retreat of Ferran Torres, providing a lot of help for the midfield tandem.
The above scene explains the tactical thinking of Barca's attacking organization very well. De Jong provided fulcrum in front of the defensive line, Alba and Traore provided attacking width on both wings, De Pere closed to the ribs and Ferran withdrew to receive the ball to help organize the frontcourt in tandem. This time, Ferran's retraction pass created a quick attack, and after a quick pass through the middle, Barca sent the ball into the left side. Alba's quick cross was met by a quick cross and The Phelan mid-way grab was destroyed by the opposing centre-back.
With the away side not pressing with a more aggressive defence, Barca could easily push the ball up front, but they had trouble attacking the third zone and it was difficult to convert possession into a goal. Barca have too many ineffective conductions, lack penetrating forward passes and no-ball runs, and the speed of lateral transfer is not fast enough to pull out the away team's 4-man defense. Even after Barca created crosses on the flanks, they were basically unable to form a second wave of blows against Galatasaray due to the lack of numerical balance and offensive level in the middle, as well as insufficient competition for the two points.
This is a flank attacking opportunity created by Barca. Still in a 2-3-2-3 format, Traore found that the large distance between the full-back and the centre-back had made preparations for the forward sprint, but Nico Gonzalez was not prepared for a long pass attack. Traore immediately made a ball-free run towards the ribs, which provided favorable conditions for Dest's insertion. Traore drew the opposing left-back away, he received a quick shot on his rib back, Dest decisively stepped forward and successfully broke through from the right, however, his cross was successfully intercepted by the opposing defender Antaryal.
In the offensive battle, the new signing Traore has become the main offensive weapon that Barca mainly relies on. The 26-year-old winger has a strong explosive power, he can break through the ability, fitness and speed to wreak havoc on the opponent's defensive line, since he joined the team, Barca has made breakthroughs in the offensive battle just through the side impact of Doreau Traore, especially in the Europa League play-off against Napoli, Traore repeatedly broke the side of the Serie A powerhouse.
Barca tried to use the same tactics in the first half to drag down Galatasaray's defence, with their main point of attack in the first half on the right, while Traore made six attempts to break through with the ball in the first half. However, he failed to create a chance to shoot. Galatasaray's players on the left side played well, with left-back Van Anholt seemingly struggling with one-on-one defence against Traore, but with the help of back Kutlu and centre-back Marco, they locked up Barca's right-wing blast perfectly. Left-back Artulco has done a good job of keeping an eye on Dester, making sure the opponent doesn't pose too much of a threat when running on the edges.
It's a classic example of Traore breaking through the flank defense, where he almost overlaps with Dest, but it gives him plenty of room to break through. The opposing left-back and a back-back player both came to this side to assist. However, Traore forced a successful breakthrough between the two, and then he broke through the defense of full-back Van Anholt and attracted marco, one of the centre-backs, to rush forward, but his last straight kick failed to reach the feet of Felan, who was inserted in the front.
The attack from the wing also reflects another of Barca's attacking problems, which is that Nico Gonzalez and right-back Dester appear to be somewhat conservative. As can be seen from the picture above, Barca formed a 4v5 situation on the right side, but the actual participants were only two people, Traore and Ferran, and Dester's position was not ideal enough to participate, but Nico did not quickly insert himself in the front of the large space to participate in the attack, but slowly moved to watch his teammates complete the attack. If Nico or Dester can actively participate, Barca can create more offensive combinations on the flanks, making it more difficult for opponents to defend.
Xavi's squad configuration makes Traore the only opportunity creator in the right attack, because Depay and Ferran are better at converting opportunities than creating opportunities, coupled with Traore's unstable passing performance, and Barca's monotonous offensive routine, Galatasaray basically defused Barca's attacking threat on this side by restricting Traore on the right.
Problems with the offensive organization of Galatasaray
Had Tulum been Galatasaray's manager a little longer, the game would probably have taken a completely different direction. The team showed a clear offensive line of thought up front, which was to pass the ball quickly forward and attack the empty area behind the Barca defence, however, the team's poor organizational problems made it difficult for them to create threatening offensive opportunities.
Barca will use high-level pressing tactics in stages, and most of the time they can form an effective defense against the visiting team. However, there are also sometimes problems with leakage prevention. Especially when the visiting team makes a transposition pass to receive the ball, there is a big problem in Barca's front yard, the front line is too far forward, and the point-to-point staring is not close enough, thus leaving a better route for the opponent. This is a problem that has occurred many times since Xavi took office, and the high pressing requires a highly unified coordinated running position of the midfield players, and it is clear that Barca players still need a lot of running-in training in this regard to increase the intensity of the pressure.
In Barca's forward press system, the two wingers move with the opposing full-back, rather than the three forwards, like Liverpool, suppress the other halfway. Pedri came to the forefront to suppress the goalkeeper and centre-back with Ferran, which required two other midfielders, De Jong and Nico, to strengthen their watch on the opponent's backs, however, it was difficult for Barca midfielders to form a consistent coordination run in the coordination. Galatasaray easily dismantled Barca's forward pressure circle by rotating the positions of the front and back.
In the scene above, Pedri and Ferran top-ups overpowered the opposing goalkeeper and centre-back on the front line, de Jong was staring at push-back Antaryal, when the visiting team's forward Figouli retreated to the box to receive the pass without being watched, and goalkeeper Pena found a way forward to shoot the ball forward.
Galatasaray can get rid of Barca's high block by creating such a numerical advantage at certain stages of possession, and Barca players often miss defense when running in the opposing position. Theoretically, Galatasaray could continue to use this model to move forward. However, Galatasaray was too anxious to pass forward, and too many long passes prevented them from continuing to play such a road propulsion advantage, and it could be felt that their road passing and running cooperation had not yet been successful, and they did not have the ability to carry out high-intensity road confrontation with Barca. This poor ball possession and decision-making ability is a key issue in Galatasaray's organisational attack, which poses no real threat to Barca during the possession phase.
Galatasaray was also able to create chances during the offensive transition phase, but due to the team's deep defensive position, their quick counter-attack power was weakened a lot. In the away team's fast attack, the high mobility of the two full-backs, Alturco and Babel, became a decisive factor in the offensive conversion, they were an important key point in the forward attack tandem and forward, and Arturco almost scored with his personal breakthrough ability in the first half.
This time it was Araujo who took the liberty of carrying the ball in front of the ball and pressed the pass in front of the team to cause the away team to counterattack the fast attack, his pass to Nico was successfully destroyed by the opponent, Alturco got the ball and cut inside after passing two Barca players in a row, after swinging past the opponent's back, his pocket shot was slightly off the goal, and he himself was very upset.
Harvey resolutely adjusted to achieve two wings flying together, and the attack group was not in good shape
Xavi made three consecutive substitutions after halftime, with Nico, Araujo and Ferran being replaced and Busquets, Pique and Dembele being replaced. De Jong's position was adjusted to the right side of the midfield trio, with Depay in the centre forward position and Dembele playing as the left winger.
The main reason for the change in Barca's offensive thinking is that they rely too much on the right side of the attack in the first half, and Nico's lack of support for the team's offensive organization on this side has weakened the threat of the right side of the attack. Traore's intention to attack on the right is too obvious, coupled with the lack of offensive threat on the left, allowing the away team to send more targeted personnel to carry out key defense.
With a weak impact on the right, Xavi was prepared to strengthen the left attack, achieving two wings flying together, putting more pressure on the away team's flank defense. As can be seen from the expected goal trend chart above, Barca's adjustment in the second half was effective, with both the expected goals and the expected threat showing a sharp increase in the trend, in stark contrast to the first half. In addition, he had 12 attempts on goal in the second half, three times the number of shots on goal in the first half. In the face of the strong control of the home team, Galatasaray no longer wants to counterattack the sneak attack, they will focus their attention entirely on the defensive stage, and finally with the super strong "iron barrel array", there is almost no clear chance for the home team to break the goal.
One of the main reasons Barça was unable to score was the poor form of the attackers and the serious lack of ability to grasp opportunities, Barca's left side attack accounted for 41%, and in the second half, they repeatedly created more threatening attacks, but the poor finishing ability failed to bring the team to the goal.
In the middle of the second half, Barca created one of the most threatening shots of the game. Traore completed the cross after passing two men on the right and Pedri's scramble for the penalty spot gave Aubameyang the opportunity to barb the ball. After the visiting goalkeeper Pena made a save, De Jong fell into Pena's arms after a close-up shot into the neutral post.
The above shot is a reflection of barca's entire offensive quality. Throughout the game, Barca had 15 shots on goal, only 4 on target, 6 deflections, 5 blocked, and the expected goal value of the whole game was 1.11, which meant that they still created a chance to score a goal against the away team's iron barrel formation, but the attacker's collective slump made it impossible to achieve a single goal. It also proves that Galatasaray's low defensive strategy and the team's defensive performance are very successful.
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Galatasaray will certainly be happy to draw with their opponents away from home at Barca and they will most likely prepare a similar counter-attack for the second leg of the home game. However, if they want to beat Barca to successfully qualify, they also need to create more threatening attacks on the pitch.
Barca should have been disappointed that they had a chance to win at home, but they once again revealed their lack of tackling ability. It can be seen that Barça players still need to improve their abilities in terms of details such as passing coordination, midfielder offensive support, and opportunities in front of goal, but the team has shown great progress and they should be confident in their performance in the second leg.