When Dembele is on the pitch, Barca's counter-attack is still a big threat. When the France international came off, who could play forward at Barca's side became a difficult question for Xavi.
In particular, the team's defense is not strong and cannot hold the 1-0 advantage. From the Copa del Rey, La Liga to the Super Cup, the three fronts have exposed this problem and become the key to hindering Barça from reaching the next level.
01. Attacking speed relies too much on Dembele: this is the current situation for Barca
a. Dembele's speed + Pedri forward = Barca's attacking base
Although the striker was changed from Aubameyang to Lewandowski, the team's goal efficiency was more efficient. However, Xavi's attacking base is still Dembele's ability to speed up + Pedri's midfield organization and brilliance.
Lewandowski's role is to shoot the shot, but the team's attacking quality and initiation still depend on the form of Dembele and Pedri.
Dembele's movement off the ball has improved a lot, and he is now getting better at using his own speed to cover his teammates and create space to hold the ball.
Dembele's start this time gave Garvey a good opportunity in the middle of the core area.
It is clear from the camera that Dembele's forward thrust just recedes against the center of gravity of the opposing central defense, and Garvey is a good opportunity to receive a long pass.
It is a pity that the Barca teenager did not give Lewandowski a straight kick and missed the opportunity to make a single knife.
b. Barca's attacking quality is still very good
As you can see from the heat map, Barca's main attacking point is the left side, because Dembele is mainly here.
In particular, Pedri pushed forward to split the ball to this side, which is also a key part of Barca's attacking speed.
Barca's first threatening attack came from Conde advancing and scoring Dembele. The latter sent a wonderful pass to the core area, but it was a pity that Lewandowski, who followed up in the middle, had an average quality shot.
As a centre-forward, Lewandowski was not really fit to take the first penalty on the counter-attack. So Pedri went out to find Dembele, which is the best way to do it.
Dembele in particular has both speed and a good rhythm at this time. When he saw that his teammates failed to follow up, he was able to cut inside the defense, further disrupting Betis' backcourt position and giving Lewandowski a chance to follow up.
Barca's first goal to break the deadlock was a brilliant pass to Dembele after Pedri's advance. The latter cut inside with the ball and crossed Lewandowski at the back of the penalty area.
Although the Pole did not handle well on the first shot, he scored after a second shot to give Barca the lead.
From Barca's positional warfare offensive movement, it can still be seen that Xavi's thinking is very good.
Rafinha's inner cut is hard work, but the stability is actually very good. Using Lewandowski's run to attract the centre-back, Pedri stepped forward behind Lewandowski and scored directly with Rafinha's brilliant pass.
It is a pity that such a high-quality goal was blown out because Rafinha was offside with the toe of his shoe.
Overall, Barca's attack is still very good as long as it plays the way it wants. It's just that the frequency is not high enough, and the execution ability of the players is not so good.
02. De Jong was replaced early: Harvey couldn't bear it
a. De Jong as a back: does not help Barca to play at the back
De Jong was replaced early due to "physical reasons", and his performance this time was really disappointing. Although the pass success rate seems high, it helps little to get the ball out at the back.
A bunch of data at both ends of the attack and defense hang 0, and the only thing that is not 0 is 1 solution.
The key problem is that when the opponent presses high, De Jong's passing performance is really average in addition to dribbling the ball on his own.
This time under pressure, he returned to the goalkeeper from a very close distance, which made Ter Stegen very uncomfortable. Fortunately, the siege was still passed out of the sideline and did not bring any bigger problems.
Then replaced by Conde for the ball, as a result, Conde wanted to pass back to the goalkeeper, and there was a serious mistake. If it weren't for Araujo's savior, Barca could well have conceded the goal.
b. Compared to the semi-finals 1 year ago: De Jong played 18 minutes more
One year ago in the semi-finals of the Western Super Cup, De Jong, who started the game, also staged a match with a low error rate but almost all white rolls.
At halftime, De Jong was substituted. A year later, De Jong played 18 extra minutes, but his performance was still difficult to say.
De Jong, as a single back, this time went to the wing to defend and left space in the middle, which required central defender Conde to go forward.
As a result, Conde was easily defeated against Luis Enrique, and De Jong was behind the back, but he watched the opponent into the box with Conde. Fortunately, Roberto took in to break the position and did not let the opponent finish the shot.
De Jong's most disappointing moment was in the 44-45 minutes of the first half, when the opponent's long pass came and De Jong did almost nothing and watched Luis Enrique get the ball.
De Jong's attitude in this wave of defense is very problematic, and he is a little too negative after the opponent has the ball.
Fortunately, the Betis players were also inefficient in their shots and did not pose much of a threat.
However, following the opponent to get a second chance to attack, De Jong, as a single back, is almost completely watching the play, which makes people a little stunned.
De Jong left his penalty area by walking, and when he saw his opponent hit back to the ribs of his own penalty area, he was still in a slow state. Until the inverted triangle was passed in front of him, he moved slightly, but he still watched the opponent shoot, fortunately it was dissolved by the goalkeeper.
03. Fathi became a hero! Barca's left-back is too problematic
a. Barca's left-back: become a dead end
Many people say Barca did not play well in the second half and the key issue was Dembele's end. Barca's attack is very dependent on Dembele, without whom can provide the starting speed and tempo variation?
Xavi also knows that Dembele is indispensable, but he played until extra time in the Copa del Rey and returned after the World Cup final without rest, and Dembele needs to save some money.
Barca's attack is not strong, then the holes in the defense will be exposed in an instant. Xavi had wanted Rafinha to retire to right-back and temporarily swap Roberto into midfield to ensure a balance.
This idea is okay, and it can withstand the opponent's attack at the beginning until the problem on the left side completely explodes.
The equaliser started with a Ferran Torres error. Sergio Busquets then made up the position on the right, and Alba and Ferran Torres squeezed together on the left, resulting in exposed space behind them.
Conde's forward head, like his previous partner De Jong, was still weak, almost watching the opponent complete the score, and Fekier's shot equalized the score.
b. After Dembele left the field, this time it was fortunate to have Fathi
Fortunately, Fati came on 24 minutes after Dembele came on, and three shots on target with four shots on goal were also considered to be a dead end, leading the team to the final.
Fatty's insight and interspersion awareness is still very good, and he took Pedri's overhead ball and ran a quasi-solo opportunity after just three minutes of playing.
Unfortunately, the last shot was saved by Bravo and failed to complete the kill.
As soon as extra time began, Fathi scored with a super difficult left-footed shot that gave Barca a second lead.
If Barca want to play well, they still need to improve in attack. Unfortunately, the team's problem is that the defense is too poor to hold the win.
Barca's problem is that the left-back has too obvious holes, and the opponent's attack is to find this area to make a fuss, and there will always be gains.
Xavi replaced Alonso and the defense was clearly worse than when Alba was there. Even if Fathi is very active in defense, Barca, which is based on 451, still can't keep the loophole on the left side.
Christensen's traverse was too slow, and the problem of Araujoka's poor positional ability was once again exposed. Moron's goal was beautiful, exposing multiple problems in the Barça defence at once.
Conclusion:
To be able to win on penalties to advance to the final is good news after all. However, the fighting power of this Barça team in the cup knockout stage is really difficult to satisfy.
In the next Europa League knockout match, can Barca go further? Against Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Super Cup, can the team win the long-lost title? Harvey's questions to answer are really a bit much.