With almost half of the main team missing, Barca's loss to Real Madrid is also a normal result. The reason why Xavi wants to grab the start is also because the team only has four midfielders this time, and there is basically no possibility of steady hand and continued to suppress the rhythm.
The 0-4 scoreline, can only lament that Xavi was too unlucky in this game, and met the in-form Real Madrid left-back Camavinga, and the extremely smooth foot center Benzema.
01. Xavi wants to get off to the start: unleash the full advantage of the four midfielders
a. Barca started well: the essence of all four midfielders was revealed
Many people think that the score of 0-4 shows that Barca is useless, but the truth is the opposite, Barca played at a high level in the first half, and Xavi snatched the idea of opening the game to fully release the advantages of the four-midfield system.
Unfortunately, as in the away game against Manchester United, there is no midfielder on the Barca bench, so Xavi can't adjust his backhand, and the process of collapse is similar to that at Old Trafford.
The essence of Xavi's four-midfield system is to let Lewandowski retreat, solving the shortcomings of Lewandowski's slow speed and lack of obvious confrontation advantage.
In exchange for a wide range of transfer balls on the left and right, as well as the back row of the midfield. At the same time, Lewandowski can also insert back into the box and complete the echelon attack.
Araujo's move was important to find Balder, and Rafinha stepped forward to bring an impact into the box.
Unfortunately, this great opportunity was due to Camavinga's key clearance, allowing Barca to miss the opening goal.
The subsequent wave of attack is still a very typical Xavi-style four-midfield attacking mode.
Rafinha passed Garvey and distributed the ball to Balde on the flank, followed by Lewandowski, Rafinha and Garvey and Roberto into the Real Madrid penalty area.
In the opening period, Real Madrid was continuously interrupted by Barca in the midfield, which was a state of suppression. After the home team wins the ball, it can fully play the width of the field and has excellent offensive fluency.
Unfortunately, Balder's cross, Garvey's ball was a little chasing this time, and Roberto's last shot was not powerful enough and was blocked by Alaba.
This time Kessie moved beautifully, finding Bald and sending a cross straight back, Rafinha's header was parried by Courtuva.
Kessie was very good and Barca still had a big advantage in the first half.
b. Does Xavi have to be a four-midfielder? Lewandowski has no speed and can't play a change in rhythm in the middle
From the statistics of the first half, Barca, which has close to 60% of the ball, is also dominant in the number of shots.
It should be said that at least in the first 30 minutes, Barca's advantage is very obvious. Unfortunately, this kind of four-midfield transfer ball and interspersed kick is physically exhausting, and it is impossible to continue with high intensity all the time.
The reason why Barca's four midfield backers are fatal injuries is because Lewandowski lacks a speed advantage in the middle and it is difficult to take advantage of his technique.
If the offensive and defensive conversion is not a large-scale transfer of the two sides, relying on the four midfielders to run desperately to create space, the effect of connecting Lewandowski in a straight line is very poor. This time Busquets' pass was actually good, but Lewandowski quickly conceded the ball and instead let the opponent launch a counterattack.
Fortunately, Araujo blocked despite the fact that Real Madrid lost this opportunity.
This ball is a similar thing, Busquets passed the ball well, but unfortunately Lewandowski did not have speed, so his first move was not to accelerate to get the ball, but to slow down and control the ball, so he could only go to the side.
Because of Lewandowski's speed flaw, Barca's attack slows down as soon as it does not go aside. Unless the midfield sprints widely, the attack will stall. At the same time, Lewandowski's technology is not enough to produce more details.
In fact, it is not difficult to understand, even if it is Lewandowski's peak, it depends on the advance speed of Bayern's wingers, and it is also a luxury to ask the older Lewandowski to do more.
02. If you concede the first goal, you will concede the second: this is Barca's helplessness
A. With Lewandowski: If you can't do 1 to 0, you will be 1 to 3
The 1-0 win away at Real Madrid in the first leg was partly because without Lewandowski, Barca could defend more resolutely, and there were also big players like Kessie on the bench at the back of midfield.
Another reason is that Real Madrid had 13 shots on target in the first leg, not that they had no chance at all, but they wasted everything.
The winner of the game was before the end of the first half, and this wave of attack was originally a masterpiece of Barca's four-midfield system.
Unfortunately, the pass was to Lewandowski, his first shot was saved, and the second attempt to make up was cleared by Camavinga.
Real Madrid then had a chance to counter-attack, and the problem of Barca's over-pressing front was exposed. Araujo's defeat meant that the team lost the opportunity to remedy it, and Conde, like the World Cup final, chose to run towards the goal line rather than block it in front, which ended up being meaningless.
After conceding the goal, the score turned into a tie over both legs. Barca need to step up their attack, but the absence of a substitute midfielder means the team cannot further speed up the pace and run output.
Roberto should have been substituted 50-60 minutes before the 31-year-old didn't have the output to play the second half. This time, the problem was mainly that Garvey's defensive position was too poor, and secondly, Roberto dragged behind, and it was impossible to expect him to intercept Modric.
Barca want to press forward because the team still wants to make Real Madrid's mistakes as they did in the first half. But after the midfielder's fitness decreases, the effect is different.
Garvey is the best at running, but he also has the worst sense of position. Roberto had the consciousness to make up for it, but his speed and ability to get out of his feet were severely inadequate, resulting in the goal conceded.
There is also the problem that Comte slipped this time. Originally, he could have protected the top of the arc and blocked Benzema's shots.
But Conde slipped just like that, leaving just enough room for a great shot. Perhaps even if he doesn't slip, Conde will choose to run towards his own doorline, which is also a very speechless place for Conte.
b. Why not use Conde for full-back? It's easy to understand when you watch the game
Many people will ask, why not let Conde right-back, let Araujo, who has the best defense, go to central back?
Looking at the statistics, you can understand that Conde has 2 one-on-one confrontations in the whole game, one of which is his offensive end and only 1 confrontation in defense.
Comte has very few confrontations, but many times he has solved the siege. This shows that he must be protected by the system, using his flexibility and relative flexibility to complete some ball-destroying work, but not directly talk to the opposing attacker.
When Conde was behind the team, his mentality deteriorated a little and his movements gradually deformed. This time the header somehow missed to Benzema and was a black spot.
This goal is an example, and although Conde's header errors occur from time to time, at least it is not the deadliest one.
The reason why Xavi does not let Conde play right-back is because once he plays too much one-on-one with Venicius, it will be a big problem.
This time on the counterattack, Araujo stood too high and asked Conde to face Venicius. As soon as the opponent turned around, Conde disappeared and Asensio narrowly scored a shot.
If he had made a few more matches, Venisius would probably have to get too many chances from Conde.
03. Best of the game: Real Madrid is Camavinga, Barca is Kessie
a. 100% pass success rate! Camavinga is too important for Real Madrid
Many people will think that Benzema's 3 goals and 1 assist is the best player of the game, but Real Madrid's real winner is left-back Camavinga.
Not only did he have a 100% pass success rate, but he also had eight steals, seven clearances, one interception, and one last-man tackle.
What's even more frightening is that Camavinga has won 10 of 14 one-on-one meetings at his feet, which is the essential difference between him and Conde when both have defensive statistics.
Barca have no speed and no technical advantage in holding the ball, so after the fitness of the midfielders in the second half declined, they could only find more Rafinha to attack.
Rafinha won twice in overtime against Camavin, but more often failed. This one-on-one fight, which has a large depth of space, still ended in a complete victory for the French international.
Real Madrid's fourth goal, Camavinga's straight goal laid the foundation for more than half of it.
Benzema's 3 goals and 1 assist, except for the second goal shot, which is difficult (after Conde slipped, in fact, it is not too difficult), the other few times are excellent counter-attack opportunities, and what should really be praised is the teammate who created the chance.
b. Kessie's performance: deserves more trust from Barca
Even if the game is lost, Barça fans do not need to complain too much about the team. After all, the team lacks many main players such as Dembele, Pedri, Christensen, De Jong, etc., and the lineup is seriously untidy.
In particular, there is no substitute in the central midfield, which is the same as playing Manchester United away. The team actually played quite well at the front, but the room for adjustment at the back was too limited.
Barca are also a team that relies heavily on midfield superiority, and Kessie is playing better and better, which is important for the team.
Kessie was once very controlling in the middle circle, and he had a big advantage in possession against Real Madrid players. This time, Marseille's maneuver won applause.
Flower work is just a trick, and the real value is still in the core area. Casey played the ribs this time to Barder, and the quality was also very high.
The cross was cleared by Camavinga at the back post, and Busquets from the outside went straight to Rafinha for another good opportunity. It is a pity that the latter tried to pass on Lewandowski again, and was once again sabotaged by the fast-moving Camavinga.
Barca lost not so much to Benzema as to Camavinga.
His quick movement, just right to deal with Barca's four-midfield attacking system, also allowed the red and blue team to come very close to scoring many times, dissolving into invisibility.
Conclusion:
There are too many objective reasons for Barca's loss, from the unorganized lineup to Camavinga's super play, which has changed too many things.
However, Barca also need to reflect on the fact that the team still made a lot of mistakes on the way to building the team. After all, Lewandowski is not a long-term object to rely on, and the selection of Conde by the backline is doomed to a low ceiling for the team.