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Champions League. Group stage. Group G. First round. Spain. Barcelona. “Camp Nou”. Referee on the field – Sandro Schorer (Switzerland), broadcast in Ukraine – “Football 3”
Ronald Koeman has changed a lot in Barcelona since his arrival. Beginning with composition staffing and ending with tactical models. This is what explains the metamorphosis in the game of the Catalans, which was observed in the first two official fights of the Blaugranas in the 2020/21 season. However, then there were fights with “Sevilla” and “Getafe” and a return to the Valverde / Setien patterns. Where is the true essence of this team? And wasn’t the success of the opening fights due to the traditional emotional and psychological elevation for such situations?
The group of the Champions between the culés is such that the team must leave with him (at least from the second place) even in disassembled state. On the other hand, there was a failure in the Getafe field at the wrong time. Barça have not lost to a rival from the outskirts of Madrid for almost ten years (only two draws in this period), but clearly before the start of the Champions League group stage they showed their weaknesses.
The “Getafe” did a tremendous job without the ball, surpassed “Barça” in number of shots towards the door, blows on the plane and, in fact, goals scored. With just a little over 27 percent of the playing time and playing the ball with 58 percent accuracy, the “city” allowed Barça to launch a single shot on goal. A guide for Sergei Rebrov.
His team played out of position in the Champions League tie against Dynamo Zagreb, Celtic FC and even Molde. This is a familiar element to the Hungarian champion, so at Camp Nou Rebrov will not invent a bicycle. It is simply unnecessary. An important role will be played simply by working without the ball: pressing, overlapping zones, building a tiered defense. And “Frady” will definitely have a shot or two ahead of him. The Hungarian team knows how to move quickly through midfield, their players also know how to successfully act one-on-one. With De Jong, Piquet, Langle, who are not perfect in defensive work, there will be chances.
Barcelona have been undefeated in the Champions League at the Camp Nou for more than seven years, since May 2013. During the last three years, they have allowed only two draws at home. But this should not scare Ferencvaros, because the magic of the Camp Nou does not work without fans. Yes, and Ronald Koeman has not yet had time to draw inspiration from the atmosphere of this temple of football, which makes him vulnerable to the tactical plans of his rivals and to the football imposed by the rival. Not everything today will depend only on Barcelona.
Approximate compositions
Ter Stegen is still injured, so Neto will play goal. On the left flank of the defense, due to injury, Jordi Alba will have to choose between Héctor Firpo and Serginho Dest. Samuel Umtiti is not a significant loss.
Miralem Pjanic came from the national team with back pain, but it is unlikely that the Bosnian would have made it to base even in top condition. De Jong and Busquets complement each other in the support zone, which under Kuman received clear contours. Pedri played poorly at number ten against Getafe, so we are waiting for Felipe Coutinho to appear. Messi, Fati and Griezmann are almost indisputable. Ronald Koeman is trying to experiment with Usman Dembele.
Neto – Sergi Roberto, Langle, Piqué, Dest – Busquets, De Jong – Griezmann, Coutinho, Fati – Messi
Rebrov’s team flew to Barcelona without loss of personnel and in good spirits. Fradi does not have the same problems as Barcelona, which is immersed in the club’s war with first-team players for cutting wages. Entering the Champions League group has already caused a powerful financial injection into “Fradi’s” budget, and any positive results on the football field will be a welcome bonus.
While the Catalan club bosses are at war with the team’s players, and Koeman complains about the unauthorized penalty for Nyoma’s trick against Fati, Rebrov promises that his players will go on the defensive.
Dibush – Lovrencic, Blazic, Botka, Heister – Kharatin, Laiduni – Zubkov, Siger, Nguyen – Uzuni
The forecast is a 1: 0 victory for Barcelona.
Rebrov does not dream of illusions and understands that he will have to work hard without the ball. The defensive discipline at Fradi is high, but the individual class and the experience of the Barcelona players will do the trick. Given that the morale of the players of the Spanish team is not the best, it can be assumed that all will be satisfied with one or another goal from Messi (or someone else). Finish and destroy an opponent, “Barça” will not.
