Wednesday, January 07, 2009

CHAPTER 250: Atletico Madrid (1) - (3) Barcelona [analysis]


Alternative Title:
2009 Begins With A Hattrick From Messi

Positives
  • Barcelona achieved a win in the first leg.
  • The win (and the scoreline) is an advantageous position for Barça: an away win (away goals advantage), the 1-3 score is a big and good score for Barça to bring back to Camp Nou and also not forgetting that Barça will have a very good aggregate advantage.
  • Lionel Messi:
    • MOM performance,
    • scored a Hattrick,
    • all three goals were excellent,
    • When he left the pitch, received a standing ovation from the home fans.
  • Daniel Alves gave a fantastic pass for Messi’s first goal.
  • Iniesta, what a great cross from him to Messi that resulted in Messi’s third.
  • Overall the team gave out a very good performance. Atletico Madrid did not have much of a chance. Further more the team (minus Messi, Alves, Xavi) was a 2nd choice team and they did very well against a dangerous opposition. Great job Barça!
  • The Pique-Caceres tandem I felt showed a potential centerback tandem.
  • Pinto had made a great save in the 2nd half.
  • Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid.
Negatives
  • Well, the goal conceded was perhaps the biggest disappointment in this game. Especially concerning that yet again Barça concedes from a set-piece.
  • There were some chaotic moments in defense especially during parts of the second half. At some moment it was like getting a heart attack from Pinto’s frantic keeping and positioning.
  • This is just me, but I think that Barça should have gone more brutal in finishing the entire tie off when Heitinga got sent off. The matter that Atletico are not such a defensive oriented team and the fact that Barcelona were 1 player more why they didn’t go all out and get a possible bigger scoreline to put Atletico out of reach in this stage?

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