Former England manager, Terry Venables, believes that Manchester United should examine Real Madrid’s tactics from the four recent Clasico matches to have a good chance of quelling Barcelona’s attack in this Saturday’s Champions’ League Final.
Speaking at Stamford Bridge in his role as an ambassador for 188BET ahead of this weekend’s heavyweight clash, the former Barcelona manager explained that despite United lacking the obvious midfield steel to control the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi, there are those within Sir Alex Ferguson’s ranks who could cause the Catalans problems.
“Well what they [United] have got is two players, with legs, that will be prepared to run and break up Barcelona’s combination play. One is Fletcher and one is Park Ji-Sung. The other thing they could do is put Park on Messi, and get him to mark him and break off him, because Messi won’t chase Park back, and he can score a goal,” explained Venables.
In 2009, many observers noted that without Darren Fletcher – suspended following a red card in the semi-final against Arsenal – United suffered from an absence of industry in the middle of the pitch when they were outplayed, and comfortably beaten, by Barcelona in the Final. But Venables has extracted an encouraging example from the four recent Real Madrid v Barcelona matches that could provide some comfort to Red Devils fans.
“Now I saw those recent games [four Clasicos] and the clue for me was Pepe, especially in the Copa del Rey Final. In that match, Madrid won by putting Pepe in the middle of the field, alongside Sami Khedira and Xabi Alonso, and the three of them stopped Barcelona from going in to the back four. Also, when the gang broke on a counter attack, Pepe was in there for the crosses, and in fact he headed one against the post.”
The “clue” Venables is referring to lies in the fact that Barcelona scored just one goal – a penalty – in the first two games (in the League and Copa del Rey), and failed to score in the third whilst Pepe was on the pitch. The Portuguese, usually employed in defence, successfully played an important role in defensive midfield for Madrid, whose tactics collapsed following Pepe’s controversial red card.
“So I thought that was the clue. In the first leg of the Champions League Clasico, Madrid’s system fell apart after Pepe’s red card. It was 0-0 when he was on the field, and when he got sent-off, Messi had more room to play and scored two.”
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