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Countering tiki-taka
Pep Guardiola's Barcelona using tiki-taka faced 52 different teams and managed wins against all of them except Chelsea,[31] while Lionel Messi has not scored against Chelsea in eight UEFA Champions League matches (including a missed penalty spot kick in the second leg of the semi-final in 2012).[32][33] During the 2009 Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea, which was managed at the time by Guus Hiddink, used solid defence to force Barça to shoot outside the penalty area as well as having defender José Bosingwa mark Lionel Messi. This worked as the first leg was a 0–0 draw at Camp Nou, Chelsea being the first visiting team that season to keep a clean sheet in Barça's home stadium. In the second leg however Andrés Iniesta scored in stoppage time to level the tie at 1–1 and let Barça advance on away goals.[34]
Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo used an ultra-defensive tactic to counter the tiki-taka passing when his team met Barça in the semi-finals of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League. According to Chelsea's Fernando Torres, concentrating on space rather than trying to steal the ball was part of his squad's strategy to counter Barça. Winning battles on the wings, such as Ramires against Daniel Alves, would force Barça to funnel their attacks toward the centre of the field. Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin noted that stationing three disciplined midfielders in front of the back four defenders denied Barça space, forcing Lionel Messi to withdraw deeper and narrower to get to the ball (as Messi was high on the pitch, he was stripped of the ball by Chelsea's Frank Lampard, which led to a goal for the Blues in the first leg).[35] During the second leg, Di Matteo deployed a 4–5–1 formation with a very compact midfield structure. While Barça enjoyed 73% of ball possession over the two legs and 46 shots to Chelsea's 12 (11 of these shots on target versus Chelsea's 4), they only managed to score twice (the second goal scored after Chelsea's captain John Terry had been sent off for an off-the-ball foul on Alexis Sánchez) as "Chelsea parked the bus in front" of the net. By contrast, Chelsea's Frank Lampard completed two telling passes in the two legs; both of them, however, led to goals. It has been suggested that Barça's weakness offensively is winning balls in the air, especially against a team like Chelsea that has the size and strength to control balls in the box, but Guardiola did not deploy central defender and team captain Carles Puyol forward to counter this.[36] Chelsea achieved a 1–0 victory in the first leg and a 2–2 tie in the second to overcome Barça.[37][38][39][40][41]
In the 2010 semi-finals of the Champions League, José Mourinho's Internazionale players denied Barça space as they double-marked Messi and prevented Xavi from achieving a successful passing rhythm. Inter won the first leg 3–1 and then lost 0–1 to advance on aggregate.[42]
Pep Guardiola's Barcelona using tiki-taka faced 52 different teams and managed wins against all of them except Chelsea,[31] while Lionel Messi has not scored against Chelsea in eight UEFA Champions League matches (including a missed penalty spot kick in the second leg of the semi-final in 2012).[32][33] During the 2009 Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea, which was managed at the time by Guus Hiddink, used solid defence to force Barça to shoot outside the penalty area as well as having defender José Bosingwa mark Lionel Messi. This worked as the first leg was a 0–0 draw at Camp Nou, Chelsea being the first visiting team that season to keep a clean sheet in Barça's home stadium. In the second leg however Andrés Iniesta scored in stoppage time to level the tie at 1–1 and let Barça advance on away goals.[34]
Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo used an ultra-defensive tactic to counter the tiki-taka passing when his team met Barça in the semi-finals of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League. According to Chelsea's Fernando Torres, concentrating on space rather than trying to steal the ball was part of his squad's strategy to counter Barça. Winning battles on the wings, such as Ramires against Daniel Alves, would force Barça to funnel their attacks toward the centre of the field. Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin noted that stationing three disciplined midfielders in front of the back four defenders denied Barça space, forcing Lionel Messi to withdraw deeper and narrower to get to the ball (as Messi was high on the pitch, he was stripped of the ball by Chelsea's Frank Lampard, which led to a goal for the Blues in the first leg).[35] During the second leg, Di Matteo deployed a 4–5–1 formation with a very compact midfield structure. While Barça enjoyed 73% of ball possession over the two legs and 46 shots to Chelsea's 12 (11 of these shots on target versus Chelsea's 4), they only managed to score twice (the second goal scored after Chelsea's captain John Terry had been sent off for an off-the-ball foul on Alexis Sánchez) as "Chelsea parked the bus in front" of the net. By contrast, Chelsea's Frank Lampard completed two telling passes in the two legs; both of them, however, led to goals. It has been suggested that Barça's weakness offensively is winning balls in the air, especially against a team like Chelsea that has the size and strength to control balls in the box, but Guardiola did not deploy central defender and team captain Carles Puyol forward to counter this.[36] Chelsea achieved a 1–0 victory in the first leg and a 2–2 tie in the second to overcome Barça.[37][38][39][40][41]
In the 2010 semi-finals of the Champions League, José Mourinho's Internazionale players denied Barça space as they double-marked Messi and prevented Xavi from achieving a successful passing rhythm. Inter won the first leg 3–1 and then lost 0–1 to advance on aggregate.[42]
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