German efficiency is an over-used term, but one only has to see to believe what a fine crop of efficient Germans can do. On the football-field at least.
Living on a land which is around 5 and a half hours ahead of London in time, the European matches are broadcast in my country at ungodly hours, but I did find the time to watch the replay of the entire match between Barcelona (from Barcelona, Spain) and Bayern Munich (from Munich, Germany), which finished 4-0 to the Germans.
While Bayern Munich were favourites to win the first tie in their own back-yard (semi-finals in the Champions League are two-legged), an annihilation the like of which happened was on nobody's mind as the two teams stepped out. So what really went wrong for the Catalans? How were they brushed aside despite having over 65% of possession?
Cliched, but true, it was all down to efficiency. The Germans managed 15 attempts on goal with just 34% of the ball while their opposition could only get a paltry 4 attempts, only 1 one target. All this making around 200 odd passes, compared to Barcelona's nearly 650 passes. Short, quick passing, or "tiki-taka" of Barcelona was made irrelevant.
Here is how I would break the result down, in steps, and attempting to draw metaphors for life in the process.
One Dimensional Barcelona vs Versatile Bayern
We all know what Barcelona is about, epitomising "total football", where all eleven players are involved in nearly every move, tapping the ball around until it leaves your opposition dizzy and confused, forcing a lapse of concentration, a sudden gap in the defense, slipping the ball through defensive lines and finishing. Barcelona are about as pretty as any team in world football gets. Week-in, week-out, lesser teams of the Spanish League and sporadically, the greater teams on the continent fall prey to this impeccable order of play. "Everyone wants the ball, and everyone can pass it" as the commentator repeatedly drones.
Bayern are no pushovers, capable of producing passing master-classes of their own. They recently demolished a team 9-2. and have scored 20 goals in their past four games, but the means were different. The four they scored against Barcelona were different from the 16 scored in domestic leagues. The domestic goals were Barcelona goals, so to speak, while the goals against Barcelona were the end product of incisive effective passing. Defending deep and rigidly, as soon as Bayern won the ball, they sped down the pitch, making two, three, four passes to reach the other end of the pitch. Two of the four goals were off counter-attacks. So what took Barca a hundred passes took Bayern 5. Efficient indeed.
Lesson - Living on a principle is effective, none can argue with the success of Barcelona, but a plan B, adaptability can prove handy. Never get predictable. Barcelona have been playing this way since 2009, it was high time other teams found them out.
Brain vs Brawn
Delicate, intricate play is what defines Barcelona. The frills and the fancies, show-boating to a degree. Add to that the prodigious, never seen before individual skill of the likes of Andres Iniesta and to a greater degree Lionel Messi, you have a well-oiled attractive team that people would pay to watch. Bayern aren't too ugly themselves, but chose to be so this time around. Mid-field engine Bastian Schweinsteiger, a tireless and gifted footballer was given the task of keeping the "amigos" quiet, flying in every time the ball as much as strayed near the above mentioned players, shoving and bossing his feet to the ball, not flinching as these men tried every trick in the book. Dropping a shoulder one way and moving the ball the other, faking passes, none of it worked on the Germans led by the above mentioned Schweinsteiger. The Germans were absolutely ruthless and Messi was as ineffective on the day as an eight year old feeling a football on his feet for the first time, with the Bavarian team often pushing the boundaries of fair-play in their brute but effective ways. No frills and Fancies for show in Germany.
In fact, two of the goals came from corners, the diminutive and quick footed Spaniards no match for the tall, imposing Germans. Barcelona were out-muscled at every corner of the park and Munich's tenacious strikers busting a gut to get to the ball and finishing.
Lesson - It's nice to be pretty, but you have to have end product. You'd rather be effective than awe-inspiring. Be prepared sometimes to slug it out and play rough.
This softness of Barcelona comes perhaps from being used to playing Spanish clubs lacking in any real quality, too awe-struck by their opponents. Which is perhaps why the English league is still considered the best by many. Whether you are Messi or anybody else, always be ready to be treated rough.
Fitness
The fact of the matter is, Lionel Messi wasn't fit enough to play, but Barcelona gambled, knowing that even a half-fit Messi was as good as any other footballer, better even than a majority who play the game. And when your trump card isn't 100%, your team rarely is. Given how well Bayern played, they could probably have shackled even a fully-fit Messi, but surely, the Spanish team would have made a better fist of things. Not once could Messi, or Iniesta for that matter, shake off the determined Germans and make a mockery of their defense, like they usually do.
Lesson - 100% of something lesser is greater than 50% of something greater. Explanation - Barcelona could probably have coped better if they had played a fully fit Cesc Fabregas, Messi's natural replacement, rather than playing a half-fit Messi, even though Messi is a better footballer.
A summary
On the whole, it was a triumph of guts over talent, hard-work over technique and Germany over Spain. Bayern Munich's no-nonsense-in-your-face approach rattled Barcelona and rendered even the best player in the world listless.
While Bayern Munich were favourites to win the first tie in their own back-yard (semi-finals in the Champions League are two-legged), an annihilation the like of which happened was on nobody's mind as the two teams stepped out. So what really went wrong for the Catalans? How were they brushed aside despite having over 65% of possession?
Cliched, but true, it was all down to efficiency. The Germans managed 15 attempts on goal with just 34% of the ball while their opposition could only get a paltry 4 attempts, only 1 one target. All this making around 200 odd passes, compared to Barcelona's nearly 650 passes. Short, quick passing, or "tiki-taka" of Barcelona was made irrelevant.
Here is how I would break the result down, in steps, and attempting to draw metaphors for life in the process.
One Dimensional Barcelona vs Versatile Bayern
We all know what Barcelona is about, epitomising "total football", where all eleven players are involved in nearly every move, tapping the ball around until it leaves your opposition dizzy and confused, forcing a lapse of concentration, a sudden gap in the defense, slipping the ball through defensive lines and finishing. Barcelona are about as pretty as any team in world football gets. Week-in, week-out, lesser teams of the Spanish League and sporadically, the greater teams on the continent fall prey to this impeccable order of play. "Everyone wants the ball, and everyone can pass it" as the commentator repeatedly drones.
Bayern are no pushovers, capable of producing passing master-classes of their own. They recently demolished a team 9-2. and have scored 20 goals in their past four games, but the means were different. The four they scored against Barcelona were different from the 16 scored in domestic leagues. The domestic goals were Barcelona goals, so to speak, while the goals against Barcelona were the end product of incisive effective passing. Defending deep and rigidly, as soon as Bayern won the ball, they sped down the pitch, making two, three, four passes to reach the other end of the pitch. Two of the four goals were off counter-attacks. So what took Barca a hundred passes took Bayern 5. Efficient indeed.
Lesson - Living on a principle is effective, none can argue with the success of Barcelona, but a plan B, adaptability can prove handy. Never get predictable. Barcelona have been playing this way since 2009, it was high time other teams found them out.
Brain vs Brawn
Delicate, intricate play is what defines Barcelona. The frills and the fancies, show-boating to a degree. Add to that the prodigious, never seen before individual skill of the likes of Andres Iniesta and to a greater degree Lionel Messi, you have a well-oiled attractive team that people would pay to watch. Bayern aren't too ugly themselves, but chose to be so this time around. Mid-field engine Bastian Schweinsteiger, a tireless and gifted footballer was given the task of keeping the "amigos" quiet, flying in every time the ball as much as strayed near the above mentioned players, shoving and bossing his feet to the ball, not flinching as these men tried every trick in the book. Dropping a shoulder one way and moving the ball the other, faking passes, none of it worked on the Germans led by the above mentioned Schweinsteiger. The Germans were absolutely ruthless and Messi was as ineffective on the day as an eight year old feeling a football on his feet for the first time, with the Bavarian team often pushing the boundaries of fair-play in their brute but effective ways. No frills and Fancies for show in Germany.
In fact, two of the goals came from corners, the diminutive and quick footed Spaniards no match for the tall, imposing Germans. Barcelona were out-muscled at every corner of the park and Munich's tenacious strikers busting a gut to get to the ball and finishing.
Lesson - It's nice to be pretty, but you have to have end product. You'd rather be effective than awe-inspiring. Be prepared sometimes to slug it out and play rough.
This softness of Barcelona comes perhaps from being used to playing Spanish clubs lacking in any real quality, too awe-struck by their opponents. Which is perhaps why the English league is still considered the best by many. Whether you are Messi or anybody else, always be ready to be treated rough.
Fitness
The fact of the matter is, Lionel Messi wasn't fit enough to play, but Barcelona gambled, knowing that even a half-fit Messi was as good as any other footballer, better even than a majority who play the game. And when your trump card isn't 100%, your team rarely is. Given how well Bayern played, they could probably have shackled even a fully-fit Messi, but surely, the Spanish team would have made a better fist of things. Not once could Messi, or Iniesta for that matter, shake off the determined Germans and make a mockery of their defense, like they usually do.
Lesson - 100% of something lesser is greater than 50% of something greater. Explanation - Barcelona could probably have coped better if they had played a fully fit Cesc Fabregas, Messi's natural replacement, rather than playing a half-fit Messi, even though Messi is a better footballer.
A summary
On the whole, it was a triumph of guts over talent, hard-work over technique and Germany over Spain. Bayern Munich's no-nonsense-in-your-face approach rattled Barcelona and rendered even the best player in the world listless.