When it Rains it Pours
Daniel Wise
Barcelona and Liverpool lived up to the David vs. Goliath comparison.
Few soccer fans, even analysts in the know whose job it is to pore over analytics, film, and interviews predicted the outcome of the semifinals weeks of the UEFA Champions League. Four teams played two sets of games for 360 combined minutes of grueling soccer where hearts and minds were tested to an absolute breaking point. In the case of the teams enjoying the advantage, their downfall was their hubris and lack of organization against desperation. For the underdogs, their goal was to fight and either win or lose spectacularly. There's a funny quote from the late Sir Bobby Robson that goes, "The margin is very marginal." For these games, the marginal margin was the effect each team's mentality had on the games. The end game is to always score more goals than the opposition, and somehow the teams that were ahead managed to lose in a shameful fashion.
Last week I wrote an in-depth preview to these matchups, so check it out if you would like to brush up on the storylines I'm about to get into.
Liverpool vs. Barcelona - A Titan Falls as a Team Invokes Old Magic
The bible story of David versus Goliath gets a lot of play in the sports world. At times the axiom loses its impact, but there is credence to it in this case. While Liverpool is a great team in its own right, Barcelona could arguably be considered a world eater this year. Their attacking power is considered nothing short of terrifying with the likes of Lionel Messi at the front plus Luis Suarez on cleanup duty. Barcelona under the leadership of coach Ernesto Valverde rocked Liverpool in the first leg of the semifinal match the week earlier. With a balanced approach and an aggressive utilization of his goal-scoring weaponry, Barcelona established a comfortable 3-0 lead on aggregate. They were able to enjoy the comfort of home at the Nou Camp, and I was very high on them to move on to the Champions League final.
While I was wrong in choosing a team to favor, what I was not wrong about was Liverpool's ability to make miraculous comebacks. The 2005 Champions league final was a banner statement for Liverpool when they came back from a 3-0 deficit in the first half and eventually beat Italian club AC Milan. That was a different time for Liverpool who had a counter-attack style and some dangerous weaponry on attack. This year's Liverpool is a wrecking ball of a team under the guidance of coach Jurgen Klopp. His attacking defense strategy known as gegenpress has proven successful in his domestic and international campaigns. Barcelona had shown that they could handle the aggressive style at home in Spain. But what they weren't ready for was facing that kind of attack in a stadium like Anfield in Liverpool.
Liverpool fans have a song that they sing at the start and finish of every game called "You'll Never Walk Alone, which was originally performed in the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. It's a rousing tune that embodies Liverpool and its fans. As the club relishes the victories and suffers the defeats, everyone is in it together.
Throughout the 90 minutes, Liverpool had just one objective in mind to stifle Barcelona. They played a hyper-aggressive 4-3-3 formation, which emphasized speed along the flanks of the field for crosses into Barcelona's box and a defensive choke point in the middle of the field to bunch up and harass Barcelona's attack. On the attacking end of things, Xherdan Shaqiri and Sadio Mane of Liverpool set their dials at eleven and gave it their all along the outside flanks. Not only were their runs into space fast, but their crosses into the box were taken with blistering speed. This created a feeling of desperation among the Barcelona defense, which caused some errant misplays. This allowed Striker Divock Origi and Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum to capitalize on Barcelona's flustered backline defenders. When Barcelona attempted to establish their own counter attack, Liverpool's midfield and defenders became vicious hounds by pressing attackers into tight spaces to set up dispossessions or cut off passing options and intercept poorly-timed deliveries. It's tough for teams to keep up that kind of pace for 45 minutes--let alone 90 minutes--without running out of gas. Liverpool had their backs against the wall in this case. With desperate times, players are able to find that last reserve of energy and press on for a win.
In the end, Barcelona lost to Liverpool 4-0 (4-3 on aggregate). The heartbreaking fact for Barcelona is that all they had to do was score one goal in this scenario. The Champions League tournament has an away-goal advantage to determine winners in tie-breaking situations. Since they had shut out Liverpool at home, they could have come away from Anfield with a win if they had scored a single goal. It sounds so simple, but Liverpool knew the stakes and they kept the margins tight. With that effort, they advanced to the Champions League Final. And the Anfield faithful sang the most powerful rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in decades.
Tottenham vs. Ajax - A Team of Destiny Meets an Untimely Fate
And now we come to this game. I felt sharp predicting Ajax to move on to the Champions League final as the surprise Cinderella of the ball. That prediction turned into a pumpkin before my very eyes on Wednesday night when Tottenham performed a second-half comeback. The fact that's wild to me is that Tottenham seemingly fielded two different teams over the course of this game. The team of the first half was what I predicted them to be. In the immortal words of NFL coach Dennis Green, "They are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!" While the Bears were stellar in 2006 and the Cardinals were awful, Dennis Green was right. They came into the game with a sound strategy and it was working perfectly for them until disaster struck with some offensive errors. In Ajax's case, their defense let them down in the worst way possible.
To break this match down, it's important to know they philosophy of the two coaches involved. Ajax's Erik ten Hag is the embodiment of a strategy called 'Total Football.' Popularized by Johann Cruyff when he coached Barcelona in the 90s, it became to soccer what the 'West Coast Offense' became in the NFL. It's a style that calls for short passes to maintain possession and a rotation of players to dynamically maintain formational positioning and shape as the offense moves up the field. So as one rotates out of a position to find space, a teammate will always be in that position as backup. That approach was the key to Ajax's success domestically and internationally.
On the other end, Mauricio Pochettino of Tottenham Hotspur kept a keen consistency of positioning and balance. As players maintained their formational shape, they were able to find holes in Ajax's constant shifting. This gave Tottenham a mental advantage in play as players didn't have to over exert themselves on attack or become uncomfortable as they absorbed Ajax's offense. The balance of Tottenham's 4-2-3-1 gave allowed them to play patiently and set up strong runs by their striker Lucas Moura. But Tottenham showed no signs of coming back in the first half. Aside from a close call shot by Son Hung-Min, there was very little life for the London squad. Ajax pulled two beautiful goals in the first half and looked like the clearly stronger team.
Ajax was going to win this game. They, in their minds, were meant to win this game. As they envisioned bringing glory to their home fans in Amsterdam, Ajax lost sight of the fact that the game wasn't over. They sat too comfortably in their 3-0 lead on aggregate. They were arrogant and that arrogance killed them. Three times Tottenham's Lucas Moura caught Ajax's defense sleeping or disorganized. And those three goals were enough for Tottenham to claim victory. Ajax had scored 1 away goal in London. All they had to do was shut out Tottenham and victory would have been theirs. But their youthful ignorance proved to be their downfall. They weren't ready to kill the spirit of an already diminished team.
That's soccer for you. These two games showed the best of the sport as two determined sides overcame the odds and steal away victories from superior teams. This week showed why I love this sport so much no matter who plays. As the world turns, so does the soccer ball. It sets chaos into motion and no prediction can ever be 100%. Statistical sage website 538 gave very little chance to Liverpool making it to the final and no chance at all to win it. The same goes for Tottenham. All of the analytics, moneyball, and science failed this week as heart, determination, and spirit took the driver's seat. What a wonderful game. Thank you for reading. As always, live well and watch more soccer.