Brave Barca shoot blanks

FC Barcelona drew 0-0 at home in that Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester United. Considering their recent indifferent form, the draw was not a particularly bad result, though not fantastic either. At least they didn't lose. But it would have been so much better if they managed to have got the win they so richly deserved for their domination. Even a 1-0 win would have been a good result to take into the second leg.

I woke up early this morning to watch the match. It could have started horribly for Barca - they conceded a penalty in the third minute, thanks to Milito's silly & completely unnecessary handball. But Man Utd star Cristiano Rolando missed badly from the spot. A let off for Barca, who then proceeded to control the rest of the match. In general play, Barcelona absolutely pulverised Man United, having at least 65% possession (some sources have it as much a 73%) & constantly attacking the English club, creating some good chances too. But unfortunately, for all their attacking waves, they fired blanks & failed to score. Viewers might have recognised some shades of Arsenal in Barca's play - all style, imaginative passing & entertaining attacking football, but with little or no end product. Watching the match unfold, it's not so difficult now to see why Barcelona have struggled in the Spanish league this season - they don't score enough goals. If you don't take your chances, you can't expect to win many matches. The Barcelona of a couple of seasons ago would have annihilated Manchester United, because that side never had problems putting the ball in the back of the net.

Overall, I was very happy with Barcelona's performance, which while not totally marvellous, was nevertheless good & impressive enough in light of their recent indifferent form. Where some might expect them to be nervy, they were brave. They comprehensively played Man Utd off the park. This Man Utd, remember, are famed for their high-tempo, speedy & lethal attacks. We saw none of that from them. Instead, we only saw one team trying to entertain & win, & that's Barcelona. I've never seen Man Utd play so defensively & cagily, & I'm not sure why. Was it because they feared being carved apart by Barcelona? Were they saving a bit of energy for this weekend's top of the Premier League clash with Chelsea? Who knows....

There were some encouraging performances from some of Barcelona's players. Lionel Messi, the young Argentinian prodigy who returned from injury, played well. Yaya Toure was superb & tireless in midfield, & Deco (who also came back from injury) didn't play too badly either. Defensively as a unit, they don't look totally convincing (though Marquez had a good game - shame he'll be suspended for the second leg), but it wasn't really an issue because Barcelona mostly attacked throughout the match.

The decisive semi-final second leg at Old Trafford will be different, as United will certainly be more adventurous in front of their home crowd & play their normal attacking game. This will allow Barcelona to find more space for their attackers to do some damage. But on the other hand, it's also hard to see Barcelona keeping a clean sheet against United. Though I'll still say United will probably go through to the final, anything can happen now. The 0-0 draw, while not great, isn't too bad for Barcelona, because United failed to score an away goal. So any goals Barcelona manage to score at Old Trafford will count double, i.e. whatever goals Barcelona score, United must outscore them. So if both sides score the same number of goals, Barcelona will go through on away goals.

For the second leg, I think Barcelona must start with Henry - he has a good record against United when he played for Arsenal, & the experience of having played against United would help Barcelona. Puyol will be back in defence, to replace the suspended Marquez. Apart from that, Barcelona should pretty much stick to the same players that started the first leg match. And hopefully they can at least reproduce the first leg performance at Old Trafford. Of course, it will be difficult in United's own backyard. But they should just try to play their normal game, not make silly mistakes. Then they will have a good chance. Win or lose, I'll be behind FC Barcelona all the way.