Barça begins today the great challenge of the season, the Champions League. And the disappointments of the last two seasons in this competition make reaching the knockout stages a mandatory objective for Xavi’s Barça. Tonight, first stop. Here my keys for this meeting:
Today is a remarkably unequal match. And the difference in quality between the two templates is considerable. Still, in soccer, everything has to be demonstrated on the green. And for this, it is very important that the level of ball circulation as well as the attention level is very high. They are two essential ingredients so that superiority can be expressed later. As for the eleven, there will surely be rotations, but perhaps less than expected. The entrances of Íñigo or Marcos Alonso at the back, Gündogan in the middle and Raphinha up top seem highly probable. And it will also be viable to give more breaks in the second half if the match is approached well. Or what is the same, that the rotations necessary in this section can be distributed between the starting eleven and the changes.
It is an important meeting for several players. One of them is Raphinha, for whom ownership in the starting eleven has become more difficult than expected. And the huge emergence of Lamine and the good tone that Ferran Torres is showing this week has given Xavi several very valid options. Especially that of Lamine, a young talent who does everything well. Precisely for this reason, the Brazilian needs to continue his good minutes on Saturday against Betis (with a goal included). Today he will have to be active to participate a lot and be daring both in dribbling and shooting. A quality that Raphinha has very good.
Taking into account that Barça will be close to the opponent’s area for much of the game, they have to try to take advantage of a marked weakness of the Belgian team: the defense of the area. Van Bommel’s team has serious difficulties with heights and profiles but, above all, they do not know how to distinguish brand priorities according to situations. And they usually score based on proximity, not proximity. Precisely for this reason, the entry of several attackers into the area at the same time will be a very good practice. And if Barça knows how to do it, Antwerp will get messy and leave some of the finishers alone.
In a match at Barça they will have enormous control of the ball and territory, it will be important for the full-backs to be a helping factor also in the final third. Even more so before the two populated lines of the Antwerp. So they will have to be super active by joining the attack to bend the wingers outside. With this maneuver, you will force your wide players to decide who to go with and, therefore, a passing lane will be opened. The one that the defender or defenders do not cover.
Arthur Vermeeren is the big name of this team. The midfielder, only 18 years old, is a very interesting footballer. He is a dynamic player, very complete and with remarkable vision of the game. He has played in all six games between the League and the Champions League and is a fixture for Van Bommel. He has two goal assists and has a huge future ahead of him. Something that has made the big teams notice him, including Barça. It is also necessary to talk about Kerk. A fast and highly mobile attacker. He makes simple tactical moves but does them with perfect timing. And then, highlight Vincent Jansen. He doesn’t have great quality but he is the reference man for Mark Van Bommel’s team. He offloads balls and pivots well near the area. One of those footballers who feel comfortable when they have to deal hand-to-hand with defenders. He has a good finish. With four goals to date, he is Antwerp’s top scorer.
