Looking ahead to Wednesday night's tussle with Manchester City, Tata Martino claimed that he is less concerned by his team’s recent losses against Valencia, Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid because they were different types of games.
To an extent, that’s true, with Barca losing those encounters for a variety of unconnected factors: wasteful finishing against Valencia, defensive openness against Sociedad, and general listlessness against Valladolid.
However, when you also consider Barca’s defeats earlier this season against Athletic Bilbao and Ajax, a bigger picture starts to emerge, providing some kind of blueprint for the task facing City tonight: how to beat Barcelona.
Each of the five teams to have overcome the Catalan club this season shared one vital characteristic: a lack of fear.
Real Valladolid, for example, played with two out-and-out strikers as they attempted to impose themselves upon their more illustrious visitors, and it worked as Javi Guerra was involved in the goal while Manucho’s physical presence unsettled Gerard Pique all afternoon.
A fortnight earlier, Sociedad were even more positive, supplementing strikers Antoine Griezmann and Carlos Vela with attacking probes from midfield by Sergio Canales and David Zurutuza.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini, of course, opted for an entirely different approach in his team’s firstleg meeting at the Etihad Stadium, fielding Alvaro Negredo as a sole striker and leaving Samir Nasri onthe bench in favour of a converted defender, Aleksandar Kolarov.
Pellegrini can’t afford to be so negative again tonight, and should instead follow the lead of the teams who have enjoyed success against Martino’s side by attempting to take the game to the hosts as much as possible.
We already know what Barcelona will try to do: dominate possession, move the ball rapidly along the ground in an attempt to create space and gradually wear the City defence into tired submission.
That is how they like to play and opponents who set out with a defensive-minded strategy, as City did, are only inviting danger.
Instead of letting Barcelona do what they’re good at, City need to force them into the aspect of the game where they’re nowhere near as accomplished: defending.
Play Sergio Aguero with Negredo or Edin Dzeko, give Nasri and Jesus Navas the licence to charge down the wings and get David Silva near the opposition penalty area as much as possible.
That’s not the kind of game that Barca enjoy, and it’s not the kind of game they are good at.
