Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich UEFA Champions League 2014 - First Leg Estadio Santiago Bernabeu Wednesday, 23rd April 2014 19.45 CET 11.45 PT 2.45 ET Time Zone Converter They showed us it can be done. So let's do this! I've never lost a match thread and won't start now against some scum. Let's go!
I wonder if we will play the same tactics we used in the Copa final, if Ronaldo can't make it. Bayern look like a poor mans Barca and look like posession football has been forced upon them when they don't have the players to pull it off. I can see us taking advantage of their slow midfield and defence. Robben is a whole different story though and will need Isco playing his heroic role again. Wonder if Pep will play Lahm in midfield or RB. Common boys you can do this, just 3 games left and LaDecima is ours
If we advance, it'll be epic. If we don't, the Bayern fans will organize a massive troll invasion on this forum. I acknowledge Bayern are favorites, but we have sort of a momentum going on now. If Cristiano can play next week, that would be immense. We'll see what happens. Cautiously optimistic.
Should we play the same system even with Cristiano back? We could have Ronaldo in place of Benzema up top. Or switch thing round a bit, Bale on the right, Di Maria where Isco played. It would mean a lot more sacrifice for Bale, but possibly a greater danger on the counters if it were to work.
If Ronaldo is fit, it'll be a good dilemma to have. It'll be really harsh to drop Di Maria, despite Isco's class Copa final performance. I think Di Maria will start whatever happens, and justifiably so.
I'm thinking we should probably play the same strategy against them like Barca. I would like the same strategy because it worked and I believe it will work against Bayern. I would like them to open it up in the first 10 minutes to see how it is going before, for the lack of a better word, park the bus.
If Ronaldo is fit Bale will have to drop deeper to defend. He will probably play on the left and Di Maria on the right, with Alonso and Modric in the middle. That would be a sweet setup. One, just one mistake from Bayern back line and we have 3 runners + Benzema ready to charge forward and punish them. People who don't want us to play counter attack need to understand that it is a style that we have to deploy only against Barca and Bayern (Pep). We play open against all other teams. We don't have to prove anything to anyone and we definitely don't have to have to go into possession battle against them. The only problem against Barca was that we were at times under too long periods of pressure. We can't have that against Bayern, we need to brake free every couple of minutes just to disrupt their flow. Lahm is a very intelligent player, and if Rafinha get's the chance to play, he will be conservative. We need to exploit them on the left, because Alaba constantly drifts into midfield. Another thing I wanted to mention is the fact that Di Maria and Modric are extremely agile and reactive players. Schweini/Kroos/Thiago are just the opposite. We will find our chances in this game and I expect us to win it.
We can't just force Bayern to play on the wings like we did Barca. They have the wingers to hurt us and the target man to get to crosses they put in. It'll be a much harder game. I think their weakness is when you force them to play through the middle.
This is the answer. Our strategy worked against Barca because they have no ability to play through the wings, so we could crowd out the space near the top of the box and force them wide. Bayern will murder us if we give them that space on the wings, and they have real target men to put a pass in to. We might play similarly in terms of counter punching (in fact, we probably have to), but we will probably need to align a little different. We can't just sit in what is basically a 4-4-2 and play narrow defensively.
If everyone is healthy, Isco should be dropped. He's shown an ability to impact games as a sub, so if need be, we can insert him in. Di Maria has basically no experience doing that this year, so I wouldn't try to force him into a uncomfortable role, especially since he has been playing at such a high level. The only person other than Isco that we can drop is Benzema IMO. I don't like going with a false 9 in this game, though. We needed Benzema's hold up play to trigger our counters. Whatever we do, we need to be compact at the back, and keep them out of the goal. Tough, tough task, but deny them a road goal and we are favorites going into the 2nd leg, IMO, even if it is 0-0.
^ our record is very bad in Germany, to win this we need to go to Munich with 2-0, 4-1 or anything better than that 2-1, 1-0 and 0-0 are not the worst results but don't think they'd be enough Obviously if we lose at home it's pretty much over
Who cares if our record in Germany is bad? That's stuff for the media and fans to factor in. Winning in Bayern will be tough because they are great. Not because they are situated geographically in Germany. Otherwise we wouldn't have wiped out Schalke. Job 1 on Tuesday is to not allow a goal. If you get to Germany where us scoring 1 goal gives us the away goal tiebreaker, that is a huge. These teams are even, and there is a decent chance they are not separated over 2 legs.
He said: "Benzema to charge forward". Sorry i had to. Ah.... Playing Cronaldo and Bale at the same time does not compute in terms of proper defending. Utilizing the same tactics as against Barcelona to me sounds like suicide due to differences between Barca and Bayern ( oh yes they have the same coach - tiki-taka - possesion...its the same shit...sure it is yeah ). p.s: Isco must play, he started to defend not to mention he has shitload of quality going forward and would nicely complement the team.
I don't really agree. I guess it is a pick your poison. I feel like if he had been given the space that Bale, Benzema and Di Maria got against Barca, he would have scored a ton of goals. We really missed him. On the other hand, we wouldn't have been as strong defensively. I want him in there.
We missed a healthy Cristiano, the type of injury he has is tricky to rehab so quickly. I get Ronaldo at 50% is better than 90% of players at 100% and all that jazz but considering he wasn't exactly clinical in his own finishing before his injury, probably won't be sharp, and will most likely not be of any help defensively I personally would give him the extra week off and unleash him in Germany. There isn't a "right" answer here though that's why I said it's "almost" better.
I agree there isn't an answer. And I was kind of thinking the same thing you were about sitting really compact at home, making sure we don't concede an away goal, and then unleashing Ronaldo on the away fixture where the goals would count more. My reluctance there is that I don't trust our defense, even sitting tight and defending, to keep them out. I know Ronaldo basically doesn't play defense but one way where he helps our defense is that the other team can't be quite as aggressive knowing he is available on a counter. I do think that helps a great deal.
Just replace Benzema with Ronaldo in the line-up and have either Ronaldo or Bale playing more central, problem solved.
If there is a game we need attacking output it is this home leg. So I would play all of Cristiano, Benzema and Bale if they are ready.