Round: 2nd Venue: Santiago Bernebeu Stadium, Madrid Rules: 90 minutes, followed if necessary by extra-time (original rules with multiple goals possible in 30 minutes) and then if the scores are still tied a penalty shoot-out * Note - If you think the game will go to extra-time please choose that option (at the bottom end of the poll) and then you can say what you would choose for the score at full-time in normal time/90 minutes in the thread, as well as give details of how you'd see extra-time going Line-ups: (diagrams in following posts) Barcelona 08-09 - Victor Valdes; Dani Alves, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal; Yaya Toure; Xavi, Andres Iniesta; Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry. Barcelona 93-94 - Andoni Zubizareta; Albert Ferrer, Ronald Koeman, Miguel Angel Nadal; Josep Guardiola; Guillermo Amor, Ion Andoni Goikoetxea; Jose Maria Bakero; Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup; Romario. Voting deadline - 10th May 2015 (1 week from now) Main thread: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/1989-2014-fantasy-world-club-cup.2012816/page-22 Feel free to discuss the match and how you think it would play out, and then after you vote for a scoreline feel free to provide reasoning. If considering substitutions, please check the players were at the club in the relevant season and then you are free to consider 3 substitutions selected from the whole squad for each team, in the scenario you envisage
Barcelona 08-09 line-up: (With arrows of Messi and Eto'o indicating that they could swap/interchange positions, as well as that Messi would come infield quite a bit when playing from the right wing)
Neither team should be used to playing against tiki taka in a big knockout game especially against opponents of equivalent high quality. Thus neither team should be able to easily stop the other team. Hence, I see this being a high scoring affair with the 08-09 team coming through on top due to their superior overall quality (especially in midfield). So the final score that I predict for this game is a 4-2 (might go up to being a 4-3) in favour of the 08-09 team.
I'm also plumping for a 4-2....but only after extra-time....so 2-2 at full-time and then the 08-09 team scoring a couple during extra-time. I think the football would be intriguing throughout, and with plenty of similarities in style and many short passes. I do think the tika taka of Xavi and Iniesta would be factor throughout, although the 93-94 team does have plenty of players in there to try to disrupt the newer teams game and then begin knocking the ball around themselves. Guardiola finding the front players in good positions would be a danger for the 08-09 team, but Toure in 08-09 guise probably provides a bit better protection to the defence as well as being good on the ball and the 93-94 teams' defence has a big task - I'd expect Nadal would try to get close to Messi when he's on the right and challenge him before he enters the box, but I should think he'd get dribbled past/around a few times. Koeman would try not to leave much space in behind I should think, but he as well as Guardiola can be useful in switching long accurate passes (more lofted and longer than Guardiola's in general) towards the forwards. So Barcelona 08-09's passing in the middle might be a bit more systematic but polished. On the other hand aside from young Messi's dribbling and quickness, maybe the 08-09 team has less individuality in attack in terms of improvisation etc. Romario can flip the ball away from Pique and Puyol at times perhaps leading to a goal, and Laudrup when he comes deeper and more central might drift past a player before sliding a pass into a dangerous position and likewise that could set-up a goal quite easily. So both teams probably have a lot of moves involving many passes, but I think both attacks can make openings and stick the ball in the back of the net a couple of times each in the 90 minutes - it could even be more and of course one team could win the game at that point. In extra-time I think the factors that could sway things in the 08-09 teams favour are the fatigue that the 93-94 team might feel (possibly their midfield has done more chasing the ball, closing down in the middle of the pitch etc; older players in their team like Laudrup for a particular example would be running out of legs/energy probably), the continued metronomic passing of the Xavi-Iniesta inspired midfield combined with their closing down of defenders that they could probably still be carrying out deep into the game, and the fact that Messi, Eto'o and even ageing Henry would still be capable of going past the defenders in or near the box with pace and/or trickiness. I'm thinking of a two-way game for most of normal time but I'm favouring the 08-09 team to get the first goal in extra-time and then they could extend it as the 93-94 team tries to push on looking for an equaliser.