Barca's biggest weakness in Bayern defeat shown in lineup

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Barca's biggest weakness in Bayern defeat shown in lineup

Barcelona lost again to Bayern Munich at Camp Nou in a game that meant no more than bragging rights for the home team.

Xavi started the game with four midfielders, setting up his team in a 4-4-2 formation.

The system worked like a charm against Bilbao last weekend, but against Bayern Munich, it was simply doomed to fail.

Here's why:

Barcelona were playing a high line against a team who had so many fast players like Sadio Mane, Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala.

Whoscored shows us just how high Barca were pressing:

Kounde and Alonso (Barca's centre-halves) were almost playing as central midfielders.

Bayern were always going to find those gaps to punish Barca on the break and they did - twice in the first half with Mane and Choupo-Moting latching on to Gnabry's through balls to hurt Barca.

Bayern's first goal came when they managed to isolate Bellerin with Mane - the Spaniard was no match for the Senegalese's pace.

The Germans' second goal came when Alonso couldn't track Choupo-Moting - same outcome.

In midfield, Barca were outplayed by Kimmich who looked sharper and quicker than the likes of Busquets and Kessie.

Barca's frailties were exposed by their visitors

The Blaugrana could barely sustain possession to create anything meaningful in the final third.

Dembele kept losing the ball and couldn't make a key pass in the game.

Xavi must learn not to set up his team to play so high up the pitch when playing against teams who are more creative and have better runners.

The 3-0 defeat only goes to show that Barca doesn't have the squad and tactics to compete in the Champions League right now.

AuthorKingsley_
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