REAL MADRID - BARCELONA: the ONE CHANGE that Ancelotti Invented to Beat Xavi
"Real Madrid went through Riyadh like a sandstorm," - writes As journalist Fernando Tavero.
And this is a very accurate statement!
Two wins with a total score of 9:4! Wow!
Atlético was beaten with the ball, Barcelona without it.
Madrid won the first trophy of the season and today Football Club will tell you how Ancelotti annihilated Xavi with no single chance for Barcelona!
Like this video and let's get started! Lights out!
One detail that made all the difference!
"Vinicius and Rodrygo turned Barca's half of the pitch into a highway," said football experts after the match, and it was the most accurate summary of the game.
Xavi's starting plan completely failed and seemed to be completely trapped by Ancelotti. The Spanish coach decided not to invent anything and, in fact, duplicated last year's plan, which allowed him to defeat Madrid 3-1 victoriously. It was again a 4-3-3 formation with a false winger, which this time was played by Sergi Roberto instead of the injured Gavi, and despite all his efforts, he failed in his mission.
Araujo again took the position of right back to stop Vinicius, but here Ancelotti outsmarted his opponent, not sticking the Brazilian to the left side, but making him play as a second forward, who had enough freedom to confuse Barca's defense - Araujo could not move to the center very often, and Xavi did not switch Kounde and Ronald - this disconnect resulted in 2:0 inside the first 10 minutes of the game.
This was Anci's main success in this match - he was able to get into Xavi's mind, read his plan, and set up all the conditions for destroying Barcelona's plan, and then defeating the opponent.
Before the match, Barcelona's head coach talked a lot about "cruyffism" and the traditions brought by the Dutch genius. It was clear that Xavi wanted to control the game and Real's attacking actions through BALL CONTROL - it was planned to tie Madrid with control and pressure, but these two elements worked only occasionally.
Also, the midfield with Frenkie, Gundogan, Sergi Roberto, and Pedri, who was still not at 100% after his injury, was not the best idea, as the game proved. Barca performed better with Fermin, Felix, and Yamal on the pitch when Roberto, Ferran, and Pedri were off.
But let's go back to the execution of Xavi's game plan, which was... CATASTROPHIC!
How do you like this fact: inside the first 15 minutes of the game Madrid had over 70 percent of the possession. Incredible, isn't it?
'Xavi's players looked like a youth team trying to take the ball away from a professional side,' ESPN's Graham Hunter wrote after the match, and these words perfectly illustrate the level of pressure on Madrid, who started with a diamond in the middle of the pitch, with Tchouameni as the deepest unit, Bellingham as the highest, and Valverde and Kroos as the double center that gave the team the balance it needed.
Ancelotti's plan turned out to be a truly EXPLOSIVE MIX that simply destroyed Xavi's tactical plan: Barcelona had almost no advantage in the midfield - and don't be fooled by the Catalans' 58.3% vs 42.7% possession advantage. Madrid countered this with rapid counterattacks, which, in fact, killed the Blaugranas: when Barca lost the ball, Madrid's midfielders had easy passes to two very quick players in Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, and then the Brazilians started to create!
Another mistake Xavi made was the plan of a high defense line - let's face it - it was a genuine KAMIKAZE-MODE! Even though Barca have enough fast players in defense, the way Real broke through the defense was probably very painful for the Cules. Take, for example, the first goal of the match - here, the Blancos played very narrowly and were able to take advantage of the complete disorder in both Barcelona's midfield and defense, which lined up very high: Frenkie and Gundogan didn't agree on how to handle Bellingham, so Jude waited for Vinicius to run, who easily outsmarted Kounde, who played very poorly positionally.
As you can see, everything went together: poor pressing, a high defensive line, and Vinicius versus Kounde, not Araujo... The players lost positions and did not understand who and where to play and what to do - a complete misunderstanding of Xavi's plan for the game... Ancelotti won at that moment - it seems that at this point the battle for the Super Cup WAS won because immediately after the conceded goal it became clear that Barca mentally surrendered: Pedri made a poor pass, giving in to Real's pressure, and only Peña's save prevented the Catalans from conceding the second goal in a minute...