No. No, there is nothing to worry about. As I said to Jim just before kick off, Barca hasn’t had a stinker yet this season while Bayern has been kicking dirt all season so far. But it goes well beyond just a bad game.
Granted, Barca looked really bad in the second half, Lewandowski couldn’t find his form, Dembele had exactly zero blazing runs down the sidelines, Pedri looked like he forgot today was game day and the rest of the team looked uninterested in getting to loose balls. Only Busquets looked like he was ready to play and would have been Barca’s man of the match. Nonetheless, if it hadn’t been for that 4 minute letdown, the game may well have ended 0-0.
Bayern’s strategy of constant pressure on the ball has been an effective strategy against Barca’s tiki-taka style of passing and possession in recent times and yesterday it was clearly evident again. Everytime Barca passed the ball there was a Bayern player or two flying in on the ball handler giving him very little time to move the ball effectively and accurately. Barca was far more effective in the first half bringing the ball up the field quickly and moving into the box. That was where all their chances came. Next time these two teams meet you can bet you’ll see more breakout attacks from Barca and less passing back to Ter Stegen.
Secondly, I have never heard the Bayern fans louder than they were yesterday. They were definitely the 12th man on the pitch and really had Bayern fired up. Without question, this was the best game Bayern have played this season. They got all the loose balls, all the deflections and calls. Back at the Bernabeu, things will be very, very different.
Barca was definitely robbed of a penalty when Dembele was brought down in the box. That was one goal Barca was denied. But not the first. Early in the game Barca dominated the chances and twice didn’t finish what normally would have been routine goals for Barca.
A short post perhaps, but long enough to explain why Barca fans need not panic at this time and moreover, why they should look forward to having a second shot at Bayern back at the Camp Nou.
Update: Well, it’s a few days later and FC Barcelona got back into the win column defeating Elche at the Camp Nou 3-0. Barca looked good from the opening kick off and dominated play throughout. Oh, and no tiki-taka style, just attacking, attacking, attacking.