[0:14]Hello, and welcome. We are to talk FCB, and welcome back to the channel here tonight, guys, where yet again in the Champions League knockout stages, it's disappointment. It is disappointment, it is frustration, it is anger, it is hurt.
[0:29]At this stage of the competition, and the problem is tonight, guys, and why we're all so despondent right now, you know, I get the good team, you know, at this stage of the Champions League, you can get beat, it can happen. But I think the way that we continue to lose, the way that we continue to beat ourselves in knockout football, at the European elite level, it's a nightmare. It is an absolute disaster. It is a different year, but the same story. I mean, how many more times are we going to have individual errors at the back? Tonight, it's a red card for Pow, Kubarsi. It's been other players in the past, of course. And at the same time as well, not only about the red card, but missed chances in front of goal. When the stakes are high, when it really, really matters,
[1:21]we just don't step up. We do not perform. And look, I don't doubt the heart tonight. I don't doubt the hunger. I think the players want it. I think the players, even when they went down to 10, they came out the second half. They continue to try, they continue to push and try and do their best. But it's not enough. We continue to fall down when it matters most, and you've got to question that. You have to question that here because again, if you make the same mistakes every year, something's got to give. You know, you can't continue on this path. You can't continue just doing this every year. It's demorazing. It's draining. It's so irritating here. We've done it to ourselves. We have beaten ourselves yet again. And I know it's only the first leg. I know there's still 90 minutes to come, but we've got a mountain to climb now. Because okay, then. Let's start at the beginning. Let's talk first of all about the starting lineup for Barca, because on the face of it there, I think it's a pretty decent lineup from Hansi Flick. I think he makes the decisions that he should do. I think he's limited in what he can do. I think Kunde coming back in at right back was the right call. He did end up going off in the end, of course. The defense was very much disrupted by the red card in that first half. And in midfield, I do think we had problems tonight. I really, really do. I think we badly missed Mark Benell. I think his physicality in a game like this, I think his presence in midfield. And I also think as well, he's the kind of player who might have gotten a goal tonight. You know, there was lots of balls into the penalty area. You were looking for runners, particularly in that second half when we were pushing. He's the kind of player you want in there. He's the kind of player you want in amongst it as well from set pieces. So I do think we missed Mark Benell in the team tonight. And don't forget about Pedre as well. We had to take him off at half time. And I mean, I say we have to. We didn't have to. I mean, he was on a yellow card. I understand he flicked and okay, you know, we don't want to risk going down to nine men. I mean, obviously we don't. I mean, it was incredible really that Pedre picked up that yellow, that Coke was, was gladly still on the pitch. He only had a yellow as well in that first half. But yeah, Pedre was the one with the yellow, and he had to be withdrawn. So that, of course, took away massively from our midfield. I mean, you got your mal, who's always looking to make things happen. Rashford as well's very, very effective in those early stages. But what I want to say right here is what did we see in the number nine role? Now, I've been banging on about this, and I know it's irritating, I know it's annoying, I know it's like, okay, just shut up now. You've spoken about it so much. But we don't do anything in that area. Tonight it was Lewandowski from the start. At the weekend we tried to go without a nine. Even tonight we brought on Fermine, we had Olmo playing in there as well. And we had Ferran, nobody did anything. You cannot win at this level, playing this system where you do concede goals, where you do concede chances, you cannot win without a center forward. And what I would do tonight, guys, you know, if you want to analyze where Barca are in terms of attacking options, in terms of strikers, I can actually make a case that maybe three or four Atletico Madrid forwards, they'd get in our team tonight. They would get in our best team and players our number nine. I mean, look at the options that they have here. They bring Solot off the bench. He couldn't even get in their team. Comes on and scores. I mean, they've got a wealth of attacking options. They don't even play attacking football half the time. But it works out for them. Barca tonight offered nothing when we badly, badly needed it. And that's why we leave this game without a single goal. But here's the thing. I thought we started the game really well. I thought the atmosphere was really, really good inside the camp. Now, it'd been a long time since a game of this magnitude of been played at our home. It was a really vibrant atmosphere. It was a very open start to the game. You know, both teams are coming out, they're attacking, they're trying to play. And Rashford in particular, you know, right throughout that first half, he had a number of serious openings there whereby Atletico Madrid, they couldn't get near him. Whether he was cutting inside, whether he was going round the outside. He had them beat for pace. He was getting a lot of space, Jamel was able to find him. And again, you're looking for the finish. That's what you're looking for here. You take your chances. You take on those big moments, because if you get the lead in a game like this, it's a whole different kettle of fish. You know, it's a whole different environment there inside the stadium. The fans get behind you, Atleti then start to really feel the pressure. We didn't get that early goal. You know, we had openings, we had a few glimpses of goal, but we were unable to get that first goal in this game. And Atleti do, they were causing danger though. You know, they do have a number of really good attacking players. Like I say, Julian Alvarez was causing problems early doors. He had a chance there that he couldn't quite put away. Adam Lukman as well on the left hand side. He was linking up well. He was also cutting in and spraying passes and really, really causing danger. So Atleti clearly was causing a threat. You know, they have players there who can hurt Barca. We've seen that throughout the whole course of the season. I mean, it's not our first rodeo, is it? We've faced Atletico so many times this season. We know what they can do. They know how to hurt us. They know how to get behind our system. And you know what? The the goal or, you know, whatever leads to the goal, what leads to the red card, it's exactly the same as we saw on the weekend.
[6:33]It is Giuliano Simeone with that same run. You know, he scored from it on Saturday. You think, okay, we'll be aware of that now. You know, we'll understand the threat. We'll we'll keep track of those runs. We'll make sure that we really do stay on him and block off that supply. It just happens again. You know, we allow that same, the exact same run right down the middle of the field. You know, he's not in secret here. He's not done anything clever. He's not disguised it in any way. It's a basic run right between our center backs there.
[7:07]And obviously then, Kubarsi gets in a situation where he feels, okay, I've got to do something. Now, my problem with all players in this situation when it happens at Barca, you have to get it right. If you don't get that tackle right, you throw the whole game. You throw the whole game, it happens. That is what is going to happen here. If you choose to do something, because you don't have to.
[7:39]Because like I've said before, many, many times, this is an open Barca system. You have to accept, you're going to concede chances, there's going to be players around the back, there's going to be golden opportunities for the opposition. As a Barca defender, you almost have to hold your hands up and say, we've got to accept that. There will be occasions where what you need to do is back your goalkeeper. You have got there between the sticks a world class goalkeeper in Joan Garcia. It is the first half of a Champions League quarter final. Just let it happen. Let it happen. I know it's hard. I know the temptation is there to go and win that ball back, to make the hero's tackle. But it's not worth the risk. It is not worth the risk. Because what happens here? I think it's soft. I do. I think it's a really soft red card. I understand why it's given. I think nine times out of 10, you're going to get it. I think when the yellow card came out, I was actually surprised. I thought, you know what? That's going to be a red. They're going to overturn it. It's going to be a red card. If that's a foul, it has to be a red. It's a clear goal scoring opportunity. But yeah, there's not much contact. There is not much contact there between Kubarsi and Giuliano. But just stay clear. You've got to accept it's going to happen. Because then we've got time to turn it around. Even if Joan Garcia doesn't make the save. Even if we concede, we at least still have 11 men out there to do it. You're at least still on that level footing. Don't give them a man advantage. And you know what's just made it 50 million times worse. We give away the red card. We go down to 10 men. We think, okay, at least we've stopped the danger. What happens then? Julian Alvarez steps up, rockets the free kick in the top corner. Now look, it's a wonderful goal. It is an absolutely spectacular free kick from him. But you've just got the worst possible situation there unraveling for Barca. You've taken the red from that free kick. Atletico score anyway. So not only have we conceded a goal, we've also gone down to 10 men. And then from that moment on, I mean, it's just we're up against it. You know, Atleti are a good team, they're well organized. They understand what they have to do. They manage games well. And particularly away from home. They haven't been good this season. They are not a good team playing away from home. But once they had that lead and they had the man advantage, suddenly they had the confidence of, okay, we could get another here. You know, we wait for our moment, we wait for our opportunity. Because I've got to say, like I say, Barca came out, they did well. I actually thought in the second half, especially at the start there, we were playing like a team who had 11 men. I thought it was a very impressive display, considering we were a man down, considering there was a lot of threat going the other way. I thought we were playing well, but again, you're lacking the finish. Where's the finishing touch? You can create all that you like. You've got your playing wizardry passes over the top, playing players in. If you don't have a goal scorer, if you don't have a player there who can knock serious numbers, it won't happen for you. You are not going to compete at this level. And that leaves it wide open for Atleti to counter. They were waiting, they were looking, they were looking for their opportunity. And they get it. Like I say, you bring somebody like Solot, the quality that he has off the bench, and he makes it two nil Atleti. Now, in my opinion, it's a massive, massive way back now for Barca. Because yes, it's only 90 minutes. Yes, now we go to the Metropolitano, it can be a completely different game. We've made a number of comebacks, and you wouldn't want to rule out this Barcelona team. But like I say, for me, with Atleti, the weakness is them playing away. That's what we saw in the Copa del Ray. They were brilliant in the first leg at home. They came to the camp now, and they collapsed. You know, we beat them three nil on the day. Should have been more. We could have gotten more goals against them. They absolutely collapsed on that occasion. They do not play well away from home. The fact that they have come to this game in the first leg away and won two nil, that is a massive problem now. You know, we have an almighty task to turn this around at their home where they're so good. They've got their pitch that, you know, there's a lot of questions about that Atletico Madrid pitch, you know, is it right, is it not? We don't know. But they're used to it. They play on it. They play very well at home. They've got the fans behind them. They've got a lead now to protect. This is Diego Simeone's idea of Dreamland. You know, this is exactly what he would have wanted. And the worst part is, we basically handed it to them. Atletico Madrid tonight, they didn't have to do anything extraordinary. The one moment of magic, you'd say, was from that free kick from Julian Alvarez. It's a wonderful, wonderful goal. But we handed them there a man advantage on a platter yet again early in the game. We shoot ourselves in the foot. And that is so disappointing. It's the same mistakes. It's the same errors. When does it end? You know, when do we do something different? When are we going to mix it up a bit? We can't take this anymore. We genuinely, we're on the edge right now, guys. You know, we want to succeed in the Champions League. How much longer does this drought go on for? How much longer does this heartache continue? Please do let me know, guys, tonight, you know, what do you think of it? You know, what what's going through your mind right now? When that red card happened, what emotions did you have? And going into the second half, do you feel as though Barca were in the game? Do you feel as though we were unlucky in any way tonight? Or did we get what we deserve? And what are your feelings ahead of the second leg at the Metropolitano? I'll be waiting for all of your thoughts and all of your feelings right now. Shocking night. Horrible feelings right now. But we've got to try. We have to hang in there somehow. We've got to find it deep within us to keep on fighting here. The tie is not over yet. But we need a miracle. We need an absolute miracle in Madrid. Thank you indeed for watching here, guys, for making it here onto the match review. I do appreciate that on what has been such a difficult occasion, and I will see you soon. But until next time, as always, Visca El Barca.
