At noon the day after the game against Zenit St. Petersburg, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, UEFA Secretary-General Infantino hosted the meeting, with Breitner, the ambassador of the final venue in Munich, Germany, as the guest.
Champions League quarter-final draw.
The draw rules are the same as before, all teams are disrupted and drawn randomly.
At the same time, lots were drawn for the upper and lower halves, which were the semi-finals.
Even before the draw, Guardiola revealed in an interview with the media after the second leg of the knockout round of the top 16 that he was not too worried about the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals.
If he could choose to avoid a certain team, he hoped not to encounter Manchester City so early.
"Gao Shen is one of the greatest coaches in the history of football. We are very good friends. They are now the leaders of the Premier League and cup champions. In the past year, his team has won many championships. They are the first team in European football.
The best team in the world.”
"Yes, we are the best too."
"So, I don't think it would be a good choice for the two best teams to meet in advance."
Catalan media revealed that one of the important reasons why Guardiola did not want to face Manchester City too early was that left back Abidal's liver cancer had recurred.
After undergoing surgery last year, Abidal quickly made a miraculous comeback and won a lot of applause. However, just a few days ago, he was diagnosed with recurrence of liver cancer. This time the situation is more dangerous and requires a liver transplant.
This disrupted Guardiola's rotation plan.
After all, Abidal was unable to play, and Barcelona's only left back was Peruvian left back Vargas.
From a high-level standpoint, he doesn't want to meet Barcelona so early, but things in the world are most likely not going as planned.
In the random draw, with the probability of choosing one out of seven, Manchester City chose Barcelona.
Another matchup in the same half is Manchester United and Benfica.
…
When the draw results came out, Barcelona technical director Zubizarreta was interviewed by media reporters at the draw site.
As for being drawn against Manchester City, he described it as "Mars hitting the Earth".
"The result of the draw will not change anything, we can only accept it calmly."
"Guardiola did say that he did not want to meet Manchester City, but in the end he was drawn against Manchester City. I think this is a kind of fate. No opponent in the Champions League quarter-finals will be easy."
"Yes, we definitely hope to be the protagonist of the Champions League final because we have reached the Champions League final three years in a row."
"But to do that, we have to advance!"
According to the draw schedule, Barcelona will play at home in the first leg and go to Manchester in the second leg, playing home and then away. Zubizarreta said that this will help Barcelona seize the opportunity.
"I'll tell you the truth, at Camp Nou we have a certain psychological advantage."
"I know, I know, many people will tell me that in the finals of the past three seasons, we met Gao Shen twice, and we lost both times, and the other time we won the championship, I know."
"But what I want to say is that this time it is different because the knockout round is not a final, it is two rounds."
"We will take the lead at home first."
"We are never afraid of any opponent at Camp Nou. We are confident in this and this time will definitely be no exception."
Manchester City CEO Gary Cook also attended the draw ceremony and said in an interview at the scene that Barcelona was indeed not a good draw, but it was still within Manchester City's acceptance range.
"There is no doubt that Barcelona is the strongest among all potential opponents, but for us, it is the same with anyone we encounter."
Gary Cook revealed that before he left for Switzerland, he called head coach Gao Shen and asked him about the draw. "He just replied with three words, the same thing!"
…
They could only express their excitement in front of the media, but after the real draw results came out, Gao Shen and the coaching staff did not dare to be careless at all.
The coaching staff immediately called up videos of Barcelona's past few games, especially after Abidal's absence, the second leg of Barcelona's round of 16 knockout match against Leverkusen, when Barcelona bloodbathed Leverkusen 7-1 at Camp Nou.
Abidal was absent and Vargas took his place.
Messi played very bravely in this game and scored five goals, but his position was a bit erratic.
This is mainly because Guardiola sent Fabregas on.
The front three became Aguero, Messi and Cesc Fabregas.
But the positions of these three players are also very interesting. They are all concentrated in the middle and ribs of the frontcourt, leaving them open to the wings.
Of course, with the personal abilities of Aguero and Messi, they can pull out at any time and cause trouble on the wing.
But more often than not, they still gather in the middle and the two ribs, forming a small-scale continuous cooperation in the middle.
"There were many goals in this game, eight, but in fact there were not many shots. Barcelona shot eighteen times, while Leverkusen only shot one." Chief analyst Carlos Vargas spread his hands with a wry smile.
The strength of the two teams is not at the same level at all.
Barcelona's ball possession rate is close to 80%, while Leverkusen's possession rate is only over 20%.
In terms of the number of passes, Barcelona is almost four times that of Leverkusen. The pass success rate is 90% for Barcelona and 70% for Leverkusen.
It can be said that in terms of offensive and organizational data, Leverkusen is completely at a disadvantage.
"Look at the shot placement and the passing lanes," Carlo said.
Carlos Vargas immediately extracted relevant data, including the locations of Barcelona's eighteen shots, and more than a thousand passing routes, which were densely packed and intertwined like an intricate spider web.
Against Leverkusen, Barcelona did not need to use all their main players because they already won the away game 3-1 in the first round.
But Guardiola still came out fully equipped, especially in the midfield and backcourt. Messi and Aguero also played in the frontcourt.
It's obvious that he is trying to create tactics for Cesc Fabregas.
In this way, Sanchez was sacrificed.
Whether it is Sanchez, Aguero and Messi in the past, or Aguero, Messi and Fabregas now, Barcelona's characteristics are actually very similar, that is, they rarely make crosses.
This is not unreasonable.
A truly threatening pass requires breaking through the opponent's entire defense and successfully passing the ball to the goal, but this is not easy.
In more cases, the efficiency of the bottom pass is very low.
Especially for a team like Barcelona that lacks a center forward.
Therefore, they are more willing to pass the ball and cooperate in a small area.
From the perspective of the passing route, it is very messy and complicated, but in fact there is a thread to follow.
For example, if you isolate threatening passes, you can find that they are basically concentrated in the middle of the frontcourt and the two rib areas, and basically do not go to the wings.
Even if the two full-backs, Vargas and Alves, move forward, they basically don't go down the wing.
The areas on both sides of the penalty area and the corner kick area were unusually empty.
Carlo is an assistant coach. He and the coaching staff focused on the data from Barcelona's game against Leverkusen and several other games, studying Barcelona's tactics and possible styles of play, especially the analysis of advantages and disadvantages.
Gao Shen just sat there the whole time, spinning his pen and listening to their discussion.
It's interesting to say that the pen on the tip of Gao Shen's finger will never fall off no matter how he turns it.
It is said that this is a skill he has developed over the past twenty years.
"Gao, can you tell me?" Carlo felt that it was almost done, so he turned around.
Everyone else also looked over.
They are all used to advanced ways of holding meetings and analyzing problems.
He seems to be writing all the time, but in fact, he is constantly thinking, analyzing, and listening.
"The game against Leverkusen was another move from Guardiola, probably prepared for us."
When he said this, Gao Shen laughed rudely.
He really wasn't bragging, Guardiola probably thought so.
"I don't know if you noticed, but in another game, he used three defenders."
Everyone immediately looked at Carlos Vargas, who immediately nodded, "Yes, in the league, we played one game, Puyol, Thiago Motta and Pique formed a three-back, Juan.
"Vargas did not play, Sanchez and Alves played on the wings of the midfield, which looked a bit like a three-four-two-one position."
Aguero is not on the front line either. The second choice is the combination of Cesc Fabregas and Iniesta.
In other words, Guardiola has actually been trying and studying to integrate Fabregas into Barcelona's style of play, let alone playing three-four-three and four-three-three, allowing Fabregas to
Playing as a false center.
There is actually a set of logic behind this.
It's not even a secret anymore, that is, the running ability of Barcelona's midfielders is declining.
Xavi is already 32 years old, and he can no longer provide such a wide range of movement and aggressive pressing as he did before.
There are also Iniesta and Messi, they all have similar problems.
And everyone knows that when Barcelona's midfielders' running ability declines, what follows is a decline in control.
then what should we do?
The easiest way is to add more people inside.
What used to be done by three people, now only one more Fabregas is crammed into it.
This is quite effective in strong conversations.
For example, in this game against Leverkusen, Barcelona had nearly 80% of the ball, and Leverkusen even had only one shot in the game.
Can you imagine, what is that concept?
Of course, Leverkusen didn't just take one kick, which is impossible, but five long-range shots failed to result in a shot. As soon as the kick was taken from the outside, it was blocked by Barcelona and was not counted as a shot.
.
What an amazing advantage this is, and it happened in the knockout round of the Champions League round of 16!
"I'm thinking now that he may not play with four backs, but maybe with three backs."
Gao Shen's words actually made everyone present look at each other.
Carlo shook his head with a wry smile, "Do you two have to torment us like this?"
When the others heard this, they all laughed bitterly.
The duel between Gao Shen and Guardiola is really exciting in every game.
But in a sophisticated way, this is mainly due to Guardiola's lack of confidence.
"I'm very clear-headed and confident. I don't have as many twists and turns as him. I know exactly how to kill Barcelona!"
The profound tone is quite the demeanor of an understanding king.
