Leverkusen Vs Barcelona: Barca on their way to the Quarter Finals

Barcelona went out with a full strength side minus Pique, Xavi, and Villa (who has sustained a long term Injury) and fielded their usual 4-3-3 formation. Leverkusen unsurprisingly went into the game to defend and fielded a 4-5-1 formation with one of the 5 players in midfield floating around in front of the defenders, a drastic change from their usual 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2 formations. In reality it was really a 10 man defense which Barcelona were up against. 

For 40 minutes, Leverkusen succeeded in limiting Barca's threat apart from 2 minor chances , 1 from a free-kick and another from a defensive error. At this point , Barcelona had a staggering 78% ball possession , the highest ever statistic recorded in the champions league for Ball Possession , and while they did break a record, they just couldn't find any chances as the Leverkuson boys were diligently closing down their players and reading the game quite well until the 41st minute, one of the few times where Leverkusen decided to push up. They were dispossesed in midfield and simply couldn't catch up with the speed of Barca's counter attack as Sanchez put the ball in the back of the net. The relief could be seen on Guardiola's face and his players. 

Sanchez's goal was a complete game changer. Leverkusen were so close to taking the 0-0 scoreline into halftime and give their players the rest they so desperately needed as it is not easy to close down Messi, Iniesta,  Dani Alves, Sanchez, and Pedro for 40 minutes. In addition, had the 0-0 scoreline persisted, it would've been a completely different half time team talk from Robin Dutt . Either way, with 4 minutes left, their plan was shattered. What now for the German team? Should they go out and look for an equalizer? Should they resume their defensive display? It's one of those times when very few people in the world would've liked to be in Dutt's shoes. 

So the second half began and it was apparent that Leverkusen had changed their mindset. It is the primary problem with playing a heavily defensive tactic (if you concede then you are forced to alter your side's mentality, which is quite difficult on the players mid game). 45 minutes ago, they were mentally prepared to go out and defend, and 45 minutes later, they are now instructed to attack. It just doesn't go down to well with the team. Either way, Leverkusen didn't appear to change much in their formation except that the defense and midfield were now further up the field. The game was somewhat more evenly matched and a dozen times more entertaining as both teams were now actually trying to score. Leverkusen grabbed the equalizer with a header from Kadlec 7 minutes into the second half. 1-1 was the score. 

Leverkusen barely had enough time to celebrate the goal as Sanchez struck again on the 55th minute from a wonderful defense splitting through ball from Fabregas (goes to show that sometimes you simply cannot defend against such quality). The game opened up a little more with both Barca and Leverkusen getting a handful of chances, with the left side of Leverkusen's defense being exploited continuously by Barcelona as Kadlec would often charge forward leaving plenty of space behind him with not enough men to cover. Finally, in the 88th minute, Messi put the game beyond doubt from a cross played by Dani Alves who charged forward into the acres of space in Leverkusen's left and had all the time in the world to deliver a well timed cross to the Argentine. 3-1 the final scoreline, and Barca can go into the second leg feeling quite comfortable. It is certainly not over yet, as we have seen team's make some mind blowing comebacks in the past. However, the possibility of this happening to Barcelona at Camp Nou is quite low. 

Final Thoughts: 

• Barca didn't look sharp enough in the first half and Xavi's presence really has an enormous effect in midfield. They produced a better display in the second half as some space opened up.
• Adriano and Iniesta really didn't link up that well on the right , and it was no surprise that all of Barcelona's goals came from the right. 
• Leverkusen had plenty of set pieces, and considering they do tend to score many goals from freekicks, they didn't really utilize their set pieces properly
• Leverkusen are a team that usually win a large percentage of the aerial duels, it was quite surprising that the team focused on keeping the ball on the floor playing short passes, instead of playing to their aerial strength. 
• Leverkusen need to score at least 3 goals in Camp Nou to have any chance of qualifying and with absolutely nothing  to lose in their away trip, I'm expecting a free flowing attacking game from both sides with plenty of goals.