hold it here! a look inside the attacking performance of barca in the cwc final

The pretty sad thing for Santos in the Club World Cup final is that nearly every goal could have been prevented if the center backs could clear the ball. However that did not happen and as we know FC Barcelona went on to defeat the Brazilian club 4-0. This is a little look into just where Barca attacked from, how the goals were created, and where the shots from the players came from.

If you watched the final you know that Messi and Xavi ran the show. Now here is a little look into just how much.



Shots from FC Barcelona in the 1st half of the CWC final

red = shot on target
blue = shot off target
orange = shot on target but more of a cross

My view of shots and the view of FIFA and others is slightly different as you can tell. FIFA stats only had Barca with 6 shots on target for the entire match. That is just impossible if you go back and watch again.

Messi lead the way with 3 shots on target in the 1st half. However one of the shots was more of a chip to find a player so if you wish Messi had 2 shots on target and 1 off target. One of the shots was his goal from Xavi. That essentially means that Messi scored on 33% of his shots at the goal in the 1st half. Here is a look at the first goal of the match from Messi...


It's important to note here that the Santos defender did get a foot to Xavi's ball to Messi once again bringing up the point that Santos did have a chance to clear the ball and prevent this movement from happening.






The second goal of the match was perhaps the most impressive. Not just because it was Xavi that scored but that it showed just how influential Messi can be without touching the ball. Goals such as this go into showing how much respect Leo gets when going forward.


Even in this image you can see just how much Messi draws the defenders leaving room for other players to attack. In many ways the secret to the attack of Barca is more about the movement of players than the movement of the ball from a pass.






The 3rd goal of the half was a class in how not to defend. While the movement once again from Barca was incredible this goal is more about not clearing the ball when you have the chance.


Messi staying up instead of going down does allow for more space for Thiago and Cesc to get into the box. However none of this would have been a problem if Santos could clear the ball.





Unsung hero of the 1st half
Thiago

While I mentioned that Messi lead the way with 3 shots in the 1st half, Thiago also had 3 shots. He was a bit unlucky to score and the majority of the attack was started down the left hand side where he was positioned or when he cut into the middle.

Of the 11 shots in the 1st half 3 were down the left (27%), 4 were in the middle (45%), and 3 down the right (27%). All 3 of Barca's goals were scored in the middle. Of the 3 shots on the right however 2 were off target (66%. one shot from Iniesta one shot from Alves). 2 of the 3 shots from the left were on target. One of the 2 on target hits was the Cesc strike that hit the post.


Here is a time log of the shots from the 1st half that I counted.

12:21 - messi (on target)
12:23 - thiago (on target)
12:56 - iniesta (off target)
16:22 - messi (on target:goal)
19:19 - messi (on target-ish)
20:14 - thiago (off target)
23:10 - xavi (on target:goal)
28:36 - cesc (on target:post)
30:20 - alves (off target)
44:19 - alves (on target)
44:21 - thiago (on target)
44:22 - cesc (on target:goal)







Shots from FC Barcelona in the 2nd half of the CWC final

red = shot on target
blue = shot off target
orange = shot on target but more of a cross


The 2nd half of the final was all about Barca being in cruise control. The game was essentially over and as such we see that there are less shots this half than the first. Barca put 8 shots on the goal with 3 of them (38%) being off target.


The only goal of this half came from Messi from a great play by Dani Alves.


The whole goal was created from Alves not giving up and fighting for the ball. The half saw more quality chances go the way of Santos and without Valdes coming up big on a few occasions we might have seen a different match.




Unsung hero of the 2nd half
Valdes

As mentioned above without Valdes coming up clutch on a few key saves in the 2nd this match could have been different. Barcelona backing off a bit allowed Santos a few more looks. Neymar had 2 very good chances and each time Valdes was there to snuff it out.


Here is a time log of the shots from the 2nd half that I counted.

45:44 cesc (on target)
51:55 alves (off target)
53:24 messi (on target)
55:19 iniesta (off target)
77:35 cesc (on target)
79:12 alves (on target:post)
81:56 messi (on target:goal)
88:56 alves (off target)







MAN OF THE MATCH
Dani Alves



For the majority of the match Dani Alves played as a right winger. It is always talked about how he is a better attacking player than defensive player and while he was never really called on to defend this match certainly showed his attacking flair. Alves was directly involved in 3 out of the 4 goals in the match and could have arguably scored one on his own. He tormented Santos the entire match and they had no answer for him. While many will point out this was the Xavi and Messi show the real star was the Brazilian who might have shown everyone that he really is the best right back in the world.



While Santos did show more in the 2nd half (Ganso was quite good) they never really had enough control of the ball to really make a difference. One could argue perhaps that Santos could have scored a goal or two but it didn't happen and as a result we have a very lop sided victory. The entire Barca midfield was spectacular (I did not even mention how good of a match Busquets had) and Santos just could not match up with them. Messi put on a show and gave everyone something to talk about again. This final could not have been more different than the one in 2009 and that is a very good thing.