“It’s like there were four models there”

Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer has criticized Barcelona for playing a high line during their 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League. He went on to say that the defensive strategy was easy for Chelsea to penetrate and it also made the defenders ineffective.

Speaking to Amazon Prime after the match, Shearer complained about Barcelona’s inability to repel Chelsea’s attack. He said (via Barça Blaugranes):

“I’ve seen some offside traps during my career, but this is absolutely crazy. It’s like there are four dummies standing there saying ‘How do you guys want to do it?’. It’s hard to believe sometimes, I’m at a loss for words at how easily Chelsea qualified and how crazy they play sometimes.”

During the meeting, Hansi Flick’s team was dominated by Chelsea, who were good in attack and defense. Enzo Maresca’s men took advantage of the pace and genius of players like Pedro Neto and Estevao to penetrate Barça’s defense.

Meanwhile, the La Liga giants appeared to have failed in their offside trap as they were exposed defensively on numerous occasions. A situation which undoubtedly contributed to their ugly defeat.

Thus, Barcelona will have to win all their remaining matches if they want to secure direct qualification for the quarter-finals of the competition. They have scored seven points from five games and are ranked 15th in the UCL table this season.

‘Playing with a man down affected us’ – Marcus Rashford on Barcelona’s UCL loss to Chelsea

Barcelona winger Marcus Rashford has revealed that Ronald Araujo’s red card contributed to the defeat against Chelsea. He added that the team needed to improve in their next match in the competition.

In an interview after the 3-0 defeat to the Blues, Rashford said (via Barca Universal):

“At halftime we tried to regroup and analyze what was happening, but playing with a man down affected us a lot. We need to improve in the next game.”

Hansi Flick’s team arguably failed to create clear chances despite the presence of many experienced players in the match against Chelsea. However, they have a good opportunity to rewrite their wrongs when they face Eintracht Frankfurt at UCL on Tuesday, December 9.