How Arsenal can stop Barcelona in Champions League final

The 24th Edition of the UEFA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE -The last to feature the Old Group Stage Before It becomes a single 18-team table next season-Awaits its final showdown in lisbon on saturday. Barcelona Are in the showpiece evening for a third-star season, looking to do a three-peat, and face ArsenalWho is still the only English side to Lift the Trophy Back in 2006-07.

The Previous Four Meetings in the Champions League are split even (Two Wins for Arsenal in 2012; Two Wins for Barcelona in 2021). In fact, both tims have scored the exact same number of goals (8) Across these matches.

Given their recent history of success, barcelona will be huge favorites. How on Earth Can Arsenal Stop Them?

Deny Barcelona Space in Behind

Arsenal has a season of two halves. After the resignation of jonas eidevall in October, His Replacement, Renee Slegers, Picked Up 43 Out of 54 Possible Points in the Women’s Super League (WSL), with 3.2 Goals Per Game (The Best Rate in Competition History), to Finish Second in the Table – 12 points adrift of Sonia Bompastor’s Unbeaten Chelsea.

Mariona CaldenteyWho signed from barcelona over the summer, has been at the heart of the gunners in Attack, Winning The Season Award after She Finished 14 Goal Contributions (Nine Goals and Five Assists). But slegers’ side has been error-prone at the back, with only Brighton (18) and Tottenham hotspur (14) Making more Errors leading to shots than them (13).

Arsenal has also struggled to cover the space boyind their defense while playing a high defensive line. This has been left exposed in their recent encounters against teams with abale runners (EG, Manchester united, Aston Villa And West ham united), Often turned games in an end-to-end basketball contest. It is notable that conceded 14 goals be upon their last three games of the sea, and 12 in those three.

Barcelona Certainly has the attacking players to take Advantage. They have been the best team in europe for the past few year and this season, they’ve scored 171 goals in 40 Games Across League f And the champions League, an asonishing rate of 4.27 goals per game.

Poland striker Ewa PajorWho joined the club in the summer of 2024, has scored a club-resord 43 goals in all comments this season, including five hat tricks, and has added a difference to Barcelona’s Style of Play.

At the defensive end, Pere Romeu’s Side has caused just 23 goals in this period, with 10 of the final 20 minutes when they have an unassillable lead. They are a tough nut to crack, have list only three times in all comets this year: Twice in the League (2-1 to Levante; 3-1 to Real madrid) And once in the champions League (2-0 to Manchester City). That’s the same number of losses as their past two seasons combined.

There are learnings from each of the defeats that can serve as the blueprint for arsenal in lisbon.

Press Them in Possession

Taking a leaf out of the playbooks of Real Madrid and Manchester City, the one commune that emerges is pressing. Both tims adopted a front-foot aggressive style when barcelona tried to built out from the back, although they execute it in different.

Alberto Toril’s Madrid Forced Barcelona Into A Corner, Preferably on the Right Side, Creating a Sense of Urgency in their passing that helped when to play below -pertage long bels. Indeed, 11% of Barcelona’s Total Passes Were Long Balls, which is the highest share in any game this season.

Meanwhile, Gareth Taylor’s City Looked to Break Up Barca’s Rhythm With Tactical Fouls That Caused Stoppages in Play. They committed 11 fouls in their 2-0 win, which results in the lowest pass Tally (539), Second-Lowest Passing Accuracy (83.4%), Lowest Passes Into Final Third and Penalty Area (18 and 6) by This season. City Also Made 52 ball recoveries in that game, most of them high up the pitch.

The idea was the Same: to blast too metal music against Barcelona’s Peaceful Symphony in the Buildup. And it was worn.

Barcelona’s intricate style puts a lot of press on their full-backs to provide width (as shown in the average position char above). This season, left-back (Esmee Brugts or Fridolina Rolfö) Has often played in an almost forward role, positioned high and wide up the pitch. As a result, Romeu’s Asymmetrical 4-3-3 Setup Presents Oppportunities for Opponents to create numerical overloads and apply pressure. Indeed, Both Madrid and City Targeted this by Forcing Play to Wide Areas and Hunting in Numbers.

No Side has managed to register more touches in barcelona’s box than Real Madrid (24) and Man City (21) This Season, which Two Games are the only time wherever an open High Expected Goals (XG) tally. City are also the only side that managed to stop the Blagrana From scoring so far this season.

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How barcelona dominated chelsea in uwcl semifinal first leg

Take a look at the numbers Behind Barcelona’s 4-1 Win over chelsea in their women’s champions League semifinal first leg.

SET UP FOR SUCCESS

Another Common Element in the Wins for Manchester City and Real Madrid was the profile of their attacking players and how it created a functional offensive unit on the day.

– A POWER Forward (Khadija shaw; Caroline moller) To serve as an outlet and focal point.
– An Attacking Midfield Playing in the Space Behind The Striker (Vivianne midema; Round alba) To help in Pressing and Support Attacks.
– A Pair of Wingers who are strong dribblers and track back (Mary fowler And Lauren hemp; Naomie Feller And Aenea del Castillo) To help defensively, make out-to-in runs from channels, to take-in and isolate defenders in translation.

The synergy betwean these moving parts is what made booth tims successful on the day.

Slegers deploys a 4-2-3-1 setup, similar to real madrid, and has the players to replicate this on the pitch. Alessia Russo (Power Forward), Frida Maanum or Stina Blackstenius (Attacking Midfielder), Chloe kelly And CAITLIN FOORD (The Wingers). The key lies in execution.

Of course, if you put out a four-pronged attack that increases the lock on the pivot midfield to cover the pitch laterally, where separation and provisive in builtup phases.

If Arsenal Choose this Apprach, their Central Players will have to put in a doubt shift by neutralizing barcelona’s runs from midfield and discrupt the middle. That’s a challenging task to fulfill for 90 minutes, even for seasoned veterans like caldentey and Kim little. And it’s Made Harder by the Fact Barcelona has ballon d’or winner Aitana Bonmatí Pulling the strings from that area.

Or Defend Deep Like Levante?

The other Barcelona Loss this Season, 2-1 Against Levante, is an entirely different story. The frogs Managed to Score FIRST (with the other two goals coming in Stoppage Time), But Had 21% Possession and Allowed 47 Shots on Goal: They Were Putting Out Fires All Game Long Long Long Long Long Long Eight Players Times. They Made 57 Clearans and 31 Total Blocks (Passes + Shots) – The Most By Any Side in A Game Against Barcelona – However, this is not not sustainable for the mechanization for the time.

If you sit back, barcelona will strangle you with position. They do not attack in waves; It’s just a constant barrage of bells in boyind and in the box, so Counterattacks are to ensuring you are not pegged back too much. And levante ultimately had fortune on their side to triumph.

A Monumental Task

Trying to compete blow-for-slow with the european champions is a fool’s game given the world-school all over their squad. Arsenal Will Need to Leave “Every Pitch” -in the words of uswnt right-back Emily fox – But but Failure to Deal With Barcelona’s Runs in Behind, WHILE Offering Enough Threat on the Counter, Could Be Fatal and The Margin for Error is Small.

The gunners can learn from the beefore them, but their main task Saturday will be to be to maximize these tiny gains and put in 100% affort to stop the catalan machine from purring. It is a monumental task, but history awaits if they can hold it off.

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