Amazing.

Tactically, Liverpool were on point and in one of those classic Anfield nights, the impossible was
made possible.

Counterpressing

When discussing this tie, I felt that

Barcelona’s press resistance pitted against
Liverpool’s counterpress would be one of the
most crucial facets of either side’s success.
And that was the case on Tuesday. In deeper
phases, Messi and Suárez stayed higher for
counterattacking moments but the positional
rotations of Liverpool often meant that this
threat was negated; in the case below,
Robertson is slightly higher and Milner forms
a cage with the two centre backs around the
duo.

In terms of the counterpress itself, Alexander-

Arnold shifted inside to cover the halfspace
and prevent the release pass to Rakitic.
Fabinho’s excellent positioning allows him to
anticipate the forced ball and gain access,
winning the duel over the Croatian.
Meanwhile, the rest of team are shifting
backwards and as per the leeway oriented
counterpress, space with each given pass or
time elapsed is effectively constricted to limit
the opponents’ options and retain possession.
This was an effective way to hinder Barcelona
and coupled with their intensity, the
counterpress was integral to their historic
victory and exemplified through the recovery
of possession that culminated towards
Wijnaldum’s first goal.
High Press from Goal Kicks

As is the norm when Liverpool do press

high, the midfield three will stay flat
(with the potential for the striker to fall
back into the opponents’ six space) in
order to win second balls and aerial
duels. Important for the dynamics of the
game against Barcelona, it also meant
that here (and in midfield phases too)
the 8s had the option of positioning
themselves wider to have greater access
to the full backs if the wingers tried to
bind the full back; in spite of a strong
performance last week, Liverpool had
some problems dealing withe left sided
overloads in this regard with Coutinho
pinning Gomez with inward diagonal
movements and the prioritisation of
caging Messi leaving Alba free as
Suárez occupied the defence in a
situational 3–4–3.

By preventing the opponent from
gaining easy access to the wings,
Liverpool remain compact and avoid
becoming vertically or horizontally
stretched in high pressing. The wingers
blocked passes to the full-backs and the
team shifted from there. If Rakitic
dropped deeper to overload the centre,
the flatness of the midfield three and its
proximity to the defensive line allowed
for any of the trio with viable access to
press (preventing vertical progression
and often capitalising on suboptimal
orientation)
and in the 4–2–4 Liverpool are stable because the
midfielder creates time for himself to retreat. If
Barcelona tried to find the full-backs through third man
combinations, the 8s would take up suitable positions to
provoke the central pass and then force the ball
diagonally outwards with the winger, 8, striker and full-
back compressing space as the defensive line with a 3
versus 2 numerical superiority able to deal with long
balls; notably with Origi forcing Barcelona onto their
weaker left side, Milner (ball far 8) acted in an option-
oriented fashion to track either Busquets or Vidal—
covering if Fabinho drop deeper.
Impressive Mid-Block

Watching the game in the last 10 minutes, it

was natural that Barcelona would increase the
pressure. But Liverpool looked as secure as you
can look in such a situation and managed to
quell the Catalan threat through. With
Barcelona now committing higher numbers into
depth but neglecting rest defence, the dynamics
of the game actually played into Liverpool’s
hands. They were able to guide Barcelona’s
play and on occasions where triggers arose to
press, Liverpool did so with efficacy and
transitioned rapidly into counterattacking
situations.

And they even managed to deal with the Alba

issue. Ball locally compact on the right to stop
progression to Messi— Liverpool’s cause is
aided by the fact. If Vidal had pushed higher,
the option into Messi arises or Henderson has to
adjust and Suárez can subsequently push
leftwards to overload that side.
However, with Henderson able to press the
deeper 8 in Rakitic, Shaqiri and Alexander-
Arnold can deal with depth movements from
Alba more easily; here
Coutinho drops deeper to create issues for
Trent’s body orientation and positioning
relative to his teammates but Shaqiri tracks the
Brazilian and so the full-back is free to track the
roaming Spaniard. With Henderson now higher,
it also allowed Liverpool to be direct in the
transition phase with greater numbers to deal
with second balls.

Effective Possession Game

I’ve already written a piece on with regards positional rotations in providing time and space for
players to retain possession and how Liverpool are able to better sustain attacks. But something I
didn’t talk about there and arose yet again last night was the directness of the side. In these
asymmetric rotations, the left sided central midfielder (Milner) often liberates Robertson to provide
width and this allows the front three to be narrow and goal oriented whilst providing build-up
structures to stretch the opponent and find interlinear space. But also important are the movements of
the ball far players. If particularly Milner also goes wide, the right sided central midfielder
(Henderson) pushed higher. This meant that Liverpool maintained width and depth on the bll near
side with the added threat of overloading the ball far side which was ideal for diagonal switches of
play into depth and to exploit the passivity of the front two. The overloading of the box as well in this
game (with 23 crosses) was fundamental to their offensive success and Wijnaldum’s excellently
timed runs allowed him to benefit from the Reds’ scheme.
Conclusion

In terms of counterpressing, intensity and overall discipline— this was one of the best team
performances I have seen and certainly one of the best under Klopp (especially given the squad
deficiencies he had to cope with). Liverpool go into the final with a clear identity, a well moulded
squad and an excellent manager. Whatever happens in that 90 minutes, Liverpool has a team to be
truly proud of.