MAY 5 — There are two ways of looking at this week’s Champions League semi-finals.
First, on Tuesday, the second leg between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich ended with the Spanish team progressing 4-3 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw on the night.
The following evening, Liverpool survived a 4-2 defeat at Roma to advance by a remarkable 7-6 overall scoreline, having won the first leg at Anfield 5-2.
The games were very similar in nature, and from one perspective you could say that they were thrilling and uplifting spectacles, full of attacking football and wholehearted endeavour between teams who were totally committed in their efforts to win the games.
That viewpoint is reflected in the scorelines, with no less than 20 goals being scored over the course of the four games of the two semi-finals, and that tally only prevented from climbing much higher by some outstanding goalkeeper saves and poor finishing (not to mention some dubious refereeing decisions to deny seemingly clear-cut penalties).
On the other hand, though, you could regard the games as tactical shambles between a bunch of teams who either did not know how to defend or had completely forgotten.
Practically every time one of the teams attacked they looked like scoring, and as soon as they lost possession it then looked like the other team would score as well.
So, which side of the fence are you occupying? Were the two games wonderful and thrilling demonstrations of positive, attacking football, or were they contemptible farces between teams who were entirely negligent of an important part of the sport... namely, defending?
Really, of course, they were both.
All four teams in this week’s semi-finals demonstrated an admirable commitment to ambitious attacking play, clearly focusing on trying to win the game rather than trying to avoid losing it.
But they also showed a shocking disregard for defending or even playing with a solid team structure, doing very little to actually make it difficult for their opponents to launch wave after wave of attack.
And call me an old misery, but that’s just not good enough. At the very elite of the game, in the latter stages of the most prestigious and high-quality competition in club football, surely it’s not too much to ask for teams who can defend AND attack?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not appealing for a return to the days of ultra-defensive old-school Italian style negativity, with most games ending either 0-0 or 1-0.
I’m the first to criticise managers like José Mourinho when their teams show no attacking endeavour and focus only on defending, and it’s absolutely true that the messily frantic and chaotic nature of this week’s games, with neither team in either game able to establish calm control over possession, created exciting spectacles with enough thrills and spills to last a whole season.
But defending is just as important a part of football as attacking, and the very best teams should be capable of doing both at the same time by playing with a coherent structure to provide the necessary balance between the two ends of the pitch.
That most unquestionably wasn’t the case this week, though. Liverpool, for example, are somehow through to the Champions League Final despite conceding six goals against a moderate Roma team in the semis, having allowed the Italian side to attempt 24 efforts on goal in Wednesday’s game. That, to me, is not the sign of a great team, or a team that deserves to win major trophies.
Of course, you could counter that argument by pointing out that Liverpool have indeed progressed to the Champions League Final, as have a Real Madrid team plagued by similar defensive issues, so they can’t be that bad.
But it’s also the case that neither of those teams has come anywhere near winning their domestic league competitions, which provide a far more accurate representation of a team’s true strength than a knockout cup.
All-out attack might win you a few games and provide plenty of excitement, but it is not sustainable in the long-run and will eventually be overcome by teams possessing better balance.
That make me sound grumpy, but I know at least one significant person agrees with me: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who described his team’s performance on Wednesday as “crazy.” If they want to win the final, they’ll have to display a bit more sanity.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
