7/29/2019 Business Lessons From Bayern Munich vs Barcelona

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/business-lessons-from-bayern-munich-vs-barcelona 1/2

BUSINESS LESSONS FROM BAYERN MUNICH VS BARCELONA

SEMI-FINAL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE APRIL 23, 2013

THIS WAS THE PERIOD WHEN BARCELONA WAS TERMED THE BEST CLUB IN THE WORLD

PARADING THE BEST 11 IN THE WORLD. BUT THEY FELL. THEY WERE HUMILIATED.

“They were physically very strong,’’ said Xavi. “In fact they were superior.

We didn’t create chances. It’s a dreadful result. It looks practically

impossible but we will look for a miracle at home.’’ 

Barcelona were upset at some of the officiating during the game,

particularly a perceived foul by Dante on Dani Alves in the build-up to

Bayern’s first, an offside for their second and a block by Thomas Müller on

Jordi Alba for the third.

“No excuses,’’ added Xavi afterwards. “They have been the better teamand we congratulate them. That’s football.” 

Lionel Messi agreed. “Bayern were the better team, in everything,’’ said

Barcelona’s No 10, who has clearly not recovered from a recent hamstring

problem. “They’re stronger, scored twice from set-pieces, every second ball

was for them.’’ 

Bayern’s coach, Jupp Heynckes, put the stunning victory partly down to his

meticulous preparation. Having said he would not need any advice on

Barcelona from Pep Guardiola, Heynckes clearly enjoyed proving he couldplot the dismantling of the team that Guardiola built. Guardiola succeeds

Heynckes at the Allianz Arena at the end of this season.

“You have to analyse the team, how they will play, how the players move,

where do they run to, how do they play in attack,’’ said Heynckes. “I did

that. I analysed that. I had a PowerPoint presentation so I could see all the

runs Barcelona do. Defensively we worked very hard and Barcelona

couldn’t do anything, they had one-and-a-half chances. You have to know

the opponent and we did.

“What the boys did on the pitch, and the tactical way they played was

fantastic. We played a fantastic game. The decisive factor was the

organisation of the team, defending intelligently, every player was really

happy to stay back and be good.

“We have a lot of creativity, quality and class when we are going forward.

We have the space and use it and can beat any opponent.

“We tried to neutralise Messi and we did a great job in that. But Barcelona

is not just Messi, they have Xavi and [Andrés] Iniesta and other very goodplayers. But we dominated.

7/29/2019 Business Lessons From Bayern Munich vs Barcelona

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/business-lessons-from-bayern-munich-vs-barcelona 2/2

“We have been playing at a very high level in the German Cup,

theBundesliga and in the Champions League so it was no surprise to me

that we played well. If you win 4-0 at home to Barcelona it’s fantastic.’’ 

 Asked whether this felt an end of an era for Barcelona, Heynckes said:

“They are still one of the best teams in the world. With Bayern, Dortmund

and Real Madrid. All very strong teams.” 

Heynckes played down suggestions that the pitch had been deliberately

over-watered to negate Barcelona’s passing game. “That’s why it was quite

difficult for us,’’ he said. “We had a pass to Thomas Müller and the ball

stayed in a puddle! I thought: 'Oh, this is starting really well for us’.’’ 

 A spokesman for Bayern Munich emphasised that they liaised with Uefa

and Barcelona about how much the pitch should be watered before kick-off.

Jordi Roura, the assistant to the Barcelona coach, Tito Vilanova, said: “Youcan imagine the players are pretty depressed and down. It hurts. Now it will

be very difficult to get through.

"We played against an opponent who was very physical, very good. We

lacked the freshness. We didn’t get Messi into the game, he tried very hard,

it was a great effort of his to be here. We can be proud he gave everything

he could give but we just couldn’t do any more.”