Damn, that was a really entertaining match. I fucking love RBL and I honestly think I'd trade their squad and manager straight up for Barca's situation right now. The Total Soccer podcast has been excellent this week and they had a bit where they talked about Nagelsmann's career path and how he intentionally turned down Bayern more than once because he wants to build up his bona fides before trying to walk into an elite club dressing room, where the world class stars frequently tune out managers who weren't world class players themselves (see: Setien, Q; Benitez, Rafa).
So Nagelsmann is obviously a super talented manager, but it's still about the players. Upemecano just added $10-15M to his price tag and god knows how much to his wages. Angelino is officially destined for Barca or Madrid. Olmo likely as well. I mean the majority of the XI is in their early prime and Nagelsmann has them playing cohesive, flowing futbol. It's a thing of beauty.
Watching all this high level football the past week just highlights to me how slow and sluggish Barca are. It will be frankly embarrassing to watch them step on the pitch today against Bayern, who's like RBL but on a Boz-worthy amount of anabolic steroids. Barca are that team in your men's league (e.g. my team, the 5-time champion Dutch Ovens) who have plenty of talent, know each other super well, but still can only compete with the best teams when they have some young ringers to do the heavy lifting and put them over the top [/humblestbrag]. I mean, there's no facet of the game where I expect Barca to compete. Going back to the Nagelsmann pipe dream, he would likely never agree to manage this squad because it's so far from a modern and fast outfit. This also makes Setien an awkward fit from a defensive standpoint because he's a high-pressing manager. While Setien was a terrific fit from an offensive standpoint (I put it on the players for not buying into his attacking philosophy), Setien is almost certainly out of his depth in a UCL QF.
The only relatable inspiration I can think of for this Barca team is 2007 UCL winners Milan. That team was also old and slow as dirt (average age 30+) and had comparable players and roles. That team was anchored in defense by Nesta and Maldini, had Pirlo pulling the strings from deep, let Kaka roam in a free role, had a poacher in Inzaghi up top, used the FBs to provide width, while Gattuso, Ambrosini, and Seedorf stirred the drink in the middle. It's easy for me to see the comparison with this Barca--no traditional wingers, strength in the middle of the attack, a player who can create problems in a free role, a deep lying playmaker DMF, and FBs who can get forward and provide width. Where the comparison breaks down is the 3 workers who stir the drink. While FDJ can match up with one of them, Vidal and Rakitic are no longer elite. In addition, Griezmann is likely to start, so we're likely looking at a more aggressive approach than the defensively sound Milan side.
A really clever manager that knows his squad well and has their confidence could pull an upset with this Barca today, but that's far from the case. I expect Bayern to steamroll Barca today and the only question in my mind is whether Messi can make it interesting.
