BARCELONA, Fantasista - Former Barcelona coach, Johan Cruyff, have a recipe for Barca to get past Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-final. Here's the recipe.
Cruyff, who planted the total football system at Barca, judge there are two things that cause Barca's first defeat in the semi-final matches on Tuesday (20/4/2010). The first was related to the Barcelona game itself. "Blaugrana" was indeed superior first, but according to Cruyff, Barca could not maintain it because of the wrong tactic.
"Barcelona had scored first, but useless. They could not maintain the 1-0 advantage," Cruyff wrote in his article in El Periodico.
"We must minimize the risk and, more than that, the mistakes in the building the attack. Three goals (Inter) created after losing the ball and the wrong position. We made many mistakes, not just in one European semi-final, but also against the team as strong as Inter, "he said.
On the second leg, Barca needs to win 2-0 to qualify for the final. However, Cruyff added, Barca should not satisfied by tying the score aggregate. To win more than two goals in a game becomes an absolute requirement at Camp Nou next week.
"We should try to play like we did in the last 20 minutes (in Milan) besides playing with our head. Two goals (in the second leg) may not be enough for Barca. We need three but surely we have a chance to break into them," he asserted.
Beside the game, the second reason, Cruyff has also highlighted the role of officials in the success Barca into the final. If the referee in the second leg is just like in the first leg, it will be difficult for Xavi Hernandez and his teammates to get succeed easily.
"I do not usually speak about referees. Beside, because they need and should be respected, also because I think it was useless," said Cruyff.
"However, the game last night deserves a comment. I make it clear that referees made mistakes (especially if the line judge was not helping) to see an off-side done by (Diego) Milito on the third goal, also not giving a penalty for (Dani) Alves but the referee should not impose all the mistakes and always, always against Barcelona, "he said.
Referee problems were highlighted by Barcelona players, especially Xavi who protested against the decisions of the referee Olegario Benquerenca. Coach Josep Guardiola was also surprised by the number of offense that made by his players, which turns out more than the Inter players.
