How Manchester City beat Barcelona
Precision passing, physical dominance and Layzell's brilliance help City secure a memorable 2-0 win over Barcelona in the Uefa Women's Champions League
Manchester City produced a stunning performance to beat Uefa Women’s Champions League holders Barcelona 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Gareth Taylor’s side impressed the rest of Europe with victory in their opening game in Group D. Barcelona have only lost two of their last 55 competitive games and City and Chelsea, who had a 1-0 advantage in the semi finals of last year’s UWCL, are the only sides to have beaten the Spanish giants.
Here’s how City did it.
Pressing and precision passing pays off
One of the common trends in City’s unbeaten start to the season has been the unyielding pressure they put their opponents under from the start of a match.
Under Taylor, City press aggressively with their intimidating front five of Bunny Shaw, Mary Fowler, Lauren Hemp, Vivianne Miedema and Jess Park. From early on, City looked to keep Barcelona penned back during any build-up.
Against a team as technical as Barcelona, it's a high-risk, high-reward strategy, but it would spook the Spanish giants, as they were forced into mistakes and turnovers at the Joie Stadium.
As shown in the image below, three City players surround Barcelona’s Patri to limit her passing options, while Shaw and Fowler cut off the space behind. Patri eventually plays a pass that is intercepted by Kerstin Casparij who on this occasion fails to find a teammate. The resulting recovery allowed Barcelona to break and Alexia Putellas crafted a chance that ended up in the hands of City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita. This movement showed just how City could force mistakes from their opponent but also leave themselves exposed to Barcelona’s precision passing. The tempo of City’s press and passing was key.
City had to be clinical with the possession they did have and their best chances of the game came from quick passing or defensive splitting balls between the lines from Fowler and others.
A one-two between Hemp and Casparij in the 35th minute opened up the space for Park’s shot which forced a great save from Barcelona keeper Cata Coll. It was the resulting corner that gifted City their first goal. Naomi Layzell sliding home Miedema’s header back across goal.
Physicality and intensity
Naturally, such an intense high-pressing strategy cannot be sustained for 90 minutes. But City maintained their physicality and agression even when the tempo of the game had to drop. It was backs against the wall and all of City’s players, led by the work of the front five, dug deep to close out the result.
Shaw finished the game with four clearances, four headed clearances and four recoveries. Fowler won four out of her five tackles, Miedema had six recoveries and two interceptions while Hemp managed four recoveries and two interceptions.
“The level in the first half was very good. I felt, with all respect to Barcelona, but we could’ve been three up, because of the pressure we put on them,” said Taylor in his post-match comments.
Playing Barcelona at their own pressing game is far from an easy task. It takes bravery, skill, and at times, luck to catch the three-time European champions on the hop like City did over a sustained period.
Homage to Hasegawa
Every great team needs that “steady Eddie.” The selfless soul who sacrifices the potential highlights of their own game to prop up those of others. The N'Golo Kanté’s of the world.
Dubbed an “irreplaceable, world-class player” by Taylor all of last season, the impact of Hasegawa has become more evident given the aggressive nature of City’s style of play.
Like Kanté, she harries and roams around the pitch, sniffing out danger and putting out fires before they flare like a free safety in American football. The quiet night of Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmatí was largely down to Hasegawa.
Similarly to Barcelona’s Patri, Hasegawa has an understanding of when to make herself available for the ball or when to create space for her centre-backs to step into.
On Wednesday night, Hasegawa was regularly stepping into the space Laia Aleixandri was leaving when she would burst into midfield areas.
She was called upon to chase down Barcelona’s attacks and limit the shooting angle for any of the chances that did come their way.
Hasegawa has without a doubt become City’s most important player and this was another impressive performance from the Japanese star.
The coming-of-age for Layzell
If you told Naomi Layzell a year ago that she would go from being part of a Bristol City side that would be dismantled 5-0 by City at the Joie Stadium to playing on the same pitch and being the match-winner for City against Barcelona, she’d probably look at bit confused.
In her first Champions League appearance—first in the competition proper—the 20-year-old England youth international handled the occasion with the utmost composure.
Her scrambled-in goal was the result of being in the right place at the right time, but that can also be said for her performance throughout the night after overcoming expected nerves. Traditionally a centre back, she’s also had to adapt to a new role as right back in this City side.
In City’s system, the balance between the full-backs is critical. Casparij tends to overlap and support her winger at every opportunity, while Layzell is more reserved, often acting in a more natural role as a third centre-back to deal with potential transitions.
Layzell would see her fair share of traffic with Putellas and the supporting Fridolina Rolfö on City’s right side. With the guiding help of Aleixandri, she would limit the the danger.
It was Layzell’s cutting through ball that put Shaw 1-on-1 to snatch the all-important second goal, showcasing just how talented this young England defender is.
The signs of an ankle injury would slightly blight an outstanding game as Layzell hobbled off, but barring anything major, she’ll be in contention to feature in the England senior squad and possibly earn her first cap in the forthcoming international break.
Layzell’s performance capped off an unforgettable night for City. The next challenge for Taylor is making this the first step in a successful trophy-winning campaign.
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