the way Liverpool's defenders interchange roles and positions when getting counter attacked or they're about to concede is crazy, I can't believe Barca scored 3 against them
VVD said many times in an interview this was his toughest game because of Messi. He said Messi is by far his hardest opponent and is unpredictable. I know who the goat is and it isn't a tap in merchant it's the guy that VVD is even scared to face.
Give Van Dijk some respect messi was also depending on his team mates. Idk if you know anything about defending. they defend the keeper, the goal, the penalty area, they sometimes join the frontline. Messi is amazing but dribbling is not everything here as u can see the defense line is difficult to penetrate without passing to teammates
@@aniketgupta8064 barca never bottled it liverpool just played how they should of played in the 1st leg liverpool where shocking in the 1st leg and then the 2nd leg showed their class
@@djraptor5218 Van Dijk was in his prime that year and it may be one of the best primes a defender has ever had coming 2nd in the Ballon d'Or and arguably should've won it (I'm a LFC so I'm just a bit biased). No player ever passed him that season. He was the exact definition of a wall. I've always been really interested on how a young prime Messi would've done against Van Dijk. Would he have broken that record (no player passing Van Dijk) or not?
3:38 when Van Dijk seeing Messi eliminated his two teammates easily, he knows Messi is something else and said Messi was one of the hardest opponent he has ever faced.
Messi was really good in this match considering how tightly Liverpool were defending. Not only 2 goals, but had 9 successful dribbles if I remember right. It's a shame Barca bottled it so bad the next leg. Messi was really carrying that team since iniesta left.
Even though Messi scored 2 goals and barca 3 in this match, Liverpool did well against barca especially Messi. They defended as a team. Second leg proved it. One on one defending vs messi, boom u r screwed.
Yeah just like Mourinho said.. 1 on 1 defen against messi ure dead.. but messi is messi..he still can score other way even the defenders doing well against him..just like this match...how the hell he got 2 goals.
You must not have watched very closely. There were multiple moments where it was practically a 1v1 and van Dijk won it from Messi. Not only that, but in almost every Barca attack there were multiple attackers supporting Messi that Liverpool Defenders had to mind(which means in wasn't just Messi versus multiple defenders). Messi is a phenomenal player, probably the best attacker to ever play, but I hate it when people make him out to be invincible in a 1v1 just because of this "superhuman" status. He's top class, but that doesn't mean he can just dribble anyone everytime all by himself, especially not a top class defender like van Dijk. Any quote referring to that more or less translates to "Barcelona's attacking style is built around Messi, so marking him and defending him is difficult."
@@namk0cs1132 you don't know what you are saying bro... Then why didn't Liverpool leave only van dijk to man mark Messi and see what Messi will do to him
@@ernesternesta790 bro you don't know what you're saying lol. A. There are lots of aspects to defending, and I never claimed, nor do I think man marking is Van Dijk's strongest ability as a defender. B. Even if you are good at man-marking, it's not as simple as staying on the guy. Man marking Messi is very difficult because he has excellent vision, and his teammates can give him good chances to break away. Basically what I mean is that man marking is not a one-on-one thing. As a defender, you need to rely on your teammates to not leave large spaces for the attacking team to play the ball into. As an attacker, in order to break away from a defender you need your teammates to play you the ball to begin with. Messi is very quick and has good vision, but one of those two attributes, vision, requires good teammates and coordination, without a solid team supporting Messi he wouldn't be able to break away like he does.
Es impresionante ah mi me gusta jugar de centro campista o delantero pero cuando juego con mis amigos me pongo de defensa y hago la misma técnica de van dijk de esperar y ya me esta gustando quedarme de defensa por qué se siente emoción cuando no pasan cuando estas tu adelante, me siento un muro
Cuál es la técnica de Virgil? Esperar a que el delantero pase la mitad de cancha y luego correr a la par del delantero y poder quitar el balón más fácil? Es esa???
@@hbkjhh2045es arriesgado. Pero logras que el oponente no vaya a maxima velocidad esperas hasta el ultimo momento y no te gane la espalda. Lo malo es que lo dejas acercarse mucho y si te pasa, lo dejas con una chanca clarisima
Ha, ha what an excuse! Van Dijk started the sprint 15 metres behind the old men of Barca and caught them easily. Fabinho was also back and he is older than Van Djik. Icing on the cake … Robertson was on Suarez, who had a five metre gap on the left and tackled him like a terrier dog going for a rat! Suarez didnt have time to make the pass to Messi as Robertson is a mean sprinter too, oh yes, but Robertson is young .
1:48 if van dijk comes face to face with messi, he will hold him and call in a teammate to group. but if maguire, he will try to stop messi at the moment and fails. difference between best defender and most expensive defender
@@niesgomusic thats how u defen..especially vs messi who like to explode when there is empty space left... defen as a unit and messi cant go nowhere..but still i cant believe how the hell he got 2 goals in this game.
@@joerung ni aunque defiendas como una unidad vas a poder parar a messi. Nada te garantiza eso. Es más ese Barcelona es de los peores que había. Ese partido era marcar a messi. Si Barcelona aprovechaba el arrastre de marca y los 4 tipos que iban encima de messi, nunca hubieran siquiera estado cerca de ganar. Muestra también lo aterrador que fue el Barcelona años atrás también.
Van Dijk was very intelligent. He knew you don't take a challenge against Messi when it's one on one, hell even when you have another player as well, because Messi wants the same thing. He patiently waited and never committed against him and allowed other defenders to rejoin during that time. Let's face it, this Barca didn't have that support to Messi, so you can play with that strategy. But to follow that plan with so much discipline was fantastic. I believe the scoreline was a bit misleading to what really happened in that match.
He's not even in his prime in this video, he has already lost a lot of pace, the prime Leo would have dusted and left that defense for dead, especially in that counter attack situation
@@emmanuelenyinwa1443 Comentario totalmente estúpido, fue impresionante durante todo el partido, Liverpool mandaba a 4 jugadores a marcar a Messi y aún asi era imparable esa noche.
Se podía ver en este barca como dependía de Messi y de lo que hiciera el que se volvía predecible , era el contra 4 o 5 jugadores tratando de pasar una locura
Most of them had a clear chance to shoot the ball, instead chose to pass the ball. That made a huge difference in the first leg. Also, they had a pretty good view of the goal but failed to score.