What I saw in the Real Barca 1st leg was that Mourinho was looking for 0-0. If it had ended 0-0, then it would be a game of who scores first in the 2nd leg, or PK. And first off, I won’t claim that at Camp Nou, Barca would feel more pressure to score than Real, and vice versa. Likewise, I won’t say that going into PK favors either team, but I cant recall the last time Barca went into a PK situation. Mourinho may have been confident that besides the Ronaldo choke against Chelsea, he had Ronaldo and Kaka guaranteed as PKs, as much as Messi and David Villa. In Mourinho’s shoes, you think that is 2/2 for either side, and look at the last 3 spots, do you feel more confident as a coach with a combination of Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Dani Alves, Sergi Busquets taking your PKs to get to the finals, or Marcelo, Xabi Alonso (Istanbul 2005), mesut osil, gonzalo higuain, angel di maria. Mourinho may have felt confident he could take it this way, with odds of 2/3 (well not 2/3s because you cant quantify scoring goals and going into PK on the same scale mathematically, but human minds are amazing things). An ordinary person in his shoes, reasonably evaluating his chances, would likely take 2/3 chance of success. (this is of course premised on a 0-0 scoreline in the 1st leg)

Again this is only one way of seeing it.

And I don’t think you look for a lucky break at this level of professionalism. Sure the opposing players might misplace a pass, but positionally you have to be there to intercept, break, and finish.

Right, one last thing. I can have the balls to jump out of an airplane without a parachute. My friend Barca does it all the time to impress his girl, and he’s always alive and kicking when he hits the floor. However, that doesn’t mean jumping out of a plane without a parachute to impress your girl will work for you. The beautiful game is the beautiful game because it can be played anywhere, at anytime, with anybody. How to win while playing the beautiful game though, that’s the beauty of tactics.

At least Arsenal had the b@lls to attack Barcelona and play their own game instead of spending the entire 90+ min in their own half trying to maintain the onslaught that Barca bring and then hope to get a lucky break on the counter which some of these so called giants of football have been doing against them.

Shut up!

To me that does not bode well when opposing Barca. Manchester United is more effective when playing against teams that play more direct football. Not the stuff that Barca does.

Let’s be honest Mourinhos tactics didnt look like working for 1 of the 180 minutes they played. All drama aside Barca were comfortable in the tie.

Pretty simple then, attacking them has seen them at their most vulnerable, changing the way you play to try and stop them has seen them at ease.