5 Lessons From Man City And Arsenal's Champions League Losses

3. Importance Of Full Backs

All five full backs for Barcelona and Bayern proved pivotal in their team victories. I say five because Philip Lahm had a 45 minute stint at right back before moving to centre midfield and allowing Brazilian Rafinha to take the reigns at full back. Again, it's perhaps indicative of the fact that both opponents were a man light but more often than not, Rafinha and Dani Alves found themselves camped out on the edge of their opponents 18 yard boxes. Alves scored the all important goal and provided a constant threat. Rafinha completed twice as many passes as every Arsenal player bar Jack Wilshire and put in 8 crosses in his impressive 45 minute appearance. Both full-backs ran tirelessly all game and Mesut Ozil was probably seeing Rahinha in his nightmares last night. For Bayern the overlapping Rafinha takes defenders away and allows Arjen Robben to cut inside onto his left foot and do what he does best. Dani Alves offers a potent attacking threat which was evidenced perfectly by his 90 minute goal after being set up by fellow countryman Neymar. Over on the left hand side, aside from his penalty miss, David Alaba put in five crosses compared to Bacary Sagna who put in just one for Arsenal. Jordi Alba's pace is immense and he can match anyone on his day and his link with fellow Spaniard Andres Iniesta is well-established. City have two superb full backs in Zabaleta and Clichy. In the Premier League Zabaleta has 5 assists this season and Clichy has performed well, but their effectiveness was stifled from the word go against Barcelona. Whether this was tactical or as a result of them being under the cosh for so long, City looked flat without them bombing forward. Jesus Navas was the only one who offered real width but he often chose to cut inside and lay the ball off as Zabaleta was nowhere to be seen. It seemed as if their attacking instincts were left at home. Arsenal may not be blessed with the same quality full backs as City are but their opponents on the night were, and it really told.