Mourinho was unimpressed with what he saw at Camp Nou
Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has described the Red Devils’ defending during their 3-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday as “awful”.
Speaking about the match on Russia Today, the Portuguese coach blamed his former team for the tactics they utilised in trying to stop Lionel Messi in the second leg of the tie which Barca won 4-0.
“Lots of mistakes, lots of goals with awful defending on the inside foot,” Mourinho said.
“You look to Coutinho’s goal, even to Messi’s goal.
“I think United’s approach was different. I think in the first game they tried to occupy that central zone because Messi’s position is easy to understand but is not easy to create a cage to control him. Because he comes from the right, then stays in the middle, and then [Ivan] Rakitic defends on the right and allows him to stay in the middle between the lines. It’s very difficult.
“Manchester United in the first match, zonally, they occupied that central area very well. So when he came into the inside he was finding Fred, he was finding [Scott] McTominay coming to the inside all the time.”
“In this match, maybe because Man United were losing 1-0, they tried to start the game with a different perspective.
“And then it was [Paul] Pogba wide on the left and McTominay much more on the right and Jesse Lingard playing as a No 10 behind the strikers. And in front of the defensive line was only Fred.
“And that’s the area where Messi comes and gets the ball and when Messi has the ball, one on one. You are dead. That’s why I never liked individual man-on-man against Messi. Messi’s a cage. You have to create a cage.
“Barcelona is Barcelona, they are a better team than Manchester United, they have better players than Manchester United. I think it’s normal they won.”
Unfortunately, Mourinho didn’t divulge how he would’ve set up to counter Barcelona’s attacking threat, though one can safely assume it would involve 10 players inside United’s half, with one striker waiting on the halfway line waiting to break.
