We're off and running at the BayArena, where Barcelona are wearing a colour that makes Lionel Messi looks like a particularly delicious scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream. They managed to hold the ball for the entirety of the first two minutes until Bayer Leverkusen managed to win a free kick on the edge of their box, then get the ball back less than twenty seconds later.
Bayer Leverkusen Vs. Barcelona, 2012 UEFA Champions League: Match Underway
That’s really not how the hosts will have wanted to start the match - so far this year teams have had success against Barcelona by actually attacking them rather than sitting back and trying for the counterattack. Leverkusen appear to be doing the latter, defending deep with a bank of five in front of four (Andre Schurrle is sitting on his own up front), which means that until their opponents get close to the final third they’re just allowing the Catalans to do whatever they want. That’s not really ideal.
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