2006: Chelsea vs Barcelona
Chelsea’s scouting notes from their Champions League match against Barcelona in 2006 have been leaked online in the past few days.
That season Barcelona beat Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate.
After a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou, Barcelona won 2-1 at Chelsea.
Author of the Chelsea notes
Jose Mourinho was in charge of Chelsea at the time.
However the Special One didn’t write these scouting notes.
Instead, as confirmed in the Times, that job was left to André Villas-Boas, who compiled the following report.
Stopping Leo Messi
Chelsea’s scouting notes have been leaked online by the Twitter account ‘Performance Analysis in Action’.
They’ve revealed how Jose Mourinho instructed his Chelsea players to stop Leo Messi by any means.
For the record, Messi was just 18 at the time of this match.
The Chelsea players were instructed, as follows:
If option is to foul him, [it] is important to do it outside the box and as early as possible.
It’s also worth noting that Chelsea players were also warned about Messi’s talent:
Quality + speed but very left footed. Exactly the same behaviours as Ronaldinho. Inside between lines or diagonals. Encourages team forward by ball driving. Amazing 1 vs 1.
Former Chelsea left-back Asier del Horno was sent off in the match against Barcelona for a nasty foul on Messi.
Del Horno landed his studs in Messi’s knee.
Was this dismissal a coincidence?
Chelsea’s Asier del Horno vs Barcelona’s Leo Messi
Other Chelsea notes on Barcelona’s stars
The notes also revealed some other nuggets.
On Ronaldinho, who was Barcelona’s star player at the time, Chelsea noted how the South American liked to cheat:
Very poor defensive transition and defensive work – exploit. Constant cheater – falls easily.
Andreas Iniesta received praise from the Chelsea scouts:
Always comes on from the bench. Very dynamic player. Great radius of action. Speed of movement and speed of execution. Tricky player
Barcelona defender Carles Puyol was also assessed by the Blues:
Aggressive but very emotional. Gets crazy with the referee in fouls against him and goes mad in provocations.
Aggressive defender, plays in anticipation using body. Bad positional sense (comes to midfield with striker) and bad leadership of defence (wants to do offside when it’s not possible).
Full Jose Mourinho Scouting Report on FC Barcelona from 2005/2006. Amazing the amount of detail that Mourinho and Andre Villas Boas would go into to prepare for the next opponent..Enjoy it’s not everyday that this information is shared with the public! #DetailsMakeTheDifference pic.twitter.com/JAGO0sRDx6
— Performance Analysis in Action (@PerformanceAna2) March 16, 2019
As I have said on previous Tweets….Mourinho was way ahead of his time!! Here is a couple of more extracts from a report on Man United and FC Porto and a breakdown on the Offensive/Defensive phases of analysis that he uses….Enjoy part 2 of the Mourinho Scouting Approach. pic.twitter.com/iI1KCkrRiN
— Performance Analysis in Action (@PerformanceAna2) March 17, 2019
Also see: Juan Mata previews Barcelona vs Manchester United
Good for Man United: Barcelona’s Luis Suarez is injured
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