‘The Special One’ qualifies Carles Puyol as a very emotional aggressive defender with a bad positional sense.
The Portuguese coach labelled Ronaldinho as a ‘constant cheater’, also noticing his poor defensive work.
Messi is described as ‘very left-footed’ with the same behaviour as Ronaldinho.
Jose Mourinho’s scouting report on Barcelona ahead of the 2005-2006 Champions League last 16 tie with Chelsea has emerged once again and some bits are priceless.
Here’s how Mourinho assessed Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Ronaldinho and Leo Messi, as revealed by Performance Analysis in Action, quoted by SportBible.
Carles Puyol
“Aggressive, but very emotional. Gets crazy with the referee in fouls against him and goes mad in provocations. Aggressive defender, plays in anticipation using [his] body.
“Bad positional sense (comes to midfield with a striker) and bad leadership of defence (wants to do offside when it’s not possible). Because he uses his body strength to regain possession, we can provocate contacts in the final third or outside the box. Good heading ability and power.”
Ronaldinho
“Technical quality to avoid defender on the first touch. When opened receives the ball and the attacks full-back 1 vs 1 (inside to shoot or outside to cross).
“Much more dangerous when provocating spaces inside (between lines) from those positions forces a central defender out and then with a pen. Pass releases Messi, Eto’o or the penetrating midfielder. Very poor defensive transition and defensive work — exploit. Constant cheater – falls easily.”
Leo Messi
“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. If an option is to foul him, it’s important to do it outside the box and as early as possible. [Has] recovered from an injury recently.”
Andres Iniesta
“Always comes on from the bench. Very dynamic player. Great radius of action. Speed of movement and speed of execution. Tricky player.”
The report didn’t help Mourinho much as his Chelsea lost to Barca 3-2 on aggregate. The Catalans would win the Champions League in the same campaign.
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