Champions League semi-finals: How to lock Dumfries? Barcelona faces difficult tactical choices

Donzel Dumfries shines in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals between Inter Milan and Barcelona, ​​creating many difficulties for Barcelona's defense.

In the football field, although the full-back is not as dazzling as the offensive player, a full-back with outstanding offensive ability can also become a nightmare for his opponent, and this is true for Dunzel Dumfries. After joining Inter Milan, he quickly grew into one of the right-backs that the opponent feared the most in European football. He is not a defensive defender in the traditional sense, but has strong offensive ability. He has high-speed insertion and accurate shooting that makes the opponent unable to defend. His excellent physical fitness and position selection ability further add to his threat in set pieces.

In the first leg of the game, Dumfries delivered a world-class answer: contributed one assist, scored two goals, and was elected the best player in the game. The right-hand side he controlled became Barcelona's fatal weakness, and the continuous pressure made Barcelona's defense line run away.

Now, Barcelona's biggest problem is that Alejandro Barde, who was originally scheduled to be in charge of Dumfries, was unable to appear due to injury, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow, forcing coach Frick to find another alternative in the upcoming key game. However, each alternative has pros and cons, which puts Flick into a tough tactical choice.

Balder Alternative Analysis

Gerard Martin is a strong contender in the left-back position. He performed well this season, and was elected the best player against Valladolid, fully demonstrating his strength. Gerald plays steadily, passes accurately, has excellent crossing skills, and can effectively support the offense. If he is enabled, Barcelona can maintain Inigor Kuvalsi's central defender partner, with Eric Garcia replacing Conde as the right center back. However, Gerald lacks the explosive power and speed of Barde, and may be unable to handle Dumfries' high-speed attack.

Inigo Martinez is another option for Frick, and he was placed in the left-back position in the second half of the first leg against Inter Milan. Inigo's outstanding heading ability is crucial when dealing with high altitude balls, and accurate long passes also help Barcelona organize attacks from the backcourt. But speed is his weakness, which may be amplified when confronting Dumfries, and will also be in trouble when facing players with physical and speed dominance.

There is also a rarely mentioned 18-year-old defender worth considering, both Harvey and Frick have asked him to try the left-back position. Ford had a good offensive performance and had a dangerous shot hitting the post against Valladolid. However, he is not a pure left-back, lacks high-level game experience, and has shortcomings in defense. He made mistakes against Valladolid.

Ronald Araujo is a bold but attractive option. Harvey tried to get him to play as a left back, and Frick could also learn from this. Araujo is physically fit and has excellent defensive ability, and can confront Dumfries head-on in physical confrontation. But putting him in this position will bring many changes to the team, especially allowing Rafinia to retreat more frequently to make up for Araujo's vacancy on the left, which may affect Barcelona's balance on both ends of the offense and defense.

In such a critical game, Frick had to make a difficult choice. The alternatives to Barde, such as Gerald Martinez and Inigo Martinez, seem to be the safest, but each has certain limitations. Regardless of choice, Barcelona must maintain a tactical balance and try to limit Dumfries' performance, which will be a difficult problem that Frick needs to solve in his life-and-death showdown with Inter Milan.