Joao Neves (right) completely lost his identity against Chelsea - Photo: REUTERS
Same as always
The trio mentioned above will remind fans of Barca at their peak - under coach Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique himself. That is Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.
The formula is almost the same, with 2 short guys - Vitinha is 1m72 tall, Neves is 1m74 tall, and a tall guy to compensate for the aerial strength, Ruiz.
All three are extremely technical, representing the Latin school of football. The Barca trio of the past were all Spanish, having grown up at La Masia, while the current PSG trio has two Portuguese and one Spanish.
Leading them is coach Luis Enrique - a typical representative of the ball control school, still remembered by the world through the name tiki-taka.
The Spanish national team, FC Barca, and the two coaches Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique are names that, when heard, fans immediately imagine the type of football they play. Control, constant control.
Coincidentally, those ball control fans always suffer from the same obsession called Chelsea. Through many years, many generations of coaches, Chelsea - with the foundation of billionaire Roman Abramovich and coach Jose Mourinho has always been the pinnacle representative of effective defensive counter-attacking football.
Fans will surely still remember Chelsea's extraordinary journey to win the Champions League in 2012.
On that journey, Chelsea made a victory that made the whole football world happy, that is, defeating Barca in the semi-finals. A Chelsea in its weakest state could still make Messi and his teammates - led by Pep Guardiola - lose convincingly.
Then in 2021, Chelsea once again haunted Pep Guardiola, when they defeated Man City in the Champions League final.
Chelsea's two historic Champions League titles were tied to the times they defeated tiki-taka. And in the first expanded FIFA Club World Cup, Chelsea showed their talent against tiki-taka again.
Mourinho's foundation
Before the clash with Chelsea, the trio Vitinha - Neves - Ruiz brought the football world to its knees. They overwhelmed Liverpool - also possessing a very good trio of Allister - Szoboszlai - Gravenberch, proving to be more effective than Arsenal, Bayern Munich, completely suffocating Inter Milan, then crushing Real Madrid...
PSG is strong in all areas. But the closer to the big match, the more people admire the quality of the 3 midfielders that Luis Enrique owns. That is the key to victory in PSG's sublime year.
But against Chelsea, none of them showed their class. Vitinha was the only one to reach a 7 (according to Sofascore), Ruiz received a 6.7, and Neves was even sent off late in the match for losing his temper.
Maresca convincingly defeated Enrique - Photo: REUTERS
It cannot be said that Chelsea's midfield won against PSG, because neither Caicedo nor Enzo Fernandez reached 7 points in this match.
Chelsea beat PSG, overwhelmingly and convincingly because coach Enzo Maresca chose a very precise playing style. The result came from the tactical system and individual moments of brilliance.
It must be acknowledged that Chelsea's ability to counter tiki-taka has become an instinct. And through that, the football world must acknowledge that this is a unique tradition of the team at Stamford Bridge.
Over the past 20 years, Chelsea have changed managers nearly 20 times. But at every stage, they have stuck to the defensive counter-attacking football philosophy initiated by Mourinho from 2004-2007.
Chelsea may have been in crisis, may have declined, may have played without any strategy at many times in the past two decades. But whenever they faced tiki-taka, they immediately regained their identity.
Football village always has interesting elements about tactics, about the game of competition. The story of the confrontation between Chelsea and the tiki-taka school of football is one of them.
In the early morning of July 14, Chelsea caused a huge shock when they defeated PSG 3-0 to win the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Before the match, few people could believe that coach Enzo Maresca and his students could do the unthinkable.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chelsea-luon-la-khac-tinh-cua-tiki-taka-20250714111328978.htm
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