Dest was their man of the match against RM on saturday. His defensive contributions were way better than attacking. Barca never plays as an unit anymore, they leave way too much for their defenders and that's why it might look shaky at the times. I'd take Alba + Dest vs Danilo + Cuads for sure.
We disagree. I watched the clasico, their motm was clearly Fati for me.
Dest faced a hopeless Vinicius, he wouldn't fare the same way facing Cristiano Ronaldo. Even Vinicius found himself in many good positions but his final ball is always terrible. Anyway Madrid took 9 shots on target at the Camp Nou, this wasn't in any way a game where their defenders came out proud.
Both Dest and Alba push up high, if you attack their wings they have stay back more and it weakens their attack a lot. Pirlo's use of Chiesa and Cuadrado is encouraging for this. Still, both Chiesa and Alba will leave tons of space behind themselves in the match. The difference is that for this we have 3 defenders staying further back for cover, while Barca's only has 2.
Their double pivot is De Jong-Busquets. The way Barca is set up they really don't protect their goal much, they rely on their attack deterring opponents from going forward in numbers. Usually Ter Stegen is a huge help, now he is missing for Neto.
We have our shaky backline as well, so there will be chances for both teams. My point was that we aren't any less ready than Barca. And that if Ronaldo does make it, I expect him to take advantage of the spaces he will find. I think it will also be the type of game that favors Morata with the more open spaces to run into.