Breaking Down Xabi Alonso's Performance for Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona

Bayern Munich's hopes of reaching the Champions League final in Berlin were dealt a hammer blow on Wednesday night, as the German giants were beaten 3-0 by Barcelona in the first leg of their semifinal tie at Camp Nou.

The match was close until the final minutes, but a Lionel Messi brace and Neymar goal in the final 15 minutes left the Bavarians on the ropes heading into the second leg.

One of the key figures for Bayern entering the match was Xabi Alonso, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid last year—though he was suspended for the final. The veteran had had some shaky performances on the big stage in prior matches, particularly against Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto and Manchester City, but he was rested for Bayern's most recent league outing in preparation for the Barca clash and completed the entire 90 minutes.

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Compared with his previous displays, Alonso was markedly better. He wasn't sent off, as he was against Shakhtar, and he wasn't directly culpable for any of Bayern's conceded goals, as he was against City and Porto.

There were many worse Bayern players on Wednesday, such as Juan Bernat, who was slated by club legend Franz Beckenbauer after the game, per the Twitter account of Goal's Jay Jaffa, Jerome Boateng, whose slip before Messi's second goal became a meme, Thiago Alcantara, who was marked into anonymity and Bastian Schweinsteiger, who, per the official Bundesliga live ticker, won just 29.63 percent of his challenges for the ball.

Alonso was far more successful in his duels, the good positioning instincts he's developed over the years helping him overcome his relatively limited mobility as he won 60 percent of his tackles and made several important interceptions and blocks.

The Spaniard's ball-winning was hugely important against a Barca side that looked to use the counterattack at every opportunity and ran at the Bayern defense. And it was especially impressive that he maintained his level without putting a foot wrong for the 55 minutes following his first-half booking.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

There were multiple screening players in white shirts, and despite being the eldest and having a reputation as being an underwhelming defensive player, Alonso was arguably the most successful. This isn't to say he was especially brilliant at preventing the Catalan side from breaking forward—Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar were utterly devastating, and the scoreline could easily have been worse for the visitors—but relatively speaking, Alonso did a decent job.

One of the ways Bayern were able to keep the game in the balance for so long was their ability to win the ball and maintain possession. They took a majority of the overall touches on the ball, 53.94 percent, per the Bundesliga live ticker. Alonso managed to complete 90.41 percent of his passes, which certainly helped take the pressure off his back line.

On the other hand, the Spaniard's rather one-dimensional play on the ball meant his distribution served little purpose other than to ease the pressure on his defense. It didn't lead to anything in attack whatsoever.

Over the course of the 90 minutes, Bayern didn't record a single shot on goal. They desperately lacked width in attack, and Thiago was the only midfielder who could reliably serve the forwards Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller in the final third. The problem was, being a single target, the 24-year-old was completely shut out. Alonso was never going to be the type to move alongside Thiago and divert attention away from his compatriot, so his passing was ineffectual.

When Alonso did have the chance to affect play in attacking areas, on set pieces, his delivery left much to be desired. He blasted a free-kick into the wall and played several crosses that never really left his teammates with a chance of redirecting the ball on goal. Although he was never going to be the type to dribble through the Barca defense and score a wonder goal, dead-ball situations were exactly where Alonso could have emerged a hero. However, Wednesday just wasn't his day.

With that having been said, Alonso's performance was impressive overall, considering the type of player he is and how he had to apply his skill set in a game for which it was not particularly accustomed. Sid Lowe of the Guardian went so far as to label the Spaniard "outstanding," although Alonso's performance was very polarizing.

Bayern needed a strong performance from Alonso in order to have a good chance of achieving a positive result at Camp Nou, and in context, the veteran delivered. He wasn't a match-winner, and it was far from the best game of his career. Compared with most of his teammates, however, he put on a good display, with Manuel Neuer probably the only Bayern man to exceed his class on the evening.

It was good on an individual level, but much to his dismay, Alonso's performance was not enough. He and Bayern will have to conjure something of a miracle if the German giants are to find their way to the Champions League final.

@Mr_Bundesliga