Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s.
~ Johan Cruyff

10.26.2024

This day will go down in history as the day when football won. The battle itself is not a new one, just one with new faces. A star-studded Real Madrid at the peak of their game, playing an FC Barcelona side that has had arguably the toughest few years in the recent past.

In the comfort of their home, with the roof closed, the Santiago Bernabeu witnessed nothing short of a massacre. After a no-goal first 45 mins, the 2nd half was pure Catalan dominance.

Lewa 54’
Lewa 56’
Yamal 77’
Raphinha 84’

This win could not be more cinematic if it weren’t for the fact that Real was 1 win away from beating Barcelona’s 43-game unbeaten record. The icing on the cake was of course 17-year-old Lamine Yamal becoming the youngest player ever to score in the El Clasico, with a sensational weak foot finish no less, topping it off by hitting the calma at Bernabeu. The crowd booing at the youngster drove me nuts. Madridistas need to have some respect; the boy literally won them the Euros.

But this post is not so much about putting Barca on a pedestal (- although they totally deserve it this time around), but it is about analyzing and understanding the beautiful game while cherishing the victory of a gorgeous team-effort and sheer strategy against the Galácticos.

Financial Woes

I’d be remiss not to address the elephant in the room. Enough has been said and written about the financial woes that have plagued FCB in the past few years. A Blaugrana side that was at its peak was suddenly crumbling like a house of cards, with the exit of Leo Messi, a looming debt with seemingly no ceiling, and lack of morale on the pitch. Xavi’s managerial stint faced more contention than it deserved. He was caught in the middle of a perfect storm. Yet, in my opinion, he did his best to build a solid squad despite budget constraints and brought back the La Liga title to the club.

If there is a silver lining to any of this at all, it is the fact that Laporta (after his re-election as club president in March 2021) made the decision to turn to La Masia for scouting talent. While there is no denying that the motivations were primarily financial, we’re indeed reaping the benefits of this now.

Flick Masterclass

A New Era Begins

Hansi Flick is no neophyte when it comes to European Football. Among other achievements, perhaps the most notable was his managerial stint at Bayern Munich, especially during the 2019-20 season. Bayern’s UCL road to victory was a historic first-ever trophy lift with a 100% win record in the league, winning 23 games in a row. Flick also won them the German treble in 2019-20 and their first-ever sextuple in 2021. Besides Pep, Flick is the only manager to have achieved a sextuple.

Flicki Flaka

One stat I wish to draw attention to is his win record at Bayern - they lost just 7 games and won 7 trophies over his entire tenure. This is no mean feat. One word jumps to mind with regards to his tactics, and that is “consistency.” At the core of his win streaks is a solid aggressive attacking strategy coupled with a high defensive line. This is the same strategic gameplay that handed us the embarrassing 8-2 loss against Flick’s Bayern, a nightmare that haunts every Barca fan. Their 4-1 thrashing with role reversal was almost poetic and satisfying, to say the least.

Flick at Barca provides an interesting twist with a departure from the historical tiki-taka style short pass gameplay that earned the Catalans much of their glory in the past decade or so.

I’ve been trying to unravel the intricacies of his strategies, and here’s my attempt at deciphering it.

Directed Offensive Play

Historically, Barcelona’s tiki-taka style, inspired by its Spanish/Dutch legacy (Pep, Cruyff, Luis Enrique, …), involves short pass-based possession and ball retention that culminates in a slow build-up attack. With Flick’s 4-3-2-1 (or sometimes 4-3-3) strategy, he tends to give players more freedom to divert from game-building and make directed medium to long-range passes to forwards from the midfield or even defense. This way, the team essentially bypasses the opponent’s defense.

A prime example of this is the first goal by Lewandowski, which was essentially a two-touch score with a gorgeous assist from Casadó from just over the half-line with a dee-top finish by Lewa. Even Raphinha’s goal at the 84th minute was the result of a perfectly delivered assist from Inigo Martinez from far away in Barca’s half - leaving Raphinha in basically a 1:1 with the Madrid goalkeeper.

High Defense Line (aka The Offside Trap)

Of course, the offside trap needs no introduction. Granted he did not win the Ballon D’or, Mbappe sure did break the 15-year record for most offsides by a single player in La Liga.

With the focus on an aggressive attacking strategy, Barcelona’s high defense line serves as a perfect complement. As the ball moves into the opponent’s half, Barca’s defensive line positions itself high-up almost close to the half-line. The result is, of course, what served to be an embarrassing number of offsides for Real Madrid, thwarting any and every attempt at game-building.

Of course, this ends up being riskier in situations where possession is lost and the opposition makes a swift attack. To curb such attempts, Flick uses the classic German high-press style (aka gegenpressing), where the entire team resorts to winning the ball back within seconds of losing possession by employing an aggressively high press. Even attackers that are not as agile, like Lewa, or switches that serve as attackers, such as Dani Olmo, resort to a high press upon loss of possession.

There are, of course, risks involved with this kind of defensive strategy. A loss in possession early on in the build-up could end up being catastrophic with the entire team high-up in preparation for an attack. For instance, look at Silas’ equalizer, where Barca lost possession around the half-line and did not have enough time to fall back for a proper defense.

This high defense line, coupled with aggressive pressing, also puts tremendous upward pressure on the team’s fitness demands.

Role Fluidity and Dynamic Switching

This, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting aspects of Flick’s strategy and is core to Barca’s dominance today. In order to maintain a high defensive line coupled with aggressive and direct attacking play, Flick allows almost all players to dynamically switch positions and confuse the opponents who are expecting more dictionary playmaking from a team like Barcelona. At the surface, this may seem like an obvious no-brainer tactic, but it relies tremendously on dynamic on-the-go decision-making by the players themselves and is far from a cookie-cutter recipe.

Let’s start by looking at the much celebrated front 3 line-up of Raphinha, Lewa, and Yamal, which reminds me of MSN times.

It’s interesting to note the wide range of age in the forwards; they are 27, 36, and 17, respectively. Flick smartly utilizes Lewa as a finisher in the box due to his (relatively) slow pace and agility as compared to Yamal and Raphinha, and there is no denying how well this has worked for the team. On the other hand, Yamal, with his top-notch dribbling and pace, frequently departs from pulling wide (atypical for a winger) and swiftly cuts in to make a direct attempt at the goal. Yamal’s first UCL goal against Monaco is such a prime example of this - a perfect long ball, pause instead of a (mindless) run to prevent offside, cut in and score.

Another key aspect of Barca’s dominance is their double pivots. I can’t help but reminisce about the days with Xavi and Iniesta spearheading a solid attacking midfield for the Catalans, supported by none other than Sergio Busquets. This time around, Flick leverages Pedri and Casadó as double pivots that drive the game from the defense line while also cutting deep during attacks. On the other side, Dani Olmo plays an excellent role as an attacking midfielder, helping the line-up with the aggressive high press upon loss of possession.

There is no denying how well this hybrid strategy is working for the Blaugrana side this season.

Final Word and the Road Ahead

After a disappointing last few years, it seems like the Blaugrana side is finally making a semblance of a comeback. What makes this comeback interesting, of course, is their departure from a historic tiki-taka gameplay and into a more bold and aggressive strategy. What makes the comeback inspiring is the club’s reliance on a solid line-up of La Masia youngsters that are absolutely devastating big-name clubs like Real and Bayern.

Yet, this is a little too early to call a proper comeback. There are a good number of concerns with injuries, monetary issues still not entirely behind us, and of course, some very glaring blind spots with the high defense line itself. But overall, this new Barca is a beast that is not afraid to put its old ways to test, not afraid to leverage youngsters and give them so much freedom on the field, and not afraid to celebrate with a stone-cold calma by a 17-year-old at the Bernabeu ;)

P.S.: No AI-based tool was used to ideate or draft this article.