El Clásico Preview: Six Tactical Trends from Xavi's Barcelona
Aubameyang's crucial role, sexy interchanges, defensive vulnerabilities, and more.
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El Clásico is upon us and Xavi Hernández’s Barça finally look like they’re kicking into gear. The Catalan outfit are undefeated in their previous eleven matches and have won six of their last seven, including a couple of 4-0 drubbings vs. Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao.
Here are six tactical wrinkles — which Real Madrid would do well to pay attention to — that have revealed themselves over this period.
1. Aubameyang Dropping
Memphis Depay up top just hasn’t worked out. Although the Dutch international is a skilled associative player, his back-to-goal game isn’t as robust as a traditional forward’s and he tends to linger in deeper zones after dropping, failing to adequately balance his connective work with occupation of the defensive line.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been a neat stopgap for this conundrum and has seamlessly transitioned into the dual role Xavi demands of his number nine. The 32-year-old vet is judicious with how he capitalizes on the aggressive positioning of Barça’s interiors, waiting for them to create a gap in the midfield line before arriving in sync with a vertical pass.
Auba serves as a useful conduit through which Barcelona can bypass cover shadows on Busquets; with a simple movement and wall pass, the ex-Arsenal man can access a suddenly-free Sergio underneath. This can flow straight into a third-man action, with the ‘eights’ using Aubameyang’s descent as a trigger to burst off-the-shoulder.
These “counter-movements” constantly occur off of Auba’s deep maneuvers, pulling defenses this way and that and opening all sorts of passing lanes. The inverse nature of these runs means that they can be continually repeated within the same sequence, creating ample opportunities to exploit any lapses in concentration.
Real Madrid need to figure out how they want to deal with this. Successful opposition approaches of late, as demonstrated by Elche and Galatasaray, have involved the center-back following Aubameyang aggressively, with bodies — helped by back-pressing forwards — congesting the center.
Éder Militão is naturally aggressive and will want to shut down space between the lines. Whether he will get the requisite support from his teammates remains to be seen. The extent of the Brazilian’s responsibility, in this regard, will also depend on how Madrid defend. If it’s in a 4-1-4-1, then Militão will need to coordinate with Casemiro when it comes time to pick Auba up.
2. Wide Interchanges
If Barcelona cannot access Auba, they turn to dynamic, speedy interchanges in wide areas. The inverted positioning of the fullbacks and the attacking nature of the central midfielders foster an excellent base for fluid rotations within a positional logic (translation: balanced spatial occupation).
Pedri, more than anyone, is constantly on a carousel, wheeling around to keep the passing triangle alive before opportunistically springing in any one direction to exploit a defensive fissure.
What’s so scary about this is how ball carrying can organically initiate these exchanges. Dembélé, Traoré, and Ferran feel liberated to dribble into difficult situations, safe in the knowledge that close outlets will materialize before them, thereby fashioning an even more aggressive and unpredictable game of musical chairs for the opposition.
3. Frenkie de Jong’s Runs In Behind
Barcelona’s most frequent threat off-the-shoulder might just be Frenkie de Jong. Long gone are the days when Ajax’s Golden Boy featured in a double pivot and got to dictate in his own unique way from deep. While he still has his chances to get on the ball in front of blocks, de Jong’s incredible physical qualities and feel for accelerating the tempo has been increasingly maximized on the last line.
Frenkie’s timing in third-man actions is near perfect and, thus, must be respected as a legitimate threat. This grants him “off-ball gravity” — defenders are forced to react to his sprints, manifesting space for others.
Madrid’s wingers will have to be and alert and disciplined in tracking back if Carlo Ancelotti’s four in defense are to have the freedom to stalk de Jong.
4. Ball Carrying from Center-Back
Any passivity from a block is met by gallivanting runs from center-back.
Although Gerard Piqué and Ronald Araújo have been instructed to burst forward, it is Eric García who is most prolific at this:
Madrid cannot let him or others run uncontested into the final third, but they need to be careful not to expose their structure in the process of engaging the CB.
5. Imperfect Rest Defense
Bunkering down vs. Barcelona seems logical but it can be dangerous. If La Blaugrana are allowed to progress to goal with little resistance, their offensive structure can hold stable, translating to effective rest defense1.
Numbers in the box tend to diminish the amount of forward outlets one can commit to the counter, while the positioning of the fullbacks on either side of Busquets constructs a suffocating net.
Nevertheless, Barça are clearly most vulnerable in transition. For all of Busquets’ positional nous, his mobility is not what it once was and he can be skinned 1v1.
Another risk arises from Barcelona’s high-tempo wing combinations. The freedom to dribble and the impetus for constant movement can negatively effect rest defense. If there is an ill-timed turnover, the fullbacks could be out of position with too much distance to cover, leaving Busquets on an island.
Madrid don’t just need to break up their rival’s wide interchanges to keep a clean sheet, but to generate offensive transition, too.
Elche had some joy by dodging the midfield entirely, going direct on the counter to target man Lucas Boyé, who got the better of Piqué on more than one occasion.
6. The Man-Oriented Press
Barcelona defend in a 4-4-2, with a central midfielder stepping up to join the striker. However, due to the man-oriented nature of Xavi’s plan, the other interior can often be coaxed forwards by opposition movements to form a three with the back line. This leaves Busquets as the lone figure screening the center, which Galatasaray and Elche took advantage of by going direct.
With Karim Benzema unavailable, there is potential for Madrid to deploy Luka Jović in this fashion. His wide frame and comfort in executing layoffs would enable him to act as a viable out ball over the press.
There is also the possibility for Madrid to find the free man in midfield through solutions on the ground. Such an endeavor would have to be deliberately engineered and Casemiro would need to be sharp, given that he would probably be the designated extra player (by Barça) vs. the high block.
For further clarity, this refers to a team’s defensive structure when they have the ball, specifically in the moments directly preceding a turnover. In “positional play” (the basis for Xavi’s and Pep’s philosophies), it is particularly important for there to be a seamless transition between in-possession and out-of-possession phases, since football operates on a continuum — rather than distinct junctures — between offense and defense. Thus, the attacking shape will be designed so that players have to reorganize as little as possible when the time comes to counterpress.
Excellent analysis