Whenever a team performs as good as FC Barcelona has been doing this season, certain things are looked at immediately. Whether it be the number of goals they score or how many the concede, the norms are already set in stone. However, in the case of this particular Barcelona team, there is more to it than meets the eye.
A well-drilled and well-settled system, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona operates more like a machine than a team of talented footballers. For the German coach, consistency is key and so is the focus that he expects his players to have at all times.
Through this constant focus and attention, Hansi Flick is able to ensure that this Barcelona side is capable of executing some of his more high-risk commands and tactics. The most obvious and effective of those, as pointed out by Mundo Deportivo, is arguably the offside trap that his team plays.
To understand truly how impactful and prevalent this tactic is in Barça’s game, a statistic can help to better define its value. Across Europe’s top leagues, Barça remains the team that has successfully trapped their opponents in an offside position on the most number of occasions.
Statistically speaking, Barcelona have amassed a total of 75 offsides having been given in their favor across all competitions this season. Within only La Liga, that number holds up to an impressive 62 offsides, a value that is exactly double of second-placed Brighton’s 31 offsides in the Premier League this season.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, have only had nine offsides called in their favor this season so far. While it is true that their set up does not rely on this particular tactic as much as Barcelona relies on it, it is still a massive gap between the two sides and this particular tactic is only as effective as it is for Barcelona due to their attention to detail.
As Marc Casado revealed recently, this tactic is something that the team works on extensively in training. While the club understands that it is a high-risk strategy, it is still one that Hansi Flick prefers and the reward that the team has been able to enjoy so far thanks to it makes it worthwhile.
With each passing game, the Barcelona defense finds it easier and easier to play this trap close to perfection almost every time. Both Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi, however, deserve special praise for the way that they have been making use of the offside trap so far this season.
Their chemistry and timing, a pairing that often catches opponents off-guard, continues to be excellent when it comes to this particular tactic that Hansi Flick has been enforcing. Ultimately, the free-scoring nature of the team this season has managed to stem from that particular decision and the team continues to trust Flick’s dependence on it.
As for the number of offsides per game and against different opponents, the results have varied. Against Valencia there were seven offsides called against the opposition, then came the five against Athletic Club, four against Rayo Vallecano and Real Valladolid, seven against fellow Catalan side Girona, then six against AS Monaco, seven against Villarreal, seven against Getafe, and most recently eleven against Deportivo Alaves.