Offensive Phase

This will be the second season that the former Captain and now football coach Luis Enrique trains Barcelona FC, therefore the possession and 1-4-3-3 formation traditions continues.

On the construction zone, the left back (Jordi Alba) and right back (Sergi Roberto) played close to the side bar giving length to Barcelona´s game. Busquets and the other midfielders seeked to provide passing lines for the ball carrier. In this phase Busquets was the key player because he controls ball orientation and the offensive rhythm.

When Barcelona got closer to the offensive creation zone, the space between the goalkeeper and the defensive line increased. This could had been used by the opponent.

At the offensive creation zone, the defensive pressure of Atlético de Madrid did not allowed Barcelona to play in the center lane. Because of that, Barcelona was forced to play in the side lanes to progress to their offensive half. In the side rails Barcelona performed triangulation between midfielders, forwards and back players in order to create spaces.

As we can see in the images, in the last offensive phase Barcelona tried to put the maximum number of players as possible, with the purpose of  creating numerical advantage on the 18 yard box zone.

Defensive Phase

Barcelona tried to put the maximum number of players as possible, creating a numerical advantage on the offensive zone. For that reason, when they lost the ball, they had to be very aggressive with the ball carrier. So, in this moments, the first defender pressed the ball carrier while the other players placed themselves in diamond, cutting the passing lines. When the team had to defend close to their goal line, they were  in a 1-4-3-3 position with the lines close to each other.

Set Plays

Offensive Corner

Neymar was the player in charge to perform the corners on both sides. He targeted preferentially Piqué and Rakitic. Other players tried to create spaces for those two players or to release those players of defensive marking.

Defensive Corner

Barcelona opted for a mixed defense in corners where Pique, Suarez and Jordi Alba used the defensive zone. The rest of the team mates used individual marking. This left some space that could had been used by Atlético de Madrid players.