It has been an exhausting few months for Barcelona and their fans, with the team seemingly not prepared well enough to compete in Spain, let alone in Europe.
The second-leg against PSG was a disaster for the club, and the season ended with Real Madrid winning the league with a whopping 95 points and then the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund.
And if that was not enough, Madrid have only gone on to confirm the signing of Kylian Mbappe on a free transfer after his six-year tenure at Paris Saint-Germain.
The Frenchman is widely regarded as the best player on the planet right now, alongside none other than Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham, who are already a crucial part of this Madrid side.
Barcelona will have to focus on the long-term properly to combat this Madrid super team, but it would probably start with El Clasico on the pitch.
So how do the Catalans pitch up against Mbappe when they eventually face him?
1. A deeper line
Over the last several seasons it has become clear that Real Madrid have made the most use of Barcelona’s high-line system and exploited it using the lines of Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, among others.
And their new coach, Hansi Flick, is infamously known for playing absurdly high lines. However, that will not run against this Madrid side.
Hansi Flick’s high line defense with Bayern Munich (Courtesy The Coaches’ Voice)
Flick must be pragmatic, use a much more balanced system – defensively -, and play a deeper line compared to previous years in an attempt not to give into Madrid’s counter-attack strategies.
2. A balanced midfield
One of Barcelona’s big problems this season was the lack of a holding midfielder in the team. In fact, after Gavi’s injury, the team lacked a serious ball-winner in the center of the park.
That made the team’s defense a lot more vulnerable on the counter. With nobody cutting passing lanes or going in to win balls, most midfielders could hit Barcelona on transitions with a single pass.
Barcelona…
Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/three-measures-barcelona-can-take-to-counter-real-madrids-mbappe-signing/
Author : Udhav Arora
Publish date : 2024-06-04 08:00:00
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