Dynamism, Directness and Intensity: Barcelona Are Prepared for Hansi Flick’s First Clásico Test

It’s been an impressive start for Hansi Flick at Barcelona, but can they put an end to Real Madrid’s 42-game unbeaten run in La Liga in El Clásico this weekend?

Hansi Flick’s first Clásico experience is upon us and, as always, the first one will come billed as a moment of truth. Like it or loathe it, the defining narratives are waiting to be devoured by the Spanish media; the airwaves filled long into the night, whatever happens at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Are Barcelona the best team in Spain? Or are they just an honourable contender, whose flaws were exposed in the face of the mighty Real Madrid? Even if we don’t get a clear and obvious answer, many will still choose between one or the other. That’s just the way this fixture goes.

Away from the overwhelming Clásico noise that is soon to arrive, what’s clear is that Flick’s Barcelona are a team worthy of our attention.

Fresh off a 4-1 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the Catalans come into this game top of La Liga, having racked up 27 points from 30 available this season. Only three times in their history have they had a better start in terms of points at this stage of a top-flight campaign, while all three of those came during the Lionel Messi era.

So, what exactly is it that they do so well? And what might it look like when they come up against their super-charged, eternal enemy?

Flick Has Engineered an Attacking Juggernaut (for Now)

Barcelona have scored 33 goals in their first 10 league matches under Flick. For some context, the last team to score that many through 10 games of a campaign in La Liga was Real Madrid in 2014-15, while the last time Barcelona did so was in 2008-09 – otherwise known as Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning debut season.

Given the only notable investment Barcelona made in the summer was Dani Olmo – who has only started two of their 10 league games – you’re probably wondering just how Flick has managed to take them into fifth gear so quickly.

As always, there’s no single or easy answer. The fact that Lamine Yamal is a superstar of the sport on this side of Euro 2024, or that Pedri is finally fit again and playing regularly are individual bits of context that we have to acknowledge. But as for the panoramic view, there are still plenty of Flick-driven hallmarks that we can point to.

Where many had raised concerns about Flick’s ‘4-2-3-1’, the emphasis on physicality, and his resulting stylistic fit at the club, the reality on the ground has been much different. The fact it’s not really a 4-2-3-1 at all, for starters. Barcelona part from a clear 4-3-3 with the ball, which naturally morphs based on player tendencies: Pedri’s freedom to play at different heights in midfield, Raphinha’s mobility as a ‘false winger’, or Jules Koundé switching between the third centre-back and advanced full-back, just to name a few.

Quite simply, this Barcelona side are a whirlwind of dynamism. The ball circulates quickly around the pitch, they’re sharp to seize on available space, attacking players are constantly moving off each other, and they overwhelm sides with the sheer number of players they squeeze into the opposition half. There’s a force behind their football that has appeared, essentially overnight.

Perhaps the best news for Barcelona purists so far is that, despite all of those more direct characteristics, they have very rarely looked hurried or too hasty in their use of the ball. Flick has managed to give this team a new, more aggressive intention in their pursuit of goal, yet without losing the quality of ball possession that has long defined them.

In fact, to compare them to last season under Xavi, this side have only seen a very slight reduction in their average number of passes per sequence of play, while boosting the speed at which they move the ball forward.

As per Opta’s direct speed metric – which measures how quickly a team advance the ball upfield in open play (in metres per second) – Barcelona have been quicker than eight teams this season (1.81), after only being quicker than one last term (1.67), in the form of Girona.

The logical starting point is Barcelona’s defence. Centre-back duo Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí have been sensational across the board this season, but especially so when it comes to initiating and sustaining the team’s way of playing.

While Martínez leads the league in successful switches of play (17), Cubarsí balances precision and progression as well as any centre-back in the division, completing 94% of his passes despite his forward-thinking style.

Overall, they are the two players who’ve completed the most passes in La Liga this season, giving Barcelona an axis of two skilled distributors through which they can build the game and begin to circulate the ball with intention.

It’s often through these two players that we see the origin of the team’s attacks. Under Flick, Barcelona have stood out for the way they occupy central areas and generate interplay between their attackers there. Martínez and, especially, Cubarsí have been excellent at punching passes through the middle to tee up their central attacks. And once Barça get there on the inside, it usually means trouble.

That’s not to say the Catalans are reliant on attacking through the centre. In many ways, their central presence has served to make them a more diversified attack.

With short combinations at close quarters, Barça push and pull the opposition round to open up spaces between the lines and try to displace their defensive shape. Once they break through, it doesn’t matter whether the attack continues through the middle or out wide. The goal is to scatter opposition players and seize on the resulting spaces, depending on where their rival has overcommitted.

What about when the opponent has already committed to clogging the central lane? No problem, there’s the pass to Yamal.

One of the clearest consequences of Flick’s attacking setup has been a spike in the último pase (final pass). Barcelona have made more successful through balls than any other team in Europe’s big five leagues this season (21), and with the majority of those emanating from central areas.

They populate the centre, shift the ball with tempo between themselves, and then look to punch the last pass through where it hurts once they’ve managed to muddle the opponent’s defensive and midfield lines. If they lose it in the process, Barça swarm and look to stop any chance of their opponent being able to shift up the pitch.

It’s technical football at its essence but done with a real physicality behind it.

Barcelona’s Intense Pressure Is Key to Their Success

A hallmark of Flick’s side that unequivocally falls under ‘Barça DNA’ is their behaviour without the ball. This team press from the front and the corresponding lines follow their lead, while their tendencies don’t change according to the scoreline. When Barcelona press for some of the game, as opposed to all of it, their manager lets them know.

Among the varying effects of pressing and counter-pressing that we see these days, we’ve not seen Barcelona turn their efforts directly into goals all that often so far.

Though it’s certainly the intention to steal the ball and create chances quickly, they’ve scored just twice immediately following a high turnover in La Liga this season, which accounts for just 6% of their overall goal tally. That’s to say, it’s not as if their pressure is supporting or contributing to their goalscoring in a major way for the time being.

The effect we do see repeatedly, however, is their ability to sustain attacks and keep their opponent penned in their own half. This has been the most rewarding element of their pressure so far and is driven by recapturing the ball quickly after losing it with short bursts of activity – more often than not, in central areas where Barcelona have plenty of players to react when their interplay gets cut short.

Barcelona’s opponents are averaging just 2.8 sequences of 10+ passes per game in La Liga this season (in open play), which is significantly lower than their average last term (5.0). By hunting quick recoveries of the ball to such an extent, Flick’s side create the washing machine effect of subjecting their opponents to constant attacks, without them being able to find the respite of possession.

It’s a scene we’ve seen time and time again in La Liga this season, with Barcelona accepting there’ll be times when they have to scramble back in exchange for domination in extended periods.

As for the most apparent risk involved in the process, that would be Barcelona’s new and renewed (ultra) high defensive line, which serves to back up those counter-pressing efforts. And especially before going up against Real Madrid, it’s a sub-plot that will be fresh on the agenda this Saturday.

Barça have caught their opponents offside 65 times through Flick’s first 10 league matches, which is the highest mark in Europe’s big five leagues this season by a significant margin. Indeed, 6.5 per game is more than double their average from last season in La Liga (3.1).

Though the number for this season will inevitably come back down to earth somewhat in coming months, the exaggerated number we see before us today is proof of Barcelona’s conviction. The rate at which they’re playing their opponents offside is Flick quite blatantly saying: we know the risks, we know our opponents know the possibilities, and yet we’re still convinced it’s the right thing to do.

Of course, playing a high line versus Real Madrid is not the same as doing so against most sides. There’s no team in world football better equipped to punish a high line than one who can count on the blinding speed of Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, the hard-running Jude Bellingham, and Fede Valverde if he fancies getting involved too.

In many ways, this is the likely paradox of the first Clásico of 2024-25: both teams are likely to get the type of game they want. Carlo Ancelotti will, for many periods of the game, let Barcelona have the ball in exchange for space to counter-attack, and Flick’s side will have the platform to take charge territorially, provided they can execute well.

Where to many it might seem like a suicide mission to go to the Bernabéu and play a high defensive line, it’s just as possible that Flick sees it as a necessary part of securing a result. Barcelona’s defenders can’t win a foot race with Real Madid’s attackers, but their collective pressure could sever the quality of links into those players.

Back down or double down? The German doesn’t seem like he’s here for half measures, and Real Madrid’s 42-game unbeaten run in La Liga doesn’t exactly scream success for the less ambitious defensive strategies we’ve seen against them.

Raphinha Defines Flick’s Bold New Vision

Speaking of pressing, it’s about time we gave a mention to Raphinha. Within the space of a few months, he has gone from someone a lot of fans wouldn’t have minded selling to a genuine cult hero.

Now temporarily wearing the armband, Raphinha scores, assists, runs like his life depends on it, and sets the example in a Barcelona team who want to overwhelm their opponent on all possible fronts. “I have never had a player like Raphinha in any of my teams,” said Flick, after their midweek win over Bayern in Europe, in which he scored a sensational hat-trick.

Now liberated from his old right-wing role, where many expected a Brazilian winger who could make the difference individually as a dribbler and ball carrier – something closer to Vinícius Júnior on the other side of the divide – the arrival of Flick has created the conditions through which his effervescent range of attributes can finally flourish.

Namely, the more dynamic the team’s play is, the better for Raphinha. He’s not a winger who you give the ball to, clear out the space and wait for him to do something. He’s an animator of events who does so in a multitude of ways, both physically and technically. Now used as a ‘winger’ on paper who’s free to play inside and mix up his positioning, opponents have a much harder time getting to grips with him.

Though he’s also played a good number of minutes in a specifically central role this season, the 27-year-old generally makes up a ‘front three’ who have been unrivalled in their output across Europe this season.

Of the nine players who have already been directly involved in 10+ goals across Europe’s big five leagues this term, a third of those are made up by Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Yamal. In fact, the last time three teammates all hit double figures for goals and assists this early into a season in La Liga was in 2013-14, with Messi, Neymar and Alexis Sánchez doing so.

It’ll be hard for Raphinha to maintain this level of output when it comes to goals and assists across the season, but Flick won’t be worried when that rate begins to dip. What the Brazilian has given to his side can’t be captured merely in direct goal involvements, but in powering a dynamic attack who rely on his activity.

Though he’s far from exclusive to the interplay and building of attacks himself, Raphinha’s biggest utility in this Barcelona side has arguably been what he’s done without the ball. In attack, his mobility and movement has been a nightmare for the opposition’s defensive line, and he propels that with a supreme generosity, always offering jabbing runs and forcing the backline to react.

Through the opening 10 games in La Liga this season, Raphinha has received more progressive passes than any other winger or attacking midfielder (69). Along with that, he’s also received the most through balls (7) of any player across the two positions and is level with Lewandowski overall.

Against a Real Madrid side who are unbeaten in 42 matches in La Liga, the task of actually usurping their defenders is, of course, no mean feat. Even when their defensive shape hasn’t been all that sturdy, the likes of Antonio Rüdiger and Éder Militão are dominant defenders who deal with individual duels and space in front of them with few problems.

In that context, Raphinha’s movements off the ball and sneaking runs behind the defensive line should represent one of Barcelona’s best chances to catch them out.

A Healthy and in-Form Pedri Arrives on Time

The last time Pedri started a Clásico in La Liga was on 16 October 2022, over two years ago. Suffice to say, for both Barcelona fans and neutrals alike tuning into the spectacle, his absence from this fixture has been keenly felt in recent years. Barça are always just a little less Barça without him, and that dilutes the stylistic clash we often see when these two meet.

The guarantee of Pedri’s presence this time round – against this Real Madrid – is particularly important too. In a game where his side are going to go up against an opponent packed with speed on the break, and where Ancelotti will inevitably set up to utilise that very weapon, Barcelona need to be precise with the ball and smart in how they use it.

Above all, that means knowing when to speed the game up and when to slow it down, given the natural instincts of Flick’s team are to be aggressive and to hunt attacking opportunities without apology. Pedri can be a part of that with great effect, but he’s also the one with the best sense of when to dial it back.

For Barcelona to have the best of both worlds – the sharp, direct attacks and the poise to manage the game – the 21-year-old is an essential piece of the puzzle.

The fact is Barcelona’s success in this fixture typically follows a similar pattern. Where we often see teams around Europe change the way they play in big games against similarly powerful rivals, particularly when played away from home, El Clásico is a game in which Barça’s triumphs are tied to their football in its truest sense.

You have to go all the way back to May 2008 for the last time Real Madrid had more possession than Barcelona in a league Clásico, with the two teams facing each other 32 times in the top-flight since then. That doesn’t mean Barcelona always dominate the ball in this fixture, and it’s not something you can just decide to do with a team as good as Real Madrid in front of you, but it does show a clear trend on the part of the Catalans. Winning the Clásico – and especially at the Bernabéu – rarely occurs by surrendering initiative and adapting defensively.

Even when Flick’s side want to be aggressive in pursuit of goals, there needs to be a balance between that and settling themselves with valuable sequences of possession. That’s the case even more so this year, given that one of Real Madrid’s biggest problems in the Mbappé era so far has been their defensive shape and struggling to put pressure on the ball effectively. If Barcelona want to take charge, they’ll need to make Madrid run and stress their cohesion without the ball.

While many things have shifted at Barcelona under Flick, some things are impossible to change. Gerard Piqué used to say the whistles of the Santiago Bernabéu were like a ‘symphony’ to his ears, and the quickest way to achieve that was, and always will be, to take the ball away from Real Madrid and make them run.

Ahead of Flick’s first Clásico examination, where Barcelona come billed as a team with a knockout punch, they will need the poise of Pedri to navigate the game and tee one up. Like all other Barça managers to have made this trip, it is as much the how as the what you can bring home from the Bernabéu that earns you the acclaim.

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