Barcelona waded on Tuesday evening through the rain, the setbacks and the controversy about the referees to get away with what an invaluable victory could be in the Champions League. The team of Hansi Flick perhaps put down their worst defensive performance of the season, reinforced by the two errors of Wojciech Szczesny in his first European start for the club. And yet it all ended well.
It certainly helped to avoid a media study into the form of Barcelona-after just one win in eight La Liga matches, only one is avoided because of their European performance and a victory in the Clásico over Real Madrid. But on Tuesday evening, Barcelona went into the game as a winner goes online at Cherry Red Casino and felt happy. Because he has done so much wrong, Flick will draw courage from his side in himself.
The fundamental base of Barcelona's game under Flick has so far been to extend the field where possible vertically for the defense of the opponent: most of their goals came from. The tricky thing is to reduce the same space when the Blaugrana lose the ball. Something they did well at the start of the season, but always accompanied by a risk.
The somewhat logical conclusion of Flick, or at least it seems, is that if Barcelona creates the same number of opportunities as their opponents, the Catalan team must have the quality and courage to get rid of their chances than their opponents. Now that Robert Lewandowski experienced an Indian autumn and Raphinha in the form of his life, this initially played in their favor.
In the past two months, that model has collapsed to a certain extent. Poor performance and more sloppy defenses were involved, but on the whole, Barcelona still approaches the matches with the same idea. With a shorter team, which does not contain a natural replacement for Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Marc Casado, Alejandro Balde or Jules Kounde, Flick is forced to trust those names where possible, except in punctual situations.
The accuracy and the mental sharpness that are needed for the fine margins, whether it is an outdoor game or to end in front of the goal, decrease with those same players. Pedri seems abnormal, Balde and Lamine Yamal stay at a high level, but it is no surprise that Flick has seen a dip on his part.
If Barcelona wants to be successful during the business end of the season, Flick will have to find a way to reduce the risk, the required mental sharpness and the fatigue that emerges in his side. Given the limitations of his team, that is easier said than done.
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