The Near-Post Run: why Vitor Roque is exactly what Barcelona's attack needs

Barcelona 1-0 Osasuna - La Liga

After being so bad they got their manager to quit, Barcelona finally showed some gumption and beat Osasuna 1-0 in La Liga.

Obviously the situation is a bit more nuanced than that, but essentially that is what happened. So it feels a bit funny that as soon as Xavi had been pushed to the edge, the players decided to show up.

Or did they?

Obviously Barcelona won, which is nice, and they kept a clean sheet (their first in La Liga since December) which is nicer, and Iñaki Peña even left his line to claim a cross — like, full on just charged out and claimed a high ball that could otherwise have been problematic — which is downright miraculous to be honest. But was this a complete performance, or more of the same?

The answer, as noted philosopher Abraham Simpson once said, is: “a little from Column A, a little from Column B.”

There is no doubt Barcelona’s win over Osasuna was eerily familiar in that they created a lot of chances and inexplicably missed most of them. They also picked up an injury (Ferran Torres limped off feeling his hamstring).

Then when they finally did take the lead and looked to be comfortable, they panicked in the last few minutes and allowed an aggressive opponent to get good looks at their goal, and in this case it was a team with 10 men!

(Sidebar: Barcelona keep withdrawing Pedri between 70-80 minutes into games to protect him from physical overload, but with Gavi out injured they have no one to bring on that offers anything like the control Pedri does. So they have little ability to control games late on via possession, even if they’re leading).

The Near-Post Run

But the win also showcased Barcelona’s salvation. The means by which they will drag themselves out of this hideous slump and become a relevant team again.

It was a moment as simple as it was brilliant: 68 seconds after being subbed onto the pitch for his sixth appearance for Barcelona, Vitor Roque made a near-post run.

That’s all.

As with so many Barcelona attacks, Frenkie de Jong fed the ball out to the left-wing where the full-back was waiting wide, stretching the pitch as part of Xavi’s 3-2-5 shape. Whether it’s Alejandro Balde, Marcos Alonso or now Joao Cancelo, there’s always been someone there this season and they’ve always sent a cross in.

In this instance Cancelo decided to cross with the outside of his foot because he’s A) right-footed, B) has the skills to pay the bills and C) is a pure maverick. If Joao Felix had been a misfit, when fit Joao Cancelo looks a perfect fit with Barcelona.

Anyway, no one in Barcelona colours was really on the move to the back-post, as Ilkay Gundogan had been earlier in the game; making brilliant run only to miss a great headed chance when Lamine Yamal boomed in an impossibly good inswinging cross from the other flank. Meanwhile in the the middle of the goal Robert Lewandowski inexplicably stepped back away from Cancelo, standing in space but also right behind the line of Osasuna goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez; there was no way for Cancelo to get him the ball, Aitor would simply step off his line and pick the ball up.

This was pretty typical of Barcelona games. They either don’t make a run, make a far-post run, or run directly into or behind the path of the goalkeeper. What they so often do not do, is exactly what Vitor Roque did.

Vitor Roque was running into the box parallel with Frenkie’s pass to Cancelo. But he was marked, doubled up on with Unai Garcia in front of him and David Garcia chasing at his back. So he threw a stutter step in, slowing down just long enough for David Garcia to do the same, and so when Unai Garcia slowed and put his hands behind his back to block Cancelo’s cross, Vitor Roque attacked the space behind him.

The space where Cancelo put the cross.

At the near-post.

Make the god damn run

It’s a basic football thing but if you attack the post-post with a run, you can get in front of the goalkeeper and hit the ball goalwards before he gets a chance to intervene.

This is not some revolutionary tactical idea, it’s one of the simplest parts of the game and is used by teams around the world at all levels. But it only works if a striker makes the god damn run, and for whatever reason, Robert Lewandowski has basically stopped making this kind of run. So many times this season, Barcelona have had a promising crossing position only for no one to be making a near-post run (often no one is making any run, but yeah) and the ball to thus sail into the arms of the opposing goalkeeper, or an opposing defender to head the ball clear.

Vitor Roque made the god damn run.

You can tell it’s not something Barcelona usually do because David Garcia, tracking Vitor Roque from behind, is completely caught on his heels. He has no idea the young Brazilian forward is going to suddenly burst to life, he was expecting him to stand behind Unai Garcia like a lemon. Because that’s what Barcelona strikers had been doing all game and, truthfully, for most of the season.

But Vitor Roque made the god damn run.

So Cancelo pinged his cross in. A delicious trivela cross to the near-post. And Vitor Roque’s movement saw him burst into the box and in front of Aitor Fernandez. The goalkeeper was stepping off his line to claim a cross ahead of Lewandowski, only for Vitor Roque to flash onto the scene and make a simple but glorious header into what was, for him, an empty net.

After so many missed chances, so many signs of nerves, Tigrinho had roared at last!

Runs on runs on runs on runs

This is an 18 year-old striker in a new club, country and continent. Nerves were understandable, some of his previous misses wouldn’t have been otherwise, but there were no nerves last night. He kept his calm and did what he so often does: make the god damn run. And it wasn’t his first.

7 seconds earlier, Vitor Roque had made a run to the top of the box to provide a wall-pass for Lamine Yamal as El Prodigi was dancing away from defenders across the top of the box (in the end he found Frenkie who found Cancelo etc. etc.)

7 seconds before that, Vitor Roque was tearing behind the defence to be a passing option for Ilkay Gundogan. The German had been put through by a nice flick from Robert Lewandowski but, lacking the pace to escape the Osasuna defence, needed to move the ball on. Vitor Roque was tearing through the middle of the pitch and Gundogan tried to find him, only for David Garcia to cut the ball out (it ricocheted out wide to Lamine Yamal who began his run across the box etc. etc.)

3 seconds before that, Vitor Roque was dropping deep to be a passing option for Pedri. The midfield maestro had the ball on the halfway line but needed someone to move and disrupt Osasuna’s excellent defensive shape. No one else in Blaugrana was moving and he was going to have to go wide as per usual, but Tigrinho darted deep, scanned to check the space behind him, and when Pedri passed him the ball he immediately moved it on to Robert Lewandowski who then flicked it to Gundogan (who then made his run and looked for Vitor Roque etc. etc.)

That’s 4 (four) runs in 17 (seventeen) seconds. Involving himself in the attack at multiple phases, making the movements you have to in order to disrupt a deep-block defence. Endlessly electric, shocking Osasuna who had gotten used to containing the lifeless Lewandowski.

Vitor Roque’s movement was nothing revolutionary. But it had a seismic impact on the game and he had only been on the pitch for 68 seconds. The second-fastest goal by a substitute for Barcelona this season, after 17 year-old Marc Guiu scored 35 seconds into his debut for the club — also, incidentally, after making a forceful run behind the Athletic Club defence, showing great pace and intent.

Youth, as it usually does, shows the way. For Barcelona this season it has often been that way, with teenagers guiding the side. Up to Vitor Roque’s introduction, the best player on the pitch had been 16 year-old Lamine Yamal. Meanwhile in defence, 17 year-old Pau Cubarsi barely put a foot wrong in another impossibly composed display.

These kids and their crazy ideas like dribbling at opponents (Lamine Yamal has the best take-on success rate of anyone in La Liga who has attempted more than 50 dribbles) and making near-post runs are going to be the way in which Barcelona drag themselves to any kind of success this season, and beyond.

Xavi has been smart with Vitor Roque, easing him into things with a series of substitute appearances, allowing the teenager to find his footing with Barcelona.

But this goal could be the spark that ignites Vitor Roque. His movement had already led to him getting (and missing) various chances in his previous outings. But now he’s taken a chance and scored a goal (a precious game-winner, no less!) we could start to see more of him. And that’s what Barcelona need, a mobile striker who is constantly providing their playmakers with a passing option at the head of attack.

4 runs in 17 seconds led to Barcelona winning the game against Osasuna. Another run two minutes later led to Unai Garcia fouling him and getting sent off after a second yellow card. Vitor Roque even played Lewandowski through for the Pole to score, but he had been slightly offside so the goal was ruled out. Then later in the game another bit of sharp movement from the Brazilian could have won a free-kick at the top of the box if the referee had been to Specsavers.

“[Vitor Roque is] a player who puts in a lot of intensity and has a goal. He constantly throws off his markers, which is essential for us midfielders.” — Pedri

Vitor Roque is pure dynamism. A livewire in attack. Exactly what Barcelona’s midfield playmakers and wing wizards have been crying out for all season: direct, driven movement into spaces and particularly towards goal.

If Barcelona achieve anything in 2023/24, it will be because of this kind of movement. Either from Vitor Roque himself, or from other strikers and forwards who will be inspired to make those runs again, having seen how well they work out for Tigrinho, Barcelona’s little tiger, roaring into the Catalan night.