Three quick things as Barcelona win again
Three quick things as Barcelona win again
Barcelona 2-1 Athletic Club - La Liga
Barcelona made it two wins out of two in 2024/25 as they beat Athletic Club 2-1 on the hill at Montjuic.
This was a big match as the Blaugrana’s summer transfer target Nico Williams was coming to town having declined to move to Catalunya. And looking at Dani Olmo watching from the stands as his side had failed to register him for the second gameweek in a row, could you really blame Nico?
Some fans did, with the Basque winger being whistled by a section of the home fans. But those weird dorks aside, Nico was treated well by his compatriots and played really well too. More on that later.
But Barcelona got the win with goals from boy wonder Lamine Yamal and wily veteran Robert Lewandowski (who honestly could and maybe should have bagged a hat-trick). Here are three quick things to take note of.
1. Radiant Raphinha and a “new” shape?
Raphinha signed for Barcelona with the idea of him being a right-winger. The only problem with that is he can’t really dribble.
Barça wingers tend to get isolated 1-v-1 out wide, and that’s not a situation Raphinha thrives in. He’s best on the move, running or pressing. Using his immense energy and effort to add dynamism to Barcelona’s play.
Hansi Flick has clearly realised this, because for two weeks of La Liga now Raphinha has not lined up as a right-winger, nor on the left as he did occasionally under Xavi, but he’s lined up as a no. 10 behind Robert Lewandowski.
This seems baffling and bizarre given that La Masia breeds creative fancy boys who would theoretically thrive in that no. 10 role. So why would Flick put a runner and an energy guy in there?
Well firstly there’s the mindblowing energy Raphinha plays with, pressing anyone and everyone in sight. Having him there is incredibly disruptive for any opponent trying to build out the back, and it he also sets the tone for how high and aggressive the Barça press is.
Secondly, his runs off the ball are immense. In week one he won the game-winning penalty with one such run, but yesterday against Athletic he was constantly running at the back of the Basques, stretching play vertically and ensuring that Athletic couldn’t push too high up the pitch lest the leave too many spaces for Raphinha to run into.
Raphinha would drop deep into midfield to form a 4-3-3 shape without the ball, looking like a “classic” Barcelona shape that was solid and hard to penetrate. Then with the ball he would drive beyond Pedri and then even beyond Lewandowski.
"He's dynamic, he presses, he's intense for many minutes, he can play in several attacking positions." — Hansi Flick on Raphinha
Given that Barcelona’s star striker has become more and more enamoured with dropping deep and linking play as he has gotten older, Raphinha’s willingness to drive forward a be a vertical threat is a gamechanger for Barcelona. It allows the shape to switch fluidly between 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4.
The Brazilian’s movement makes great use of Lewandowski’s natural instinct to drop and link play — something the Pole is really good at! — while also ensuring there is always thrusting presence in the box on quick counters (a real problem under Xavi).
97 Passes can see playmakers like Dani Olmo, previously earmarked to play in that central role as they do for Spain, featuring wide on the left while the no. 10 role is reserved for players with phenomenal pressing and the drive to move selflessly off the ball like Raphinha, Fermin Lopez and… Gavi?
2. Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde: Fearsome Full-backs
When Barcelona’s 2023/24 season fell apart in the space of three weeks, with three defeats in four games to PSG, Real Madrid and Girona… one man was to blame.
Well ok, lots of players were to blame but one man in particular was responsible for a majority of the goals the Blaugrana conceded over those two games: João Cancelo.
The Portuguese full-back is obviously brilliant with the ball, and was brilliant with the ball all season. But his defending is always an accident waiting to happen and that period was accident after accident.
Barcelona’s high defensive line and bold approach in possession is always going to leave them vulnerable to counter-attacks, especially in wide areas. It is imperitive that they have good defenders on the flanks..
With Nico Williams rolling into town, Barcelona would be desperate for more quality flank defending to prevent their summer transfer target from doubling down on the humiliation by showing them what they missed.
"I've only congratulated him on the Euros. I don't like to talk about rivals." — Hansi Flick on hugging Nico Williams
And sure enough, Nico started like he meant to embarrass Barcelona. But he didn’t get much joy if any out of Jules Kounde. Meanwhile on the other flank Alex Berenguer also got little to no joy out of Alejandro Balde. The young defender was injured during that fateful period last season, had he been fit it’s reasonable to assume that Barça would have beaten PSG and probably made the Champions League final. Well, he was fit yesterday and Athletic got no change from him, just as Nico got little from Kounde.
In fact Athletic’s goal, a penalty, only came because Nico moved centrally to attack and expose Iñigo Martinez, and even then Balde was perfectly positioned to cover he simply slipped over on a shoddy Montjuic pitch.
Having Balde and Kounde fit and in place is so massive. Kounde has genuinely evolved into one of the best right-backs in the world (despite not initially wanting to play the position), while Balde is on a similar trajectory on the left (at least defensively). In NFL parlance, they’re shut-down corners and they bless Barça.
3. A functional Barcelona midfield? In this economy?!?
One of Barcelona’s big problem positions in recent years has been midfield, specifically the base of midfield. Sergio Busquets, one of the greatest of all-time, got real old and immobile, but things got worse after he left and there was no real replacement brought in (despite Xavi’s burning desire for Martin Zubimendi).
Andreas Christensen “did a job” but was clearly only a stopgap solution. They needed someone to come through and perform and didn’t really have the money to bring in anyone who could do that.
As usual, La Masia came to the rescue. Marc Bernal emerged in pre-season as someone that Hansi Flick was fond of. A 17 year-old defensive midfielder standing 190cm tall, Bernal is a rare physical specimin coming out of La Masia, and if Flick can get him on the Leon Goretzka workout plan he could become a physical monster.
Of course due to his La Masia heritage his tactical bonafides are beyond question. He’s superb on the ball, splitting lines with his passing (yet still completing 96% of his passes) and perfectly judging when and where to press and prevent counters.
Bernal is not yet the sharpest once the ball gets beyond him of course, he’s only 17! But he was massive against Valencia and now against Athletic Club too, receving a standing ovation at Montjuic when he was subbed off.
Next to him we had Marc Casado all through pre-season and at Mestalla, and he’s a solid midfielder but not the game-dominating maestro you’d want.
Pedri, on the other hand? Pure maestro. After a great cameo at Mestalla he came through to start, and not at no. 10 (given Raphinha and the “new” shape) but technically in the double pivot next to Marc Bernal.
Playing a fancy boy in the pivot could have gone horribly against a physical side like Athletic, but what ended up happening was Barcelona’s press was on point and they dominated the ball to the extent that the opponent wasn’t really able to get much of a foothold in the game beyond punting it out wide and praying Nico Williams could make something happen.
Pedri started the game in good form and got increasingly better as it wore on. His tense of timing, his exemplary ball control and his delightful vision were all maximised by starting from a deeper position with the game ahead of him.
Sure, get Pedri closer to goal if you can, but have him come from deep to get there, like in the first-half when he moved up and flipped the ball over the defence beautifully for Raphinha to almost score the goal of the season (and honestly the Brazilian had time to get the ball down and take a proper shot).
Or in the second-half when he made a run from deep into the box to get onto the end of a lovely Raphinha pass before making the cross that resulted in the game-winning goal. He didn’t get the assist (he would have if someone had made a near-post run!) but absolutely created the goal with his pass.
It was a delightful display and points to a very promising future for the Barcelona midfield. A clearer sense of structure with Pedri and Bernal as a delightful duo, with Marc Casado and Eric Garcia backing them up. All youth and technical excellence. Then there’s Frenkie de Jong and Gavi out injured who you’d expect to be factors as well once they return (whenever that is).
Despite being almost completely paralysed by financial fair play, Barcelona have still managed to put together a superb midfield that can, as long as they stay fit, dominate games for years to come.