El Clasico Rewatch: Barcelona vs. Real Madrid Tactical Analysis

Relive a thrilling Copa del Rey final

Barcelona hammered Real Madrid in the first two meetings beating them on aggregate 9-2.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed to change a lot of things tactically to beat Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. As is the case with Real Madrid, tactics didn’t really play a part. Instead, sheer will power and talent almost delivered them the Copa del Rey trophy, but in the end Barcelona deservingly prevailed 3-2 in one of the most captivating matches of the season.

Let’s take a deep dive into the match.

First Half

Right off the bat you can see why the Barcelona midfield overload is so effective. Not only does it ask questions of the centerbacks of whether they are going to step up, but it forces Rodrygo here to stay very narrow, which allows acres of space out wide for Pedri to pass it to Martin who can freely cross the ball into the box.

Here is an example of the midfield overload pulling Real Madrid out of position. Raphinha inverts into the half space and pull Lucas Vazquez with him.

Vazquez is late closing him down, which allows him to find Torres who pulled Asensio with him and play a ball in behind to Martin in the vacated space that was created by Vazquez trying to close down Raphinha.

Since Mbappe didn’t start the match it gave Real Madrid a little more work rate out of possession. They were playing a 4-1-4-1 with Tchouaméni’s task being stay tight to Olmo and don’t let him freely receive the ball.

Martin’s advanced positioning was asking questions of Rodrygo. As I showed you in the example above, he was kind of no mans land, which allowed Martin acres of space because Vazquez was tasked with marking Raphinha, who was inverting into the half space.

So, as the match went along Rodrygo started to drop into the back line, which allowed Barcelona to pick out a lot of passes centrally.

Also, other than releasing Vincius Jr. it’s really hard to effectively counter attack from these positions. Barcelona was consistently counter pressing and pinning Real Madrid inside their own final third, which is why Real Madrid only took one shot in the first half.

Barcelona opened the scoring and thoroughly deserved it. Lamine Yamal is a menace. He draws in four guys and Real Madrid leaves Zone 14 WIDE OPEN for a free shot and Pedri puts in the back of the net.

This is where Barcelona can be so dangerous. When they are allowed to consistently play aggressive passes when teams can’t just sit back, they rack up the goals and chances.

image via understat.com

As the match progressed in the first half it became easier for Barcelona to play through the middle because Real Madrid kept getting stretched and their defensive rotations were pretty lazy.

Second Half

Real Madrid started pressing man to man in the second half, which allowed Barcelona to pull them out of position time and time again.

Here is an example of Ferran Torres dropping deep to create space that Olmo runs into, which turns into a 3 v 2 transition break.

The match really started to open up and turn into a transitional battle back and forth, which really favors Real Madrid. They were starting to get their forwards isolated against Barcelona’s back line.

Mbappe forced a freekick by getting fouled in a transition break and scores and outstanding freekick.

Real Madrid started to have more success breaking in transition and taking advantage of Barcelona’s high line in the second half because they quite simply started winning a majority of the duels.

Duels won in 2nd half via FotMob

Jude Bellingham deserves a lot of the credit putting in the dirty work to actually free up Mbappe and Vinicius Jr to break. He led all player in the final winning 13 of his 16 ground duels and was 4/4 on tackles won.

Real Madrid took a 2-1 lead off a corner, which is something Barcelona has struggled defending this season, ranking 18th in xG per set piece in La Liga.

Barcelona though wasn’t going to go quietly into the night. The midfield overload with the front two for Real Madrid doing zero defensive work allowed Barcelona to pull Real Madrid all over the pitch.

Here Real Madrid dropped into a back five, but Pedri is able to freely receive the ball, which forces Tchouaméni to come out, Fran Garcia has to cover Fermin, which allows Lamine Yamal way too much space to get off a shot.

Barcelona equalized off a incredible ball from Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres simply beats Rüdiger 1 v 1.

Extra Time

Ancelotti was really tired of his centerbacks getting pulled out of position for Barcelona to make runs in behind. So, he went with a back six to make sure whenever a defender stepped up on a Barca forward dropping deep that someone was there to cover the space.

Barcelona kept trying to overload the middle of the pitch, which meant that Real Madrid had to commit a lot of bodies there and with Mbappe doing no defensive work, they couldn’t pressure the ball.

Real Madrid started really applying the pressure on Barcelona’s backline as their pressing became less and less effective as the match got deep into extra time.

Here Real Madrid overloads the last line 5 v 4 and Bellingham almost scores off a cross.

Modric made a risky pass across the middle of the pitch that Brahim Diaz should have came up to receive the ball, which allowed Kounde to pick it off and fire home the winner.

Conclusion

In the end, Barcelona deserved to win the match because they created the more dangerous chances.

image via FotMob

With that being said, Barcelona showed their weakness in the second half because they completely allowed Real Madrid back into the match because their press wasn’t as effective as the match progressed.

That allowed Real Madrid to break time and time again in transition and get 1 v 1 against Barcelona’s defenders. This is something to look out for when they play Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday because Simon Inzaghi’s side is one of the best transition offenses in the world.

In the end, it was complete chaos and one of the most thrilling matches of the season from an entertainment standpoint.

The good news for us as fans is there is another El Clasico in two weeks time that will more than likely decide the La Liga title.