I love Barcelona's crazy high defensive line

Last night’s 4-4 draw between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal was even a bit better than it sounds. This game saw crazy swings, including goals in the opening and 93rd minutes of play.

Here are the non-geoblocked, no commentary highlights from RFEF. If you live in the U.S. or have a VPN, I recommend checking out the extended highlights over on ESPN FC.

You just knew this was going to be a banger from the opening whistle. Here’s what Barcelona’s defensive line looked like right at kickoff. Hansi Flick might start lobbying IFAB to change the offside rule so he can start setting his trap even higher than the center line.

“Let’s hope this is the pace of the game that we’re going to see for the remaining 89-and-a-half minutes,” the English-language commentator said after Atléti forced the corner that they’d eventually score from 30 seconds into the game. And thankfully, that is exactly what happened.

This is Barcelona’s defensive line for the equalizer. In the 93rd minute, up 4-3, they continued to play the exact same way. The pressure on the ball from the forwards was just a little bit lazy, and bang. Rolled and smoked.

Seeing the score and these stills of Barca’s defense, you might think that this game had a crazy volume of shots. Instead, the race chart looks pretty normal. Slightly higher than the average match, sure, but nothing outrageous.

There are long spells of 40 and 25 minutes where Atléti didn’t attempt a single shot. But on the rare occasion they did get an attack going, they generated an absolutely massive chance. On this day, they were clinical enough to convert them.

Across both La Liga and Champions League play, Barcelona’s xG conceded is above average, and they concede an extremely low number of total shots.

But that xG per shot conceded is the big OOF. This is the tradeoff for playing such an aggressive style. Your opponents have an extremely difficult time creating shots, but when they break your offside trap, those shots are massive chances.

There are, of course, lots of teams in world football that play with a high defensive line and prevent opponent shots by catching them offside frequently. But Barcelona are an extreme outlier in how aggressive their line is, and how frequently they’re successful at catching their opponents offside.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly shared this hilarious graphic with me on Bluesky last night. Barca catch opponents offside more than twice as often as most other teams who use a similar strategy successfully.

Barcelona’s defensive tactics can seem pretty crazy at times, but they’re effective. I would like to see Flick have a bit of situational awareness and a Plan B for when the team is leading by one goal in stoppage time, but this game was an outlier, not the norm. Barca is generally a good defensive team.

Their tactics also help them turn defense into attack very quickly and effectively. Last night’s game was a bit of an insane meltdown, but dedication to this style is why Barcelona leads La Liga with the league’s best goal differential, and finished 2nd in the Champions League league phase, also with the competition’s best GD.

You might see some takes roasting Barcelona’s defense today, but I’m here to celebrate them. I love that they’re so uncompromising in their style of play. I hope they continue to believe in it.

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