Barcelona’s Ball Progression in El Clasico Should Have Yielded More Results

“Barcelona lost the El Clasico last week to Real Madrid but can definitely vouch for the fact that in the biggest game in Spanish football, they certainly deserved more. The most striking thing about Barcelona was how easy they found it to get the ball from defence into attack yielding many promising chances. The Catalan side did hit the woodwork twice. Strangely Madrid approached the game using a high press, whilst the midfield pivot would cut off the passing lanes to Gavi and Ilkay Gundogan. With Madrid’s front two and Bellingham pressing, Barca were able to find a wide centre-back who could find Fermin Lopez down the line to turn and feed either Joao Felix or Ferran Torres. Even with Gavi and Gundogan unable to receive the ball it didn’t matter, Ronald Araujo was able to find Fermin just in behind Madrid’s press and quickly release their forwards. …”
Breaking the Lines