Barça will open on Friday hosting a Sevilla team that seems to have started its competitive tone. A draw and two victories with a win included are their last three results. A rival that always demands the maximum and a match that historically has left great moments. Here are my 5 tactical keys for this great meeting:
One of the main objectives tonight has to be to win without conceding. And Barça needs to improve defensively. The numbers from this start of the season (eight goals conceded in seven games) show that the team has to increase its reliability exponentially if it wants to compete for everything. An aspect that is the task of the entire team. And to do this they will have to press better from above, position themselves better on the counterattacks and, above all, not offer as many concessions to the rival as in the last games. Improvement has to start today.
We will see how Sevilla faces the clash and what game plan they propose, but Mendilíbar’s men tend to be active in pressing. At least in certain sections of the match like at the beginning of each half. Whether this period of high pressure lasts more or less, it will be important for Barça to come out of it well. Let him solve it better than he did in Mallorca where the pressure of a striker plus the vigilance of Oriol Romeu limited the team’s progression at certain moments. In this sense, De Jong’s loss was noted since he represents a stronghold at the beginning of the game (he does not lose balls and passes) as well as a second passing option in case the rivals cover the pivot. So one of the transcendental aspects tonight will be because Xavi’s team overcomes this condition and becomes fluid again. This would end up dynamiting any high-pressing attempt by Sevilla.
Sevilla plays with a very marked double pivot (Sow-Fernando or Rakitic-Fernando or Sow-Joan Jordan). It is difficult for all of them to go out to the sides and, due to their attacking vocation, it is also difficult for all the wing midfielders to retreat back. Thus, if the Barça midfielders who form the upper part of the square (Gundogan, Joao Félix or Raphinha) are smart and drop slightly to their side, they will be able to receive with the necessary meters to control, turn, think and attack. And then generate things.
Sevilla has improved in recent games. Especially after recovering some defensive solidity (only one goal conceded in the last three League games). The Sevillistas are showing themselves to be more efficient when the rivals arrive from the outside, defending the area with all or almost all the troops. So it will be essential for Barça to use the middle distance to look for the goal or to force them to go out and then be able to find the spaces inside. The greater the withdrawal, the greater the exterior activity. Shots, walls and centers with advantage.
Pay attention to one of the big names of this beginning of the championship: attacker Dodi Lukebakio. The Belgian, 26-year-old striker, is playing as a left midfielder in Mendilíbar’s usual 4-2-3-1 formation. He is a fast, powerful and skilled player. He also has verticality towards goal. He has already scored two goals in just 184 minutes in the League and arrives full of confidence. He just scored a great goal against Almería. On the other hand, you always have to keep En Nesry in mind. And even more so if he comes from scoring. Because the Sevilla striker is a player with notable potential but very irregular. When he is in good game dynamics, he can do damage in spaces. Even more so if Barça allows as many spaces to move as in the last two games. And then, Suso’s left foot. Be very careful with the quality of his passing, with his incursions in diagonal driving inwards and with his extraordinary shot from the top of the area.
