How Hansi Flick finally turned Barcelona into a resilient Champions League side

New York Times

06-03-2025

Barcelona's recent European-level adventures have often involved shooting themselves in the foot. So, when Pau Cubarsi received his marching orders in the 22nd minute of their Champions League last-16 first leg against Benfica, years of disappointment must have flashed before anyone with a Barcelona disposition.
Advertisement
However, Hansi Flick's team battled to a 1-0 win on Wednesday at Lisbon's Estadio da Luz — the ground where Barcelona lost 8-2 to a Flick-managed Bayern Munich in the same competition's 2019-20 quarter-finals (when the Covid-19 pandemic led UEFA to stage a single-elimination eight-club mini-tournament in the Portuguese capital instead of the usual two-leg, home-and-away format) and shipped four goals while scoring five to beat Benfica in the league phase just six weeks ago.
But on Wednesday, Barca displayed the kind of resilience they have seldom shown on the UEFA stage since their most recent Champions League title success in 2015, and combined it with tactical flexibility (as illustrated below by the lopsided shape in their match dashboard).
This was not Barcelona's first attempt at adjusting their play style under Flick since his appointment last summer.
They ditched the ball-dominant, high-intensity pressing in the 4-1 league-phase home win against Bayern in October — one of their best performances of the season — using man-marking with their signature risky offside trap instead. Barcelona ended that match with 39 per cent possession and a PPDA (passes per defensive action, a metric that measures the intensity of a team's press) of 16.1, suggesting they stayed relatively patient instead of forcing turnovers high up the pitch.
Against Benfica on Wednesday, Barcelona began with a high press, recording a PPDA of 7.7 between kick-off and the 22nd minute. Their offside trap was evident, too. In this example from the 16th minute, Kerem Akturkoglu tries to slip in Vangelis Pavlidis, with Inigo Martinez jumping in the opposite direction — a move he has perfected this season — in an attempt to catch Pavlidis offside.
But Pavlidis, who scored a 30-minute hat-trick in January's league-phase meeting, kept himself onside and made it into the box before blazing a shot over.
Cubarsi's red card brought an understandable shift in approach. Ronald Araujo was brought on for Dani Olmo and from then on, Barcelona's closing down dropped to a PPDA of 24.3, their highest (ie, least intense) figure in either La Liga or the Champions League this season.
Advertisement
Out of possession, Barcelona shifted to a 4-4-1 when Benfica advanced beyond their own defensive third, with Raphinha and Lamine Yamal joining Pedri and Frenkie de Jong in midfield. Robert Lewandowski, who some would argue could have been taken off instead of Olmo given the latter's greater ability in tight spaces, stayed higher up the pitch as an outlet, resulting in the shape below.
This cut out easy passes into Benfica midfielders Orkan Kokcu and Fredrik Aursnes, forcing that duo to drop deeper. The home side had to work their way around instead of through Barcelona's 10 men, while balls over the top were ineffective with the visitors' back line sitting deeper. Benfica could not penetrate the box with crosses either as Araujo, a reactive defender better suited to this approach than to playing in high lines, and Martinez anticipated well to intercept.
In the second half, the shape changed to a 5-3-1 as Raphinha moved to left wing-back.
This meant Pedri and De Jong had to cover more ground, but they were up to the task, winning 10 duels and making 15 recoveries between them (highlighted by Pedri's defensive actions figure in his player dashboard below).
Flick displayed his in-game management skills again when Benfica channelled more attacks down the left at the start of the second half. Left-back Alvaro Carreras troubled Jules Kounde, prompting Flick to replace Yamal with Ferran Torres and shift Raphinha to the right wing. Carreras' impact was reduced, while Torres took over left wing-back duties. That meant Raphinha could push higher up the pitch and led to the game's only goal after he intercepted centre-back Antonio Silva's loose pass.
Barcelona's change in setup was most evident in the 74th minute during a Benfica transition. As the pass is played, Martinez runs towards his own goal rather than performing his trademark jump forward.
That eliminates substitute Andrea Belotti as a passing option, with Benfica eventually going out wide.
Five minutes later, Flick replaced Lewandowski and De Jong with defender Gerard Martin and midfielder Marc Casado. That saw Raphinha become Barcelona's most advanced attacker in their 5-3-1 shape without possession. When Benfica threw more players forward in the closing stages, Barcelona reacted by adding another body to their defence.
Wojciech Szczesny made multiple important saves, including one to keep out Renato Sanches in the dying seconds of stoppage time. But Barcelona's adaptability and patience, which they failed to show in January's 2-2 league-stage-finale draw at home against Atalanta and, just a week ago, the 4-4 draw with visitors Atletico Madrid in the first leg of a Copa del Rey semi-final, were crucial.
Flick altered Barcelona's in-possession approach after the red card, too.
Szczesny attempted 27 long passes, the most by a Barcelona goalkeeper in their past two league and Champions League campaigns. The ploy gave Barcelona time to re-organise themselves while their forwards fought for first and second balls with Benfica defenders.
There were subtle variations in both halves. In the first, Szczesny used flatter passes towards striker Lewandowski, who was tasked with winning the header and finding Pedri, who was prepared to carry the ball forward like in the image below.
Yamal and Raphinha made runs ahead of Lewandowski, giving Pedri options for a pass either over the top or through the defence.
Barcelona changed that approach in the second half. Szczesny began arcing his balls higher and more towards the wings, where Lewandowski and Raphinha (and later Torres) fought for headers. In the image below, Pedri has his back to goal, prioritising possession over advancing up the pitch.
In this instance, in the 78th minute, Lewandowski jostles for the ball while Torres occupies right-back Samuel Dahl.
Lewandowski beats two defenders to win the header on the bounce and finds Pedri, who runs wide after Torres pulls Dahl with him. Barcelona can then recycle possession to kill a few more seconds.
These sequences justified Flick's decision to keep the 36-year-old Lewandowski on the pitch.
Barcelona contested 36 aerial duels, their joint-highest figure in the league and Champions League this season (tied with the 1-1 draw at Getafe in January and 1-0 win against Alaves a couple of weeks later). Lewandowski alone engaged in 13 and won six, including a couple while defending corners.
After the match, Szczesny explained the change in tactics while speaking with CBS Sports Golazo.
'We understood that we cannot play open and high, because it would be difficult to have pressure on the ball with one man less. We stayed very compact, a little bit deeper, waiting for our chances on the counter-attack,' he said, before adding, 'It was a good test of the maturity and character of the team.'
It was a test Barcelona passed with flying colours.
GO DEEPER
Champions League projections 2024-25: Who will lift the trophy in Munich on May 31?