Barcelona defender offers insight into the team’s offside trap strategy | OneFootball

As confirmed by the last two victories over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, FC Barcelona are having a memorable start to the 2024-25 season. The team has been scoring at will, and almost all of the Blaugranes’ victories have come with some big scorelines.

This situation makes the team’s offensive play the main highlight of Flick’s style. However, the Catalans have also conceded very few goals, despite deploying a very high line, which leaves a lot of space for the opponents to exploit.

Such a tactic looks quite risky, but has allowed the Barcelona defense to concede very few goals this season, as up to 11 of the goals scored by their opponents have been ruled out for offside.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, one of the Barcelona defenders, Pau Cubarsi, explained how this tactic is working for his team as he appeared in an interview with RAC1:

“Tactically, we train on the defensive line, but it’s mainly about communication—making sure the four of us are in sync. If one of us moves up, the others follow to keep the line.”

The defender confessed that such an approach looks risky from the outside, but the teamwork in the backline allows it to succeed:

“When I watch from the outside, I think, ‘Uh-oh, a ball over the top could hurt us here,’ but on the field, you trust the line and your teammates. If we’re all in sync, they’ll end up offside.”

Cubarsi went on to provide some more details on how this offside trap is carried out:

“It’s not the same if the ball is played by a center-back, who is farther away, as opposed to a midfielder. We also pay attention to whether the ball is under pressure or not. If there’s pressure, it’s easier to push up because it’s harder to play it behind us.”

Flick’s approach is certainly working, and its success was quite visible in the last match against Real Madrid, as the Merengues saw two of their goals ruled out for offside. As Cubarsi commented, teamwork is an essential ingredient if such a tactic is to work, and the Barcelona backline is performing this task to perfection.