In the 3-3 draw vs Inter Milan, Barcelona majorly suffered on set pieces and conceded two goals. Barcelona’s set-piece record has not been the worst this season, as the Catalans have only conceded 3 goals from set-pieces. However, recently, teams have started to find loopholes in Barca’s structure when defending set pieces. A goal conceded from the corner vs Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final and two more against Inter. There is a team defect, and individual mistakes that need fixing, and I will be talking about both. Hansi Flick will have to address this issue before the 2nd leg at the Giuseppe Meazza.
Barcelona’s structure vs Set-pieces
Hansi Flick’s side uses a man-to-man marking strategy to defend set-pieces. Opposition players inside the box are man-marked. One or two Barça players (in blue) stand at the edge of the box to defend against any short passes. The far post is usually less dense (red zone) for the keeper to collect or clear the ball. This strategy has worked most of the season, but Inzaghi’s Inter Milan shocked the Blaugrana. In the goal scored by Real Madrid’s Tchouameni, Barça did not follow their own rules carefully. Jules Kounde, who looked like he should be marking Tchouameni, was more focused on the ball as Tchouameni brushed past him and scored.
What went wrong for Barça
Against Inter, Barcelona made a similar mistake. Barça players were man-marking Inter players. However, Dumfries was behind all that traffic and only went forward when the cross was played. Acerbi wins the first header instead of Gerard and sends it towards the goal, where an unmarked Dumfries scores with an acrobatic finish.
The third goal of Inter was from a corner as well. In the 63rd minute, Dumfries made it a brace with Calhanoglu’s assist. This time, Dani Olmo seemed to be the one who took the task of marking the fullback. Olmo kept some distance from Dumfries before the corner. Players use this tactic to track an attacker’s movement and prevent them from slipping away in an instant. However, here, it backfired for Olmo as Dumfries used his strong presence to beat the Spanish midfielder and score
What changes can Flick make to deal with this crisis?
In my opinion, winning aerial duels is crucial vs Inter as the Italian side not only is dangerous on set-pieces, but they also play through the middle when on attack. They do this by a long ball directly to the two strikers, Thuram and Lautaro Martinez, who win aerial duels and hold play for Inter to move forward. The centre-back pairing of Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi has been flawless this season. However, that night, they only won 20% of their aerial duels, and Gerard Martin lost all 5 he contested.
Hansi Flick can fix this issue by replacing this centre-back pairing with Araujo and Christensen, who has returned to the playing squad. These two are significantly better when contesting for aerial duels. However, this might come with a sacrifice of the buildup from the back. Inigo and Cubarsi are technically gifted defenders who find spaces. This will be key vs Inter in the second leg as Barcelona should ideally take the lead first and add to it. Although after a comfortable lead has been established, Hansi Flick can replace Cubarsi and Inigo with Christensen and Araujo for defensive security. Gerard Martin will have to stay focused and improve his defense in the air.
