Last Saturday night, Barcelona comprehensively destroyed Athletic Club to clinch their 31st Copa del Rey title in the clubs history. Even though it seemed like a tight game in the first half and at the beginning of the second, once the floodgates opened, there was no coming back for the Basques.
Ronald Koeman secured his first title as Barcelona manager and maybe ensured he gets another season in the hot seat. Marcelino, on the other hand, can’t be happy with Athletic Club’s performances, which have been on a steady decline in recent times.
This tactical analysis will dissect both teams’ tactics and tell you just how the Catalans cruised to their convincing victory on the night.
Lineups
We’ll start the analysis by taking a look at the lineups for the game. On paper, Athletic Club were deployed in their usual 4-4-2 formation with not many surprises from Marcelino. Raúl García and Iñaki Williams led the lines for a team that hasn’t been able to produce much in the attacking sense and were promptly outgunned towards the end of the match.
The centre-back pairing in front of Unai Simón was comprised of Iñigo Martínez and Yeray Álvarez, which wasn’t as surprising, but the choice of Mikel Balenziaga and Óscar de Marcos has been a point of some discussion.
In the middle of the pitch, Marcelino didn’t opt for too much experimentation but couldn’t control the game either way.
Barcelona, on the other hand, were in their 3-5-2 system as Koeman stayed faithful to his new structure. The only real surprise was the inclusion of Antoine Grizemann over Ousmane Dembélé and the return of Gerard Piqué, whose fitness was still a doubt, in the back three.
The rest of the squad was as expected with Lionel Messi leading the team to another big triumph. Frenkie de Jong was another focal point, this time from midfield, as the Dutchman completely dominated the game next to Pedri and Sergio Busquets. Jordi Alba and Sergiño Dest were the wingbacks on the night while Clément Lenglet and Óscar Mingueza completed the lineup.
