The 2024/25 La Liga season is officially underway, and Barcelona emerged victorious in their first competitive fixture in the Hansi Flick era.
Despite their decline in recent seasons, Valencia, led by Rubén Baraja, was poised to be a tricky encounter for Barcelona.
FCB had to come hot out of the blocks while lacking some of their elite talents, thanks to fatigue and injury.
Barcelona managed to reverse a number of worrying traits that had plagued their 23/24 season under Xavi Hernández’s reign.
They worked incredibly hard to minimise the negative consequences of wasted attacking opportunities and displayed dominance when closing out a well-earned 2-1 victory.
The Culers came away from the match with plenty to be optimistic about. They had watched their side move away from the chaos of last season and display some really promising tactics and dynamism orchestrated by their new German head coach.
Flick’s first La Liga match allowed us to understand just how much his footballing principles have already become engrained within the current Barcelona squad. His side exhibited excellent central progression through the use of a versatile midfield trio and a new pressing system to extract the best out of his elite forwards.
This Barcelona tactical analysis will begin by addressing how Barcelona managed to win their opening fixture, pinpointing the effectiveness of their work in and out of possession.
However, things weren’t always rosy for the Blaugrana.
Our analysis highlights ways in which Valencia found avenues to hurt a Barcelona defence that stood out as the club’s Achilles heel during the past 12 months.
Hansi Flick Formation For Barcelona FC
As you might have expected, Hansi Flick formation had Barcelona lined up on paper in the 4-2-3-1 formation.
Still, in the game, we often saw Barcelona building up through a lone pivot in Bernal, with Casadó and Raphinha working tirelessly as central midfielders to connect the play.
It is essential to highlight the two La Masia graduates, Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal.
Despite their age and relative inexperience, they produced mature performances and stood out as critical contributors to how Flick wanted his team to play in the early stages of build-up.
Bernal adopted the role of the lone defensive pivot, often tasked with dropping deeper to provide an immediate passing outlet for ter Stegen in goal.
His excellent mobility drew the two Valencia forwards into the central areas.
Here, we can see that Bernal’s ability to attract the Valencia forward allowed Martínez to instantly break the lines with a through pass into the feet of Casadó.
The opposition player was drawn away from his position, stopping the initial passing outlet.
In moments when Barcelona looked comfortable on the ball—which was much more often than we have seen in recent months—Casadó worked hard to help break the Valencia press by picking up important pockets deep in the left half-space and forming crucial passing triangles between himself, Balde, and Iñigo Martínez.
