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Barcelona Recent Weakness At Defending Corners
On Wednesday, the worlds attention turns to the UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
In a challenging match like this, both teams need to focus on all possible details that could determine the superiority of one over the other.
Undoubtedly, set-pieces are among the most crucial of these factors.
Barcelonas set-piece statistics are relatively strong, as they have conceded the fewest goals from set pieces in La Liga (three goals) and rank third in the league for the lowest expected goals (xG) conceded from set pieces, with 6.03.
Nevertheless, Hansi Flicks side has recently struggled to defend against corner kicks across competitions, notably in their matches against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final and against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League.
This means that opponents have recently begun to decode their defensive tactics.
In this analysis, we will explain that Barcelonas problem is both tactical and individual.
We should mention that Inter Milan is the most scoring team from corners in Serie A, with eight goals so far.
They also scored two goals against Bayern Munich from corners in their last UEFA Champions League match.
This tactical analysis will be a set-piece analysis about Barcelonas weaknesses in defending corner tactics, which should be solved before facing Inter Milan.
What Is Barcelona Defending Scheme For Corners?
As shown below, Barcelona tactics defend with a man-marking system featuring two zonal defenders (yellow) and a close player ready to move to short corners (red), starting here to help in case the cross is played to the corner of the six-yard box and to cut the direct passing lane to the penalty spot.
If the opponent has six attackers, Barcelona will have six man markers and one player on the edge of the box for the rebound.
If the opponent has five attackers, as shown in the photo below, they will have five man markers and two rebound players on the edge of the box (green).
They will react with a man-marking reference, following the attacker in case he runs inside.
This leaves the area behind the two zonal defenders under the goalkeepers responsibility, who should go out to claim the ball if possible.
Barcelona Weaknesses At The Far Post & The Middle
Starting with the far post and the middle, we can find the most common weaknesses for any man-marking system, which are orientation and separation problems.
Barcelona Orientation & Separation Problems
In man-marking systems, most teams put two zonal defenders on the near post, which means the zones behind it are not well protected.
This means that if the targeted
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