#039 - History, my friend!
If you lose 18 times, get up and try again because 19th time lucky is a thing!
History. Historia. Storia. Geschichte. Histoire. تاریخ.
It is not often you see Barcelona Femeni losing, even less so at home. They had three league defeats in last five seasons. Until this day.
The Blaugranas had not lost a home game by multiple goals in the league since 2012. Not lost multiple league home games in a season since 2009. Until this day.
And never against Real Madrid. 18 games played, 18 Barcelona wins. Until this day.
Real Madrid had scored zero goals in the last six league meetings. Until this day.
Real Madrid Femenino did what seemed impossible at one point. Beat Barcelona.
And they did so away from home, adding another chapter to their growing folklore. A very positive showing from a side that has often looked inferior right out of the tunnel in Clasicos.
With the UWCL final quick approaching, let’s take a look at how the game unfolded at the Montjuïc to see if there are any secrets to beating this superteam.
Facing each other for the fifth time this season, both sides made slight changes to their lineups. On the back of the first leg of UWCL’s last eight, Alberto Toril decided to rest both creative powerhouses, Caroline Weir and Linda Caicedo. The Spanish head coach went with a left field combination of Alba Redondo and Caroline Moller Hansen in attack alongside Naomie Feller. This specific combination of attackers allowed Madrid fluidity in movements and versatility in approach.
Pere Romeu, Barcelona’s head coach, decided to reward youngster Sydney Schertenleib with a start. The holy trinity of Alexia Putellas, Patri Guijarro and Aitana Bonmati, remained in midfield.
A look at the match stats suggest Barcelona still had the lions share of the ball, as they do. Dominated territory, as they do. Had good counter-press and moved the ball around well, as they do.
However, Madrid still managed to register the same number of shots on target from a similar volume of shots. In fact, a lot of their shots came from good areas inside the box. A closer look underlines Madrid’s direct approach in the form of their long ball share and the average length of the goalkicks.
So, what did Real Madrid do?
Real Madrid, while not perfect, did manage to stifle the Blaugranas a little. Alberto Toril’s side used few main ideas.
#1. High press during Barcelona’s buildup from goalkicks
Alberto Toril decided to press in numbers when Barcelona tried to build out from the back on their goalkicks. The Spanish side often committed six to seven players aggresively in close proximity to Barcelona’s options in their own half, with the idea to force them long or to play quickly through the lines.
In the example above, you can see Real Madrid have six players pushing high up, closely marking the passing options in midfield as Caroline Moller Hansen curves her run to cut the field in half and force Barcelona to one side. They then push LB (Yasmim) up to further mark easy passing options and force Barca to make quick decisions.
The idea was novel, trying to deny Barcelona easy options to build from the back is one way of disrupting their play. The three times UWCL winners are one of the most press resistant sides in women’s football but a lot of that expertise lies in the middle of the park, denying them time to find those passes into the midfielders is an effective way to force a high turnover.
A lot of the times, however, it didn’t work. Barcelona found their options and played through and Madrid had to fall back.
But when it did, it resulted in the opening goal of the game. Once again Madrid have six players aggresively committed high up the pitch with the defenders assigned closely to direct options high up the pitch.
As play develops, Redondo (#11) makes a curved run forcing Barcelona to one side of the pitch and then Madrid create a sense of urgency with their front foot pressing, forcing Marta Torrejon (Barca’s #8) into a poor pass which is intercepted. While the initial cross in cleared, Barcelona’s are caught out of shape to defend and a curved ball over the top from Moller (#16) finds the head of Redondo.
Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona.
#2. 4-4-2 zonal mid block system out-of-possession
Out of possession, Toril went with a standard 4-4-2 shape with zonal marking in the midfield. Real Madrid’s wingers (Feller and Athenea) were tasked with tracking the wide runs and the midfielders were monitoring runs from midfield, denying easy passes through the middle of the pitch.
This forced Barcelona wide where Madrid could either force them back or regain possession using numerical superiority in the wide areas.
Madrid’s double pivot had to work overtime to make this work. Sandie Toletti and Filippa Angeldahl marshalled the entire width of the pitch in their own half, slotting into the backline and tracking those dangerous runs from midfield. Both players were an important part of Madrid’s high press as well, closely marking the midfielders during buildup and aggressively closely them down once forced wide.
In possession, their movements and positioning enabled quick combination in Madrid’s own third helping them move the ball through the thirds. Toletti was often seen orcahestrating play and positioning players around her in the zonal marking scheme.
While it wasn’t inch perfect, like most setups are against a side that moves like clockwork, it did work for large parts.
Pere Romeu’s side recorded their second lowest passing accuracy in a game this season, only recording lower against Manchester City in their 2-0 loss (85.4%). With the combination of their press and marking, they forced the Spanish champions into playing long balls. Barca’s long ball share of 11% was their highest in any game this season.
This skewed the second half in Madrid’s favour. In a positive gamestate (1 goal lead), they defend in numbers (like 6-at-the-back numbers) and exploit spaces on transition. A formula that had worked very well against Arsenal in the first leg of the UWCL quarter-finals.
Couple that with the luxury to bring on players like Caroline Weir and Linda Caicedo in this game state. This allowed Toril’s side to capitalize on transition situation and deal with Barcelona’s intense counterpress, creating three big chances in the second half compared to just one in the first half.
In fact, Madrid thrived in this state to the point where their shots and shots on target tally was up from the first 45 minutes. Seven of their nine total shots in the second half came from inside the box and five of those were taken by Weir or Caicedo. Madrid’s goal #2 and #3 were both scored by, you guessed it, Weir.
#3. Quick and Long goalkicks
Another thing Madrid did that was in-sync with their lineup choices in this game was the usage of long goalkicks or long passes by the goalkeeper. Almost 36% of the passes by Misa were launched, with an average length of 35.3 yards, the longest in any single game this season.
And it worked at times, sometimes due to them winning the first contact or the second ball or due to Barca’s failure to deal with them. Moller and Feller both did very well in trying to win the initial contact with Rendondo holding the line to make runs in behind Barca’s highline.
It also allowed them a quick direct route across the length of the pitch, going from one goal to another in just a few seconds while the opponent falls back into settled shape out-of-possession.
In fact, Las Blancas scored their winning goal thanks to one such long goal kick that Barcelona failed to deal with on initial contact. A poor first contact, allows Madrid to win the second ball and immediately start a transition attack led by Caicedo and finished by Weir. They went from one goal to another in just 15 seconds.
In defence, while there were rarely many lapses. Madrid committed just three fouls in the entire game, their second lowest such tally in a game this season. One of the major proponents for that is Maelle Lakrar.
The 24-year-old center-back cleared everything in defence, putting on a masterclass in box defending. Out of the 35 clearances made by Madrid in this game, the French defender was responsible for 15 of them, when no other player that more than six. She made vital blocks to keep shots at bay, intercepted crosses and while it wasn’t a masterclass in sniffing out danger but it definitely was on in putting out fires.
As the game went on, the skies opened up. A hailstorm was brewing, covering the pitch in a white blanket, symbolic of Las Blancas. The Montjuïc was left colored in white to celebrate Madrid’s win.
The margins when playing a side like Barcelona are minus-cule, you need some fortune and some 50-50s to go your way and they did. A save that hit the crossbar, some sloppy touches, poor decision making and a wrongly denied goal. If a Madrid superfan were to write the script for the first ever women’s Clasico win, it’d be this.
A rain affected pitch against Arsenal, resulting in a 2-0 win, a hail affected game at Barcelona resulting in their first Clasico win. Someone from the heavens didn’t want Madrid to lose.
Ordinary things gain value if you associate them to people. Las Blancas and this win will always be linked with Om for me. Maybe it wasn’t just orchaestrated on the pitch, maybe the heavens opened up for a reason, maybe it was Om’s masterclass.
This historic win was for you, my friend. I miss you.
Need a tutorial in escaping pressure? Call Kim Little!
Until next time, take care of your closed ones and yourself!