A note of appreciation – Barcelona’s problems are the world’s gift

Jon Driscoll can be found on social media here, and if you’re hungry for more, tune into his weekly La Liga podcast with Terry Gibson. You can also read more from Driscoll in his two books Get It Kicked and The Fifty.

In a world of financial permacrisis, escalating military tension, climate breakdown and VAR, it is comforting, even wise, to slow down every now and then to appreciate the good things in life. Even if they are considerably quieter than the awful ones It is still a beautiful world full of wonderful people. And we’ve still got football. True, we have got the near monopolisation of success, baffling financial rules, fragmented TV contracts and richer-than-ever agents, but for all of the negatives, there are oases of wonder. I offer you Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. 

Disclaimer: I am not a Barcelona fan. In fact, it is precisely because I’m not a Barca fan that I can appreciate the whole package that comes with Flick’s crazed circus because I don’t mind if they lose. In fact, their vulnerability is part of their appeal, like a TV show in which the viewer genuinely believes the protagonist might actually be killed each week.  

The score in this weekend’s clasico could be anything. Barca had the beating of their historic rivals last season, winning all four matches by a ludicrous aggregate score of 16-7 but if you were to tell me you’ve seen the future and this season’s first meeting ends 7-3 to Real Madrid, then I’ll take your word for it and go to bookies.

Isn’t that glorious? Flick’s Barca have scored in every match since a defeat at home to Leganes in December last year. Have they been flawless? By no means! Conceding seven in two matches against Inter was embarrassing and denied us the Champions League final longed for by the aesthetes. When we did see Barca’s Champions League showdown with Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month, they were second best, stumbling towards the full-time whistle, picked off on the break. Days later, Flick’s men were taken apart by a Sevilla side that had been rebuilt with spare parts in the summer. On Saturday, a Girona side that currently sits bottom of La Liga created a host of chances and only fell to a stoppage time goal by ‘big-lad-up-front’ sub Ronald Araujo. 

What do Barca’s calamities have in common? A failing offside line. Which tactical innovation dictated how Flick’s side played last season as they swept to the title: that same psychopathically aggressive defensive line. Traditionally, one would associate a high line and offside trap with superfast defenders who are able to recover their position when breached. But Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi are hardly sprinters. It was just that Barca’s defence got their positions right so very often. In these days of flag-down-just-to-be-safe assistant reffing, Barcelona carried an air of calamity that wasn’t subsequently born out by the statistics. They conceded an unremarkable 39 goals in last season’s La Liga, yet an observer would never feel the opposition’s forwards were shut out completely.

Flick: “At the moment, we’re in a complicated situation, and I’m happy to have gotten the three points against Girona. It was very important and it has been seen in the mood during the training. It’s good to see that, it’s what we need. We have a young team and they need it. When…

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 20, 2025

We could all see the problems steaming over the horizon, couldn’t we? If a defence, time after time, week after week, catches its opponents in an offside trap, surely Darwinian Laws of Evolution suggests that the prey will adapt. Against PSG and Sevilla, Barca conceded decisive goals because the opposition right-back ran from deep, rendering an offside colleague irrelevant. Flick’s fury suggests he knew of – and had warned of – the danger but his defenders hadn’t done their job. The departure of Martinez to sandier, oilier pastures deprived the defence of its wisest head and the timing didn’t help; he wasn’t replaced and left a rotating defensive selection grasping for cohesion, which even Girona could bamboozle. 

How will Flick react to this anti-Barca evolution? Who knows! His all-conquering Bayern Munich team of 2019/20 conceded only 32 Bundesliga goals which became 44 the following season. It hardly mattered because they scored 100 and then 99 themselves, although letting in three at home to PSG in the quarter-finals was the end of their Champions League defence. And then he was gone. His spell as a national team coach was far from illustrious; it’s hard to drill that offside trap in a couple of training days around internationals.

At Barcelona he has created a team designed to dominate, attack and to thrill. They’re bold and aggressive although “ruthless” may be a claim too far for a team that misses chances like they do. Still, before last season, no iteration of the Blaugrana had scored 100 La Liga goals since Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Junior rampaged together. No club in the top five European leagues had brought up a ton since 2019/20 when Manchester City were at their most prolific and Bayern were managed by, you’ve guessed it, Flick.

Last season’s Barca didn’t just score more goals than any other big European team, they took more shots and dribbled past more opponents. Part of Flick’s legacy will be the development of Lamine Yamal, the wonderkid who was let loose on the world. The youngster dominated the take-on statistics: 316 attempted, when the runner-up was Mohammed Kudus with 208. Lamine Yamal was successful 161 times, the gap to the runner-up was Jeremy Doku with 144 admittedly much shorter. Nor was he shy of shooting, second only to Kylian Mbappe. These numbers again show Barca’s imperfect boldness given that Lamine converted his 144 shots into 9 league goals, compared to Mbappe’s 152 shots for 31 goals.  

No one says this version of FC Barcelona is perfect: I promise any younger readers they’re a way off Luis Enrique’s amazing treble winners or Pep Guardiola’s mould-breakers. Their recent performances have been nowhere close to their best, but Flick will never compromise. They will try to score their way back to their best. Flick’s Plan A is great fun and in a world of efficient, systems-led teams, we should appreciate that while we can.