With the title already secured for Barcelona, Real Madrid came into Sunday’s El Clasico looking to end Barca’s season unbeaten run.

Madrid’s defensive shape

Real Madrid defended with plenty of man-orientations, and took on different formations in different defensive phases. For example, in higher pressing, they could take on their nominal 4-3-3 shape, with man-orientations from the central midfield players, Casemiro  covering behind, and Ronaldo and Bale towards the first line. Real’s high pressing wasn’t seen so often in the first half, but did earn them a couple of turnovers on the occasions where they used it.

Dropping deeper, Madrid switched to more of a 4-4-2 shape, with Ronaldo staying high while Bale dropped into the midfield line, and Kroos having the duty of covering in left-midfield positions due Ronaldo’s positioning, but also having responsibilities to help pressure Rakitic and Busquets in the centre, and trying to prevent Real from being overwhelmed by Barca’s central presence. Madrid could also find themselves in 5-3-2 structures in their low block, with Bale being pushed back into the last line by the attacking runs of Alba.

Barca threaten on the right

As a result, Madrid’s defensive shape was somewhat asymmetric, due to Bale’s tracking of Alba in wide areas, contrasted with Kroos’ often narrow positioning on the left. This meant that there was space in the left side of Madrid’s formation in front of Ramos and Marcelo for Barca to exploit. In particular, for the trio of Messi, Coutinho and Roberto.

Particularly in the early stages of the game, Messi was able to receive the ball free in the right-halfspace on a couple of occasions and look to create chances for Suarez, who was making diagonal runs across Madrid’s central defenders. Marcelo was often tied by the advancing Sergi Roberto, so Ramos would have to step out of the defensive line, but Couthinho, as well as drifting between lines, would also at times play higher, up against Ramos, meaning that the Spaniard could not step forward to confront Messi, who was then left with space.

Barca’s threat on the right was also shown in their first goal, although this time without the direct involvement of Messi. Ramos and Marcelo followed Coutinho and Roberto into Barca’s half, and Roberto was able to run on Marcelo’s blindside after passing Coutinho. Although he didn’t touch the ball in this move, the effect of Messi’s front-post run in pulling two defenders towards him to create space for Suarez on the far-post can also not be ignored.

Barca’s pressing

Against the ball, Valverde’s side pressed in their usual 4-4-2. They also used a lot of man-orientations against Madrid’s structure in buildup, which could be roughly described as a 2-5-3 (or 2-5-0-3) . The ball-near wide-midfielder oriented himself towards the full-back, while Busquets and Rakitic would mark opponents in their zone, and the ball-far wide midfielder would maintain horizontal compactness by tucking in, and marking Madrid’s ball-far central midfielder if he was in his zone.

The most notable thing about Barca’s pressing, and again something which seems common under Valverde, is that the central midfielders are willing to push out very far, leaving the #6 space unoccupied. The idea here is most likely that this should allow them to create more pressure on the ball, and even if their own #6 space is open, the opponent should not be able to access it, and if they do, the centre-backs, holding a high defensive line, should be able to quickly step forward to delay the opponent.

This was the case against Madrid – there were some occasions where Benzema, or another forward, could drop into the space vacated by Barca’s central midfielders, however these situations usually happened fairly high up the pitch for Barcelona, and Madrid were usually unable to create anything too dangerous before Barca could recover.

Madrid use the wings

With Bale in the lineup ahead of the injured Isco, Madrid had even less occupation of the spaces inside the opposition’s shape than usual, which also contributed to their inability to punish any potentially unstable defensive structures created by Barca’s pressing.

On the one hand, their heavy occupation of deep midfield and wide spaces meant that they could have some spells where they could be quite stable against Barca’s press. On the other hand, they could rarely take advantage of the spaces they had opened.

Most of Madrid’s attacks then, came over the wings. They used a lot of long switches to either wing, as the ball-far full-back usually had a lot of space due to Barca’s compact midfield. Despite being in space, the attacks from here were rarely threatening. There was little opportunity to connect back inside or any other combination play. Either the ball was recirculated again, or the attack ended with a hopeful cross.

Barca with 10 men

With the dismissal of Sergi Roberto just before halftime, Valverde was forced into an adjustment. The second half saw Semedo introduced in place of Coutinho, and Barcelona played the second half with a 4-3-2. This firstly saw Barcelona defending a lot deeper, and much longer possession phases for Real Madrid.

Despite the man-advantage, Madrid were still unable to create many good chances against Barca’s defence. This was partially due to the issues mentioned above – Madrid relied a lot on attacks over the wings and crossing, a strategy which was further weakened by the departure of Ronaldo at half time due to injury. It goes without saying that Madrid’s crossing game may have been more threatening if Ronaldo, one of the most dangerous players from crossing situations, had been available.

However, Barca’s 4-3-2 defensive system was also strong. It was firstly very compact, and the shifting was suitably intense. They allowed Madrid to have the ball in deep areas in the halfspace and wings, and controlled the centre well. If the full-backs pushed out to close down the opposition winger or full-back, the ball-near centre-back shifted to close the space, or the closest central midfielder would drop in to prevent runs behind the full-back, and the other midfielders would shift accordingly. Add to this some brilliant penalty box defending from the likes of Pique and Umtiti, and Barca were able to close out the game.

Conclusion

Barcelona’s unbeaten record for this league season continues, although it appeared to be under serious threat after going down to 10 men. Real’s attacking play left something to be desired, but Barca and Valverde deserve credit for a good defensive performance in the 2nd half given the circumstances they found themselves in.