TACTICAL ANALYSIS: FC BARCELONA 2-1 SHAKHTAR DONETSK | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Let’s analyze Barcelona’s victory against Shakhtar. 3 keys, the first was the good press from Xavi’s men, against a team that took a lot of risks in the build-up.

When they managed to progress or played a long pass, Barcelona’s centre-backs did a great job anticipating, getting out of position, avoiding quick attacks.

When Shakhtar tried to combine with short passes, turnovers like this happened. The pass goes to a player under pressure. Oriol Romeu recovers and Fermín López receives it inside the box to finish the play.

In possession, Barcelona played in a 2-3-5, with Marcos Alonso, Oriol Romeu and Cancelo at the same height, forming Fermín López and Gündoğan part of the front 5.

The second key for Barcelona, especially during the first minutes, was Lamine Yamal, isolating him in 1v1 situations or in plays in which Fermín, Lamine and Cancelo made good combinations.

And the third key was Shakhtar’s poor defensive work giving the ball holder a lot of time to make decisions. This is the play of the first goal, Gündoğan without pressure has time to take a look and put a perfect ball to Fermín López who attacks the space and Ferran Torres ends up scoring.

The same thing happens in this play in which Joao Félix lets the ball pass between his legs, Ferrán Torres receives it free, the center back comes out too late to try to recover, creating space for Ferran to give the ball to João Félix and attack the space

In a very similar play, Barcelona scored the second goal. Ferrán drops down to receive, great pass from Íñigo Martínez, João Félix and Fermín with the movement off the ball behind the defensive line and the left back is wide to not leave Lamine Yamal free, allowing Fermín to receive the pass and score a great goal.

3 out of 3 for Barcelona in the Champions League before playing El Clásico this Saturday.