Hansi Flick addresses high line concerns for Barcelona ahead of Bayern Munich clash

One of the features of Barcelona’s incredible start to the season has been the high-risk defensive style implemented by new manager Hansi Flick, who has stuck to the high line and offside trap that brought him so much success during his 18 months at Bayern Munich but also had mixed results at club level and in his tenure with the German national team at times.

Flick’s high line has been undeniably successful at Barça as the Blaugrana have forced the most offsides of any team in Europe, but it has also led to several scary moments as the Catalans have come very close to conceding multiple goals that were denied by perfectly timed offside traps and the help of La Liga and UEFA’s semi-automated offside systems.

Barça also haven’t faced truly elite teams that can really exploit their high line so far, but that all changes on Wednesday when Flick’s old team Bayern Munich come to town just three days before El Clásico against Real Madrid. The Blaugrana will face two of the most talented front lines in the world, and there are legitimate questions to be asked about Flick’s defensive strategy ahead of those two games.

The coach was indeed asked those questions in a press conference on Tuesday, and chose to remain somewhat coy about his defensive approach while at the same time suggesting there won’t be too much change to the way Barça act without the ball.

“Well, I think you have asked me many things. If I say too much, I will give you an idea about how we want to approach the game. There are clear things that the team has to do, and we have to be certain about those things. Not everything turns out 100% perfect but we do try to improve in each game. Pressing high will be important, but defending will also be important when the time comes. “We are prepared for the match against Bayern. The matches can be different and many things can happen, as we saw against Monaco, they can evolve towards different paths. During this season it has been very good for us to focus game by game. We are feeling good. Bayern is an excellent team and everyone wants to face the best.” Source: Football España

It’s not a surprise that Flick won’t reveal his gameplan and it also won’t be a surprise if Barça use the same offside trap against Bayern that they’ve done against every other team. At some point we need to know if the Blaugrana can play such a high-risk style, and that point has finally arrived.

And guess what? It’s okay if Barça’s defense looks ugly on Wednesday and at the weekend. Defeats teach you lessons, and Flick might need to see things go very wrong to find out what he needs to adjust.

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