Has the Flicki-Flacka era begun?

N quickly overtook Real Madrid

After 6 rounds, Barcelona have a perfect record, leaving Real Madrid 4 points behind in the standings (it's worth noting that Real Madrid have strengthened their attack with Kylian Mbappe, which already included Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, and Federico Valverde).

Lamine Yamal (left) is helping Barcelona perform brilliantly.

Throughout history, Barcelona has only started a season with a winning streak longer than six games on two occasions. Currently, Bayern Munich (Germany) is the only remaining team with a perfect winning record in the major leagues (but the Bundesliga has only completed four rounds). In the English Premier League, all teams have dropped points, and in principle, league leaders Manchester City could swap places with sixth-placed Newcastle after just one round.

The most striking aspect of Flick's successful start at Barcelona was his complete faith in young players. In his very first match, Flick fielded three players under 18 in the starting lineup: Lamine Yamal, Cubarsi, and Marc Bernal. This was only the second time in the 21st century that Barcelona had three players under 18 in their starting lineup; the first was a match at the end of the season, which was largely meaningless.

Flick's belief in young players isn't simply about putting them on the field. Everyone already knew Yamal from last season, as well as at the EURO 2024 finals. But now, under Flick's guidance, Yamal has truly risen to a higher level. He dares to allow the "boy" to play freely. The result: from being a young star "in need of protection," Yamal has now become a leader "protecting Barcelona," scoring goals or delivering decisive passes that turn the tide, saving the team from deadlock. In 7 official matches, Yamal has been directly involved in 9 goals (4 goals, 5 assists). Comparisons between Yamal and Lionel Messi will likely arise soon.

THE PLAYING STYLE STARTS FROM… THE ATTACKING LINE

When talking about Barcelona, ​​one must mention their distinctive Tiki-taka style of play, although of course there have been specific changes over the years. Flick still respects La Masia and boldly uses players trained by this renowned youth academy, as mentioned. But he pushes them into a different style of play, one that contrasts more with than is similar to Barcelona's traditional style. The phrase "Flicki-Flacka," currently used by the press, speaks to the unique mark of Coach Flick.

Barcelona typically builds up play slowly from the back, with very regular and patient short passes. Flick's Barcelona, ​​however, starts right from the attack: actively contesting the ball when the opponent has possession near their goal. At times, statistics on the average position of players over 60 minutes show that Barcelona only had 3 players (including the goalkeeper) in their own half.

In their first six matches, Barcelona recovered the ball 52 times within 40 meters of the opponent's goal, taking 10 shots from those situations and scoring 2 goals. In the entire previous season, Barcelona only scored 5 goals from similar situations. Yamal is an attacking star, but he is currently the player with the most tackles in the final third of the pitch near the opponent's goal in La Liga this season. Striker Raphinha, on the other hand, leads in ball recovery performance. The superb pressing ability of Raphinha and Yamal is something that has never been mentioned before. After all, they have never had to do that!

There are many other significant differences. Pedri (only 21 years old, already one of the reserve captains and a regular starter) or veteran Robert Lewandowski both bring considerable new elements to their playing style. But in short, Hansi Flick is having an unexpectedly perfect start, and the current Barcelona is both better and completely different from the Barcelona that people were so familiar with in previous years.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ky-nguyen-flicki-flacka-da-bat-dau-185240925223258011.htm