Sevilla – Barcelona: Rodri and Raphinha help Barça overcome Sevilla’s man-oriented press (1–3)

Barcelona overcame a difficult first half against Sevilla to win three-one away from home, with Sevilla’s man-oriented midfield press initially disrupting Barça’s possession and creating dangerous attacking situations. Barcelona did not change their structure after the break, instead improving their execution and using Rodri’s control from midfield and Raphinha’s movement as a false nine to gradually dismantle Sevilla’s defensive references.

Tactical analysis and match report by Sebastián Parreño.

Barcelona started with Cancelo at left-back, Eric García at right-back, Pau Cubarsí as the right-sided centre-back and Christensen on the left. Rodri operated as the lone pivot behind Pedri and Fermín, while Gordon, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal formed the attacking trident.

Sevilla, however, had designed their defensive structure specifically to prevent Barcelona from comfortably accessing the centre. Luis García Plaza used a man-oriented midfield system in which Agoumé followed Fermín, Fofaná tracked Rodri and Kochorashvili followed Pedri. Rather than allowing Barça's midfielders to receive and turn freely, Sevilla attempted to turn the game into a collection of individual duels in the middle of the field, complemented by aggressive pressing from their full-backs, Juan Iglesias and Suazo on the Barcelona wingers.

The full-backs were particularly important against Yamal and Gordon, as Sevilla wanted to deny them time on the ball, especially Yamal, while maintaining numerical parity in midfield. Whenever they had to defend deeper, Sevilla moved into a 4-4-2 block, giving them another reference for controlling the central areas.

Barcelona’s attacking structure was also different from the previous season. With Rodri now . . .