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Barcelona's Pressing Defense

Barcelona are known for their incredible passing game, their tiki taka style of short quick passes to keep possession. They have said that the best defense is to keep the ball, and by not giving your opponent long periods of possession of the ball they are limited in their ability to attack. Teams are forced to pack it in, become ultra defensive and try to counter attack when they can.

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Barcelona rack up long periods of possession, and usually average over 70% of the ball no matter who they are playing against, whether they are playing against Real Madrid or Manchester Untied.

But one of the things they do so well is press. Anytime Barcelona loses possession of the ball they immediately fight to win the ball back with two or three players pressing the opposing team to try to regain possession of the ball back right away.

And this pressing usually takes place in the attacking third, so teams are forced to clear the ball out of bounds or send a long, rushed pass up the field that gets intercepted. The pressing style of play and the tiki taka style of play go hand in hand. Since their passing game and keeping possession of the ball requires good support and balance, when a Barcelona player has the ball they usually have a player to each side, in front, and behind them that they can pass to. This requires their players to constantly stay in motion and support the ball.

This amoeba like movement of their team also lends itself to their pressing defensive style, as if someone loses the ball they always have two or three players there to try to win it back. The Barcelona player immediately presses the player with the ball, forcing them to put their head down so they can't look up to find a teammate to pass to.

Their pressing starts with being a compact unit, moving as one from the left to the right and to the front and then back. They push up and smother the opposing team, with their forwards getting right on top of the opposing teams' defenders.

What's more, even Barcelona's most important player, and the best soccer player in the world, Lionel Messi, plays defense and presses the ball when the team loses possession. This is what sets Barcelona part from other teams, every player on the team works for the team, whether that's keep possession of the ball on offense, or fighting to win the ball back on defense.

You also rarely see Barcelona players complain or yell at one another if they lose the ball. Instead, they chase the ball down and win it back.