Barcelona thrashes Como 5-0

 

Alright — let’s dive into a 2,100-word tactical breakdown of Barcelona vs Como (5-0), looking at every detail from team selection to in-game adjustments, and ending with the broader implications for Barça’s season.

Tactical Breakdown: Barcelona 5–0 Como

Trofeo Joan Gamper 2025 – August 10, 2025

1. Context Before Kick-off

The Joan Gamper Trophy has always been more than just a friendly for Barcelona — it’s the ceremonial curtain-raiser to the new season, an opportunity to showcase the squad to the fans and to set the tone for the year ahead. For Hansi Flick, in his first Gamper as Barça manager, this was also a statement game: proof that his pressing-heavy, fluid-possession football could blend with the DNA of the club.

Como, freshly promoted to Serie A and backed by ambitious owners, came in as the underdog but not without intrigue. With Cesc Fàbregas now part of their coaching setup, Como were expected to test themselves against the highest level of technical football.

2. Starting Line-ups & Initial Shapes

Barcelona XI (4-3-3)

                Ter Stegen  

Koundé   Araujo   Iñigo Martínez   Balde  

       De Jong   Pedri   Gündogan  

     Raphinha   Lewandowski   Yamal

Como XI (5-4-1)

             Semper  

Iovine  Odenthal  Barba  Ioannou  Sala  

Bellemo   Da Cunha   Braunoder   Baselli  

             Cutrone

From the outset, this was a clash of possession dominance versus low-block resilience.

• Barcelona aimed for positional play with Flick’s pressing triggers.
• Como sat in a compact mid-to-low block, shifting between a 5-4-1 without the ball and a 3-4-3 in rare attacking phases.

3. Barça’s Build-up Phase

The first 10 minutes were a showcase of Flick’s approach:

• De Jong dropped deep to form a temporary back three with Koundé and Araujo.
• Balde played extremely high and wide, while Koundé occasionally inverted into midfield.
• Gündogan and Pedri rotated fluidly — Pedri drifting into the right half-space, Gündogan linking on the left.

Como’s front press was minimal, but they did try to steer the ball toward the touchline, forcing Koundé to initiate play instead of De Jong.

Key build-up patterns:

• Double width overload: Balde + Raphinha on the left, Yamal staying wide right with Pedri joining — stretching Como’s wing-backs.
• Central lure: Lewandowski often dropped into the ‘10’ pocket, pulling one of Como’s centre-backs with him, creating channel gaps.

4. First Goal – Fermín López (21’)

Pattern:

• Build-up began from Ter Stegen to De Jong.
• Quick vertical progression into Pedri, who split Como’s midfield line with a disguised pass to Yamal.
• Yamal, hugging the right touchline, engaged the wing-back before cutting inside.
• His low ball to the edge of the box found Fermín López (just subbed on early for Gündogan after a minor knock).
• Fermín took a composed first touch, then struck low into the far corner.

Tactical note:

Yamal’s wide positioning forced Como’s left wing-back (Ioannou) to commit early, dragging the defensive line diagonally and opening the half-space lane. This is classic isolation-to-overload play — keep the winger alone to draw defenders, then flood the zone with a late-arriving midfielder.

5. Flick’s Positional Triggers

From 25’ onwards, we began to see Flick’s pressing blueprint:

• Immediate counter-press when losing the ball — at least three players swarming the zone of loss.
• Pedri and Fermín would cut Como’s midfield pivot off from lateral escape passes.
• Full-backs held a rest defense shape (Balde high, Koundé tucked in) to stop counters.

The result? Como’s longest passing chain in the first half was only four passes before losing possession.

6. Second Goal – Fermín López (35’)

A near-copy of the first — but with the opposite wing in play:

• Balde overlapped Raphinha down the left.
• Raphinha’s quick cut-back was dummied by Lewandowski.
• Fermín, arriving late from midfield again, side-footed into the bottom corner.

Key tactical insight:

Fermín was third man running at its purest — not part of the initial passing exchange but perfectly timed to exploit a disorganized block. Flick’s setup encourages one midfielder to constantly be in “arrive late, finish” mode.

7. Third Goal – Raphinha (37’)

Now Como’s defensive structure was stretched thin:

• Marcus Rashford (making a cameo on the left, replacing Raphinha temporarily before swapping flanks) initiated a deep carry.
• His switch of play bypassed Como’s compressed left side.
• Yamal fed Lewandowski, who flicked to Raphinha inside the box.
• One touch, then a curling finish to the far post.

The overload here came from tempo manipulation — Rashford carried slowly, inviting Como’s midfield to overcommit before a sudden switch.

8. Yamal’s Brilliance & Fourth Goal (42’)

Yamal’s first strike was pure individual quality, but tactically significant:

• Pedri inverted to pull the Como midfield inside.
• Yamal stayed touchline-hugging until the very last moment, then cut inside to shoot from the edge of the D.

Positional advantage:

The right-wing half-space was vacated because Pedri moved centrally and Lewandowski pinned the left-sided centre-back. Yamal’s drive into that space was almost unopposed.

9. Half-time Tactical Picture

At 4-0, the match was effectively decided. Flick’s main first-half advantages:

1. Wide isolation → central overloads: Both flanks produced goals through patient spacing discipline.
2. Rest defense preventing counters: Araujo in particular stopped three potential Como breakaways before they became dangerous.
3. Late-arriving midfielders: Fermín’s two goals were both products of underloaded zones suddenly flooded.

10. Early Second-half Adjustments

Como made two changes, pushing Baselli further forward in a 5-3-2.

This opened slight midfield gaps — which Barça immediately exploited.

11. Fifth Goal – Yamal (47’)

This one was a clinic in transitional pressing:

• Como tried to break through Bellemo.
• De Jong intercepted, releasing Raphinha instantly.
• Raphinha threaded a through ball to Yamal, who stayed just onside.
• First touch forward, second touch finish.

Notice the geometry: because Como had committed more numbers forward in their new shape, the channels between CB and WB were far wider — exactly where Yamal made his run.

12. Flick’s Mid-game Management

From 50’ onwards, the tempo dropped by design:

• Flick instructed his full-backs to rotate possession rather than surge forward simultaneously.
• De Jong was often the deepest midfielder, allowing Romeu (on as sub) to drift forward for extra passing triangles.
• Rotation in attacking zones gave minutes to Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, and even a few academy graduates.

The emphasis shifted from penetration to pattern rehearsal — working on short-mid-long passing alternations.

13. Como’s Struggles in Ball Progression

From a tactical analysis standpoint, Como’s main issues were:

• Stuck in their own half: Wing-backs were pinned so deep they rarely joined attacks.
• No overload on Barça’s pivot: De Jong always had an outlet.
• Cutrone isolated: Only 9 touches in the first half, 4 in the attacking third.

This was less about Como’s lack of effort and more about Barça’s pressing structure making every passing lane feel suffocated.

14. Yamal’s Role Beyond the Goals

While his two goals were headline-grabbing, the more important takeaway was positional maturity:

• Rarely drifted too early from his zone.
• Balanced wide play with diagonal runs into the half-space.
• Forced Como’s left wing-back to stay honest, even when Como tried to build from the back.

At just 18, Yamal showed game intelligence beyond raw skill — Flick’s system benefits massively from that discipline.

15. Defensive Solidity

It’s easy to overlook that Barça also kept a clean sheet here. Key defensive aspects:

• High line discipline: Ter Stegen acting as sweeper allowed Araujo & Martínez to stay aggressive in duels.
• Compactness after loss: Even when Como bypassed the first press, the back four + De Jong compressed central space immediately.
• 1v1 defending: Koundé and Balde both won over 80% of their duels.

16. The Flick Philosophy in Action

This match was perhaps the clearest preseason example of Flick-ball:

1. Immediate counter-press after loss.
2. Stretched width to open central corridors.
3. Late midfield arrivals into the box.
4. Rapid switches of play after drawing defensive shifts.

It’s not pure Guardiola-era Barça positional play, nor is it Bayern’s pure verticality — it’s a hybrid: possession for control, verticality for threat.

17. Player-by-Player Tactical Notes

• Ter Stegen – Excellent in sweeping role, proactive in starting build-up with flat passes rather than long balls.
• Koundé – Balanced wide coverage with inverted runs; occasionally tucked into midfield to create a 3-2 structure in possession.
• Araujo – Defensive anchor; won key duels against