> “I think they want to push the front line, but they don’t do it well enough. In addition to the lines, there needs to be a reasonable distance between the lines, about 10 meters. Otherwise, what happens is that there’s a huge gap with the defensive line, and Madrid takes advantage of that because it leaves a huge gap,” he wrote in his column for Mundo Deportivo.
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> “Given this situation I think Barça should use four midfielders, in a 4-4-2, but in a diamond formation. Now, when Barça loses the ball in midfield, it’s a half-chance. In the Clásico, they were saved because there were offside calls; otherwise, they would have ended up with goal-scoring opportunities.
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> “Now, they press hard, but they get too far away from the defense, and with Real Madrid in front of them, who are good, they play a long pass and that’s it.
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> “It’s not a question of accumulating more defenders, but rather of being well positioned on the field. For a teammate to be able to cover you, they have to be close. Madrid, for example, put a player on Pedri, and that ends up affecting the game.”