One of the features of Barcelona’s incredible start to the season has been the high-risk defensive style implemented by new manager Hansi Flick, who has stuck to the high line and offside trap that brought him so much success during his 18 months at Bayern Munich but also had mixed results at club level and in his tenure with the German national team at times.
Flick’s high line has been undeniably successful at Barça as the Blaugrana have forced the most offsides of any team in Europe, but it has also led to several scary moments as the Catalans have come very close to conceding multiple goals that were denied by perfectly timed offside traps and the help of La Liga and UEFA’s semi-automated offside systems.