All great teams are built on solid defensive foundations but not so many can look reliably to their back four to launch the majority of their attacks. Fewer still have a teenager — and a centre-back partner double his age — at the crux of it all.
No player in Europe’s big five leagues has completed as many passes Barcelona’s Inigo Martinez so far this season. Combined with Pau Cubarsi, still just 17 years of age, they have strung together almost as many passes (1448) as fellow La Liga side Getafe put together (1701).
But it is not just quantity; the variety and the precision of distribution from the back means that Barcelona’s unlikely defensive pairing can control the tempo and the direction of each passing move. While Martinez boasts an expansive passing range, few can pick up the pace of an attack by punching the ball through the middle of the pitch quite like Cubarsi.
Travelling to take on Real Madrid this weekend, where a search for balance continues to plague their title defence, the duo have the tools to exploit the gaps in their rivals’ defensive structure. These are the three passes that can do the damage.
The line-breaker
Without doubt, the weakest area of Madrid’s out-of-possession structure is the first line of defence: usually a two-man effort of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior at the top of a 4-4-2. Inconsistent timing when it comes to applying pressure, along with a general lack of defensive interest from Mbappe in particular, makes it all too easy for opponents to play passes through and into midfield, where Madrid’s box-to-box players can often be overrun.
Unfortunately for Carlo Ancelotti, this is precisely where Barcelona have flourished this season, forming a three-man defensive shape while overloading the centre with dangerous, forward-thinking players. From there, both centre-backs have been able to fire passes through the opposition, allowing those tight-space technicians to link-up and hit through the centre.
Even when under pressure, Cubarsi is a specialist when it comes to breaking defensive lines, rarely shying away from the risky pass inside. Here, against Alaves, for example, we can see the two strikers pushing high and closing down the centre-backs, trying to funnel the simple pass out wide to full-back Hector Fort.
It looks as if Cubarsi will oblige before sharply changing his body orientation and fizzing a pass back across his body and into Raphinha, taking six players out of the game and allowing Raphinha to turn and run at the back four.
In tighter situations too, Cubarsi has no issues sorting out his feet and playing the positive forward pass, as here against Girona after a quick turnover in possession.
The ball falls the young centre-back and he is quickly put under pressure by Abel Ruiz. Seeing his options close down out wide, he calmly steps inside — throwing the balance of Ruiz in frame two — and opening up the gap to roll the ball through to Dani Olmo.
The weight of the pass again allows Olmo to take the ball and face up to the opposition defence with a swift turn.
Madrid can’t afford to give Cubarsi too much time and space, nor can they afford to be hasty in their jumps forward.
Mbappe can be a game-changer on the break but on this occasion, his opposite centre-back might be looking back at him as a weak spot to attack.
The switch of play
With plenty of players crowding the centre, Barcelona make sure to leave an escape route should the midfield start to clog, instructing Lamine Yamal to stay wide during the build up. That gives their quarterback Martinez an incredibly valuable target to hit.
Switches of play are the 33-year-old’s bread and butter: no-one has completed more in Europe’s top five leagues this campaign, while only Montpellier’s Teji Savanier has completed more long passes in general.
What’s more, of the 17 switches that Martinez has lined up, all 17 have found their man, with five landing directly at the feet of the talented Yamal.
Particularly when the opposition look to block out their preferred route through the middle, as a resilient Getafe did in September with a 4-5-1 out-of-possession shape, Martinez’s accuracy over long distance can bypass the midfield bog and leave Yamal one-v-one.
He does just that below, launching a 65-yard ball over five opponents and isolating his winger against Juan Iglesias. From there, Yamal has space to cut inside and fire a low shot just wide of the near post.
A less direct route to the opposite side of the pitch, Martinez has also found Jules Kounde with nine cross-field balls, a connection that shows up on his pass receiver map below. Cubarsi, meanwhile, generally builds up the play down his side of the pitch.
That is partly to do with Barcelona’s attacking structure, tending to bring the wide player on that side — usually Raphinha or Ferran Torres — into those central areas to link up with Robert Lewandowski.
Madrid have struggled down that side in recent weeks, however, with deputy left-back Lucas Vazquez showing defensive frailties against Borussia Dortmund in midweek, notably losing his man for the visitors’ second goal.
Although it’s not the usual approach, don’t be surprised to see Barcelona test the waters with a natural winger on the left or for Cubarsi to dip into his long-range game.
The ball in behind
Speaking of a more direct approach, Madrid have been caught out by an alarming number of direct attacks this season, particularly when Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde inch forward to join in with the attacks.
Against Stuttgart in the Champions League, for example, Ancelotti’s side probably should have fallen behind after a long pass found Deniz Undav leading a three-v-two, while this long pass from Fran Beltran at Celta Vigo exposed their tendency to push too high up the pitch, leading to a clear opening for Williot Swedberg.
It’s unlikely that Madrid will commit so heavily at the weekend given what’s on the line but Barcelona have not needed much invitation to launch quick attacks this season, scoring the most goals from fast breaks in La Liga.
Should they succeed in luring Madrid in or their opponents need to chase the game in front of their own fans, the centre-backs have proven themselves capable of finding the killer ball.
Martinez has created eight chances this season, notably spearing a pinpoint pass into the opposition penalty area for Pedri to chase away at Alaves. Barely 10 minutes later, he lifted this pass over to Raphinha, with the Brazilian’s sublime touch in frame two showing just how potent Barcelona can be at turning defence into attack at speed.
Cubarsi, on the other hand, has already helped himself to an assist this season, clipping a perfectly-weighted pass over Real Valladolid’s high line for Raphinha to chest down and finish.
There lies Madrid’s defensive dilemma; they won’t want to show their bitter rivals too much respect in a potentially season-swaying Clasico, but pushing up too high will give Cubarsi and Martinez ample opportunity to hurt them with the ball at their feet.
And, based on the evidence of this season, they are unlikely squander that chance.
