2 key passes, 2 assists: 26-year-old Barcelona star thrives in new role against Betis | OneFootball

FC Barcelona delivered an impressive attacking display to defeat Real Betis 5-1 in the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey. The Catalan club has been in exceptional form in recent weeks, excelling in the Super Cup and now securing a dominant victory against the Andalusian side.

When the official XI was announced last night, Hansi Flick had made quite a few surprise calls. The German coach, for starters, chose to go without a recognized number nine, opting to use Dani Olmo in a false nine role.

Olmo is not a stranger to playing in this position, having done it to devastating effect for Spain against Italy. However, since his move to Barcelona, this was the first time Hansi Flick was trying this experiment, and boy, how well did it work out!

To simply put it, Real Betis had no idea how to mark Dani Olmo. He was dropping deep, roaming right across the pitch, and kept playing beautiful combinations with the other midfielders on the pitch. If the eye test doesn’t convince you, wait for the statistics.

As per statistics collected by SofaScore, Olmo played the entire game on the night, recording 72 touches of the ball. He completed 47 of his 54 attempted passes. This also included two key passes during the game and two assists.

He had two shots on target and three shots off target, including hitting the woodwork once. He completed two out of his three attempted dribbles. He also completed both of his attempted long balls. Incredibly, he also put in a defensive shift, winning three out of his five attempted ground duels.

Olmo’s heat map against Real Betis (via SofaScore)

One look at his heatmap tells you just how influential the 26-year-old was last night. The Spaniard was anywhere and everywhere on the pitch and this tactical evolution might be the next phase of development in Hansi Flick’s arc at Barcelona.

It remains to be seen if Hansi Flick will start trying out this system more and more in the coming weeks. It is a great alternative when he needs to rest Robert Lewandowski but the less he exposes it, the more effective it is likely to be. Let’s wait and see how it plays out.