Why don't more teams 'park the bus' against Barcelona?

To say that the current Barcelona team are in the form of their lives would not be an overstatement. To argue that they are the best team in the world would not be incorrect considering the fact that the Catalan team have thrashed five teams by 5 goals since October, most notably Real Madrid and Espanyol who are in the top five of the Spanish La Liga. This goal riot is testament to the superior skills of the Barcelona players, most of whom have been playing together all of their lives, having graduated from La Masia, and thus possess inimitable team chemistry. Possessing the most gifted midfielders and forwards in their line up, Barcelona’s game is based on constant pressing, exquisite passing, winning the ball from the opponent in their own half and attacking high up the pitch. When they have the ball, Barcelona are the most beautiful team in the world to watch. As Pep Guardiola said, “Without the ball we are a disastrous team, a horrible team, so we need the ball.”

If there is one tactic that has become very famous since last year’s Champion’s League, it is ‘parking the bus’. Parking the bus involves setting out a team to defend deep and narrow so as to challenge a creatively superior team to find a way through the crowded space. It essentially involves sacrificing possession of the ball, having bodies behind the ball, closing down spaces, repelling attacks and trying to hit the opponent ‘on the break’. The ‘parking the bus’ tactic has often faced immense negative criticism from most followers of the game who brand it as ‘anti-football’ and a cowardly tactic due to the team’s refusal to come out of its own half. As much as critics would love to crucify this defensive methodology, it is important to understand that parking the bus involves extraordinary levels of discipline, concentration and organization. In the words of former AC Milan manager Arrigo Sacchi said, “Five organized players will beat ten disorganized players”. Lapse of concentration from one player for a single moment can cause the tactic to backfire. That’s how hard it is.

Jose Mourinho masterminded Inter Milan's triumph over Barcelona by parking the bus

This is the tactic that has proved the key to unlock Barcelona in recent years since it exploits their high defensive line and makes them vulnerable to counter attacks. Inter Milan famously protected their 3-1 first leg lead by parking the bus at the Camp Nou in last season’s UCL semi final second leg and ended up progressing to the finals. The most amazing statistic of the match was that Barcelona had a whopping 86 percent possession of the ball and Inter were down to 10 men. Scottish team Rangers are another team who have used this tactic extensively to nullify creatively superior teams like Manchester United. Newly promoted Hercules took inspiration from Inter and stunned Barcelona 2-0 in the Camp Nou this season in the La Liga. This bathes the question as to why other teams in the La Liga don’t use this tactic to neutralize Barcelona.

Hercules frustrated Barcelona through stubborn defending this season

Due to the perceived negativity of the methodology, most teams don’t use this tactic due to the flak they would receive, especially from their fans. Also Spanish teams believe in the inherent philosophy of playing football the attacking way and hence don’t use it. Hercules is the only Spanish side to have used it in recent times. The traditionalists would be better off if they realize that football is rapidly changing and pragmatic approaches are becoming the order of the day. A historically traditional team to have embraced this stark truth are the Dutch National side, who abandoned their ‘total football’ philosophy in favour of a defensively sound line up at the World Cup 2010. No matter how well a team plays, the result is what matters in the end. The order of the day is that irrespective of the tactics used what matters is who has the last laugh, as in “the end justifies the means”. It is far more pragmatic to defend in numbers than lose 5-0 by trying to take the game to Barcelona. It was highly embarrassing to watch a team like Real Madrid play a shockingly high defensive line against a team which has midfielders like Xavi and Iniesta capable of unlocking the strongest defences in the world. In terms of creative talent, La Liga is highly imbalanced in favour of Barcelona. But that doesn’t mean teams can’t beat them, as demonstrated by Hercules. I would love to see more teams be tactically open-minded, accept the fact that Barcelona are creatively superior and use defensive tactics to frustrate them and make La Liga a close fight, which it unfortunately is not at the moment. From the spectator’s point of view, there is nothing more beautiful than watching a match where a defensively organized team constantly soaks up the pressure and repels wave upon wave of attack thrown at them. While it is incredibly difficult to set out such a team, it seems to be the only way to beat Barcelona.

If you liked this piece, I encourage you to read https://www.sportskeeda.com/2010/06/07/catenaccio-rules/