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Barcelona: The relevance of tiki-taka in modern football

By Chiranjib Ghosh

Former champion Johan Cruyff and FC Barcelona's coach. Cruyff won a hat-trick of European Cups with Ajax, the World Clubs' Cup and was three times European Footballer of the Year. At their peak, the Dutch side he captained were the most exciting and talented team in international football, yet, strangely, they never won a major trophy during his reign. | Location: Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Christian Liewig/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images)
Former champion Johan Cruyff and FC Barcelona's coach. Cruyff won a hat-trick of European Cups with Ajax, the World Clubs' Cup and was three times European Footballer of the Year. At their peak, the Dutch side he captained were the most exciting and talented team in international football, yet, strangely, they never won a major trophy during his reign. | Location: Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Christian Liewig/TempSport/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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Barcelona’s famed tiki-taka philosophy is losing its relevance

Johan Cruyff lay the foundations for modern football with his invention of tiki-taka at Barcelona when he took over from Carles Rexach. His invention of a new, minimalistic form of football allowed Spain to take over from traditional international giants as the trendsetters.

Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ did a lot of damage to the traditional direct style of play implemented by most coaches across Europe, but the old guard could still maintain their relevance. However, things changed 12 years after Cruyff had been sacked by club president Josep Lluís Núñez.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta decided to promote Pep Guardiola to the position of first-team head coach from being manager of Barça B. And on the national level, the RFEF appointed former Real Madrid manager Vicente del Bosque as coach of the Spanish national team.

These two changes in personnel in Spain would go on to change the history of football. Vicente del Bosque went on to lead Spain to a 35-match unbeaten run, which included a 10-match winning streak. Subsequently, Spain secured the runners-up spot in the Confederations Cup.

On the other hand, Pep Guardiola led Barcelona to a treble, with the Catalans becoming the first club to win the treble in the 21st century. In the following year, Del Bosque led Spain to their first-ever World Cup victory, and in the most dominant way possible.

The Spanish first-team constituted 7 Barça players, 3 Real Madrid players and 1 player from Villarreal. David Villa ended the tournament with the Bronze Ball and the Silver Ball, while Iker Casillas secured the Golden Glove.

Vicente del Bosque used tiki-taka to perfection to conquer the world. Spain ended with an average possession of 58%, thus stamping the dominance of tiki-taka over world football. Pep Guardiola continued to have success with Barcelona, while Spain also won 2012 European Championship.

But this dominance ended in 2014, as Spain crashed out of the World Cup in the group-stages after a humiliating 5-1 loss to 2010 finalists Holland. Barcelona still kept it alive in club football, winning their second treble under Luis Enrique, who also implemented tiki-taka.

But the dominance of the tiki-taka was totally eliminated in 2016, when Spain failed to defend the Euros. The antithesis to tiki-taka also rose in England the following season, as Chelsea won the Premier League, led by Antonio Conte.

Vicente del Bosque’s resignation also coincided with the decline of Barça, as Luis Enrique failed to retain the Champions League and subsequently moved away from tiki-taka. The culture of tiki-taka was seemed to be totally eradicated when Ernesto Valverde took over as Barcelona manager.

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In his first season, he employed a defensive approach. The club were very direct, and signs of its past were thought to have been absolutely destroyed. The Spanish football team was also being led differently, by a more pragmatic Julen Lopetegui.

At the 2018 World Cup, Fernando Hierro tried to use tiki-taka, but failed. The repetitive backward passing seemed to lead nowhere, and the former Real Madrid centre-back failed to maximise the utility of the creative talent of Andrés Iniesta and Isco.

But the subsequent season, Ernesto Valverde is implementing his form of tiki-taka. It is no longer the structured approach mandated by an integration of Total Football and the philosophy of Johan Cruyff. Here, the players have their creative freedom maximised, most notably Leo Messi.

The defensive frailties of the side are exposed often, but a lot of goals are also scored. Thus, the original form of tiki-taka is losing relevance but a revised form is slowly gaining importance. This new form is gaining popularity too, with Roberto De Zerbi using it at Sassuolo in the Serie A.

Manchester City, coached by Pep Guardiola, are also using this tactic. They won the Premier League with a record number of points last season with this strategy, and are contenders for the Champions Leagye title this season because of that.

Barcelona scout Toulouse defender Jean-Clair Todibo. dark. Next

But if Barcelona win the treble this season, as is expected, tiki-taka will be officially back in fashion. At Spain too, Luis Enrique is implementing tiki-taka and to great success, having won 4 of his 6 games in charge of the national team, including a resounding 6-0 win over Croatia.