Hansi Flick comments on Barcelona's high line concerns before the game against Bayern Munich

One of the features of Barcelona's incredible start to the season has been the high-risk defensive style of new coach Hansi Flick, who has stuck to the high line and offside trap that brought him so much success in his 18 months at Bayern Munich, even at club level and in his time He had mixed results at times with the German national team.

Flick's high line was undeniably successful at Barça Blaugrana have forced the most offsides of any team in Europe, but it has also led to several frightening moments as the Catalans almost conceded several goals that were prevented by perfectly timed offside traps and the help of LaLiga and UEFA's semi-automatic offside systems.

Barça have not yet faced any truly elite teams who have been able to really exploit their top line, but that changes on Wednesday when Flick's old team Bayern Munich come to town just three days earlier El Classic against Real Madrid. The Blaugrana will face two of the most talented frontlines in the world and there are legitimate questions about Flick's defensive strategy ahead of these two games.

These questions were actually asked of the coach in a press conference on Tuesday and he chose to remain somewhat reserved about his defensive approach, while at the same time suggesting that there isn't too much change in the way Barça operate without the ball will change.

“Well, I think you asked me a lot of things. If I say too much, I'm giving you an idea of ​​how we want to approach the game. There are clear things the team needs to do and we need to be clear about them. Not everything is 100% perfect, but we try to improve in every game. High pressing will be important, but in due course defense will also be important.

“We are prepared for the game against Bayern. The games can be different and many things can happen, as we saw against Monaco, they can go in different directions. This season it was very good for us to concentrate from game to game. We feel good. Bayern are an excellent team and everyone wants to play against the best.”

Source: Football España

It's no surprise that Flick won't reveal his game plan, and it won't be a surprise if Barça use the same offside trap against Bayern as they do against any other team. At some point we have to know whether that is Blaugrana I can play such a risky style and I've finally reached that point.

And guess what? It is OK whether Barça's defense looks ugly on Wednesday and at the weekend. There are lessons to be learned from defeat, and Flick may need to see something go completely wrong to figure out what to prepare for.