- João Cancelo is undergoing a renaissance at FC Barcelona in his second spell donning Blaugrana.
- After previously being thought of as a ‘loose cannon’ on Xavi Hernandez’s watch, the Portuguese full-back is now more tactically disciplined under Hansi Flick.
- He scored in Sunday’s 5-2 win over Sevilla, and threatens Alejandro Balde’s immediate future when the La Masia graduate returns from injury.
Football has a short memory, but FC Barcelona fans never forget.
When João Cancelo’s return was announced this winter, scepticism hung over Culers. After a first spell under Xavi Hernández that ended in defensive doubts and a move to Al-Hilal, few expected the Portuguese player to become, just two months later, the piece that has finally got Hansi Flick’s machine ticking.
What has changed? It’s not just the Portuguese player’s fitness – tactics have made the difference too.
Balde’s decline, Cancelo’s opportunity
Cancelo’s place in the FC Barcelona starting line-up is not solely down to his talent, but also because of the void left on the left flank.
Alejandro Balde, who was tipped to dominate that channel for a decade, is going through his lowest point since joining the first team.
Even before his recent injury, the La Masia graduate had already shown worrying signs of stagnation: a lack of precision in his crosses and a tactical misunderstanding that seemed unable to evolve under Flick’s demands.
Balde’s knock was the catalyst that forced Flick to place his blind trust in Cancelo, but what began as a medical emergency has turned into a genuine debate about meritocracy.
The dilemma of his return: The big question hanging over the Barça camp is what will happen when Balde receives the all-clear to return.
Given the form Cancelo is currently in, the academy product will not only have to recover physically, but also prove that he can regain his lost spark.
At present, there is a tangible fear: will a Balde lacking in match fitness and confidence be able to fill in for, or even compete with, ‘Flick’s João’?
Cancelo’s shadow is simply too big to escape at the moment and was cast further with his impressive display in the 5-2 win over Sevilla.
Raphinha was the hero with a hat trick, but his fellow Lusophone also got in on the scoring on the hour mark and put in an outstanding performance on the whole.
Flick’s FC Barcelona tactics board: Order amidst chaos
The main difference between Xavi’s era and the current one lies in the structure of risk-taking.
Under Xavi, Cancelo acted as a complete ‘wild card’, which often threw the defensive block off balance and led to disastrous transitions.
Hansi Flick has implemented three key changes that benefit the Portuguese player:
- Immediate verticality: Flick does not want endless periods of possession. He looks to link up quickly in order to play direct balls to players making runs behind the defence. Cancelo, with his ability to thread through balls, is an ideal player for feeding the wingers on the break and, above all, for playing balls into the box.
- Intelligent cover: Barça’s current double pivot allows the team to maintain a balance that did not exist before when Cancelo pushes forward. We no longer see João desperately sprinting back every time the ball is lost.
- Simplification of his role: Flick asks Cancelo to be a creator from the wing, not to try to win the match on his own. This ‘controlled freedom’ has reduced his turnover in critical areas.
From a stopgap to a mainstay
Cancelo’s performances under Flick are proof that context is everything in football. Whilst under Xavi he was seen as a loose cannon who was difficult to fit into the team, with the German manager he is a player who is essential to the coherence of Barça’s attack.
In my view, the Cancelo-Balde debate is a question of competitive hierarchy. Flick’s Barça have shown they wait for no one, and although Alejandro Balde is a club asset we must protect, meritocracy knows no heat maps or injuries.
If the Portuguese player maintains this level of defensive commitment – his great Achilles’ heel in the past – the sporting management department should stop looking at the full-back market.
The question is no longer whether Cancelo is better than Balde, but whether Barça can afford to bench the best attacking full-back of the season to ‘bring back’ a player who, even before his injury, hadn’t quite hit his stride this term.
