A Supercopa statement

Pedri, Gavi, and a tactically savvy Xavi dominate the Clásico.

Gavi became the first player to score and assist twice in a Clásico, since Johan Cruyff in 1974. That’s 30 years before Barça’s number 30 was born…

In the space of just seven days, Barcelona have played, and won, three very different games.

Against Atlético Madrid, they suffered. Real Betis took them all way. Yet, facing a final with their fiercest foes, after 210 gruelling minutes and an eight-hour flight in between, Xavi’s men looked as fresh and as fluent as they have ever looked before.

Front and centre of the gameplan were two players who were left, right, high and low. Even their combined age is four years younger than Xavi’s 42, but Pablo Martín Páez Gavira and Pedro González López controlled the Clásico. A duo, out-passing, out-shooting and out-dribbling a trio, making just as many tackles and winning five times the fouls, would have been impressive enough, even if Real Madrid hadn’t started with Luka Modrić, Eduardo Camavinga and Toni Kroos in midfield last night.

But even beyond Saudi Arabia, aside from wonderfully taken goals and pinpoint assists, Gavi and Pedri’s unique skillsets give their manager limitless tactical flexibility, able to open or close a game with a single tweak.

Pedri’s versatility has been crucial to each of Barcelona’s last three wins.

First up, and during a devastating opening 20 minutes at the Metropolitano, Gavi and Pedri were deployed as advanced receivers at the top of a box midfield, helping to break down a narrow Atlético Madrid block in the absence of Robert Lewandowski.

In the build-up, with Ousmane Dembélé playing high and wide, Pedri started to the left of Ansu Fati, while Sergio Busquets and Frankie De Jong sat deeper to guard against the counter, allowing the full-backs to advance.

Pedri’s unmatched ability at receiving the ball in tight spaces and driving through central gaps, along with Gavi’s positional intelligence and defensive discipline - not overcommitting to this advanced role - allowed Xavi to overload central battles, drawing Atlético Madrid’s narrow block inwards, before moving the ball swiftly outwards.

Gavi and Pedri (circled) move forward to receive the ball centrally, with Gavi lurking between the lines.

Indeed, the only goal of the game came from such a move, as Pedri picked up the ball in the final third, drove through the narrow midfield line with a penetrative carry, before finding Gavi, who swivels and plays in Dembélé:

Against Real Betis, on the other hand, with Raphinha and Lewandowski returned to the squad, Xavi deployed a system with natural width, fielding two touchline-hugging wingers either side of a more fixed central striker.

Now, with Gavi and Pedri back in a middle three, the two were less involved in carrying the ball and finding the gaps between the lines. Instead, now marshalling a more spacious midfield, the pair were tasked with sweeping the ball from side to side, using their passing range and athleticism to move the play through the thirds and out wide, rather than picking holes through a deep block.

With just two long passes completed in his carrier role against Atlético Madrid, Pedri picked out 11 lofted balls against a more stretched Real Betis, including another pre-assist for Lewandowski’s opener. Precious midfield versatility, able to carry out two distinct roles in the space of four days, these pass maps illustrate how Pedri’s talent can allow Xavi to adapt different approaches, even with the same midfield trio on the pitch.

In the final, however, we saw a devilish mix of all of the above.

With Raphinha benched and Gavi preferred out on the left, the box midfield structure was utilised again to play through more stubborn instances of Real Madrid’s block. However, this time, with Lewandowski in the centre fixing the centre-backs, Gavi was allowed to attack, and more importantly press, his full-back, while Pedri looked to support Dembélé on the opposite side.

As such, off the ball, Gavi’s increased defensive tenacity allowed Xavi to set pressing traps, often looking to force the ball out wide to Real Madrid’s full-backs, who were uncomfortable in possession all night. Such a trap ultimately led to the opening goal:

And again, defensive actions from Gavi, winning the ball back in advanced areas from the right-sided defenders against whom he was placed, create first a big chance for Lewandowski, and then Pedri’s goal:

In one of Barcelona’s toughest spells, then, just weeks after 17 of their players returned from the World Cup, Gavi and Pedri have provided tireless support.

Threading the ball through the eye of the needle, or spearing it 70 yards, pressing high, or patrolling the middle third, driving into spaces or floating across the pitch; the pair are scarily good at it all.

And, having helped Xavi to execute three pinpoint plans in seven draining days, perhaps Thursday’s trip to Ceuta will finally give Gavi and Pedri the opportunity to stop running. Not that they’d want to.