Alejandro Balde Scouting Report & Style Of Play At FC Barcelona & Spain – Tactical Analysis

Alejandro Balde has emerged as a relief for Barcelona as the veteran Jordi Alba seemed to be nearing the end of his career.

Alba put up a fantastic display at the World Cup, but his future at Barcelona has become more uncertain.

Due to his ability to rise to the occasion and impress Xavi Hernández in pre-season, Balde has earned a place in his plans.

Following an injury sustained by José Gayà during practice, he was immediately called up to play for Spain in the World Cup.

A critical competition and one that undoubtedly opens the way for a tenacious and ambitious left-back who seems determined to follow in Alba’s footsteps.

This tactical analysis

It will examine Balde’s accomplishments this season at Barcelona and his outstanding performance in his first World Cup under Luis Enrique.

Alejandro Balde Style Of Play

The 19-year-old from Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, finally made his debut after almost 10 years of preparation.

After his pre-season performance earned him a spot in the first squad in the post-Messi era, he was promoted from the B team.

Replacing Alba, he made his debut against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League.

He reminded Barcelona of how Alba reached his peak and what the full-backs have provided over the last ten years. Xavi chose Alba as the replacement for a struggling Barcelona because of his awareness and his ability to quickly accelerate through the field.

A team that struggles to recover after a few poor decisions by the club looked to be more affected by the young player’s zeal.

Balde has appeared in 12 of the 14 La Liga games and four of the six Champions League matches.

The young La Masia grad is fully expected to succeed in the coming years, in Xavi’s opinion.

In all, he has played for the first team for 1,142 minutes.

He has played a lot, and that experience will help him to define his future before anybody ever notices.

The squad has potential for growth in the back thanks to Balde’s mobility during the attack and his recovery, supported by speed.

His presence in the starting lineup gave Xavi a fresh dynamic, as he sometimes preferred to deploy him as a right-back.

This demonstrates how Xavi intends to utilise the young player in the Barcelona of the future.

How Alejandro Balde’s Athleticism helps in defence

Even before Lionel Messi left the club, Barcelona had a weak defensive system for practically a few years.

Balde is now a part of Xavi’s plans and is expected to develop a little differently, concentrating more on pushing than sitting in the back.

Balde has the strength to advance inside the club thanks to La Masia’s philosophy.

Barcelona’s playing style likewise emphasises possession of the ball and defending counterattacks aggressively.

The team’s low morale has been primarily attributed to their failure to defend against counterattacks.

Due to his ability to cover ground quickly and deny the player time to turn, he has begun backing the opponent rather than being in a jockey position.

His best defensive abilities show when he presses well.

In the scenario versus Almería seen in the image above, the defender is not aware of Balde’s press when he is in front of his own goal.

Balde seizes the opportunity and begins his race before the ball has even been played.

The left-back is startled when he realises Balde is just a foot away from grabbing the ball and that he needs to clear it.

Balde’s tempo enables Xavi to create a dependable pressing method with incredible energy.

In the 60 minutes he played against Real Madrid in the 3-1 defeat, he made five interceptions and nine recoveries.

His intensity to the press has not allowed opponents to counter at the break.

Rapid reductions of the considerable gap to cover ten to fifteen yards to apply tremendous pressure with speed.

Against Valencia, in a close game, Xavi clearly stated his instructions.

He was the player who put forth the most significant effort, making him the most effective.

He would perform best in a five-at-the-back setup, which is how you would utilise him most successfully in a squad that mainly relies on pressing.

In the case below, Valencia’s full-back was in an excellent position to receive the ball rather than facing his own goal.

Balde got a throw-in for Barcelona right outside the box with his quick closing down of the enormous space to span 10 to 15 yards.

His physique and agility make him a terrific player and offer him a considerable edge over other players.

Since he can recover from any situation, he engages in a duel without fear of being beaten or having to retreat.

In his debut in El Clásico, Balde had to manage the most recent Ballon d’Or winner, Karim Benzema, as shown in the picture below.

Instead of providing Benzema room to enter, he cleverly chooses to let him corner himself.

His performances for Spain weren’t great since he hadn’t spent much time with the national team.

He should be the new left-back because of his drive always to move the team ahead and his willingness to carry it through.

Luis Enrique persuaded the teenager to take part in a World Cup after having successful first exchanges with him.

The graphic below is his stats in the biggest tournaments this year.

This includes his latest World Cup feature and his sudden rise with Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League.

He recorded an astonishing total of 19 counter-pressing recoveries, 13 high regains and 5 dangerous recoveries to add on at last.

It has been enjoyable to see Balde play as a devoted Barcelona supporter who perceives how they like to play.

After Xavi’s coup, pressing was rejuvenated and had found its afterlife.

It’s thrilling because the years to come under Xavi might end up being one of Barcelona’s production facility’s most significant discoveries.

An intriguing approach to progressive runs

His average progressive runs stand up to 3.59 in 2022.

Barcelona has done an excellent job of moulding his attacking style, considering their experience with full-backs.

Since Spain and Barcelona have similar playing styles, learning to play for Spain wasn’t too much of a process after learning to play for Barcelona.

During the action against Costa Rica, Balde took advantage of a loose ball that fell into his zone, as shown in the picture below.

As he avoided three opponents and swiftly accelerated to get over the barrier, he covered more than 30 yards.

Alvaro Morata is finally the recipient of a through pass from him, which sparks a goalscoring opportunity.

He played a minimum of 38 minutes against Viktoria Plzeň in the Champions League, during which time he recorded five progressive runs, an astounding total.

His aggressive mindset enables him to expose himself completely and gives his tempo the upper hand.

Every side should keep an eye out for the courageous ability to drive up the field and locate a pass in the final third.

With 28 successful occurrences out of thirty-six, he had a 78% success rate in all of his actions.

Only this season under Xavi have his stats reached their peak.

The picture below shows his ball progression while taking part in his biggest competitions this year.

Given his pace of progressing runs in the aforementioned photograph, Barcelona and Spain have greatly benefited from the youngster’s services.

When compared to the unsuccessful ones, his number of successes is significant.

He would quickly become the expert in the statistics that would determine essential games.

It was his first game in Barcelona’s third European fixture, and it was the first time he played the whole 90 minutes without being replaced.

Balde stood out even though Barcelona lost 3-0, as he would have the edge against offensive teams, giving him the room to take advantage rapidly.

Since the beginning of the season, Balde’s passes into the final third have shown exceptional precision.

He holds an astounding 85% on 4.3 passes each game on average.

With 10.9 passes per game, his forward passes are 83% accurate.

His numbers are way higher for a full-back because of his high positioning.

Dani Carvajal is positioned far lower than Balde in the following photo versus Japan.

Spain has always sought to generate openings via the left because of the expertise that Balde has.

Balde’s participation with the national team depended on his ability to adopt this position.

Due to his position being higher up the field, the foundation of his statistics record on forward passes was crucial.

In terms of attacking and passing, his most remarkable performance came against Mallorca.

His game statistics were unmatched by those of the other players.

He completed 16 of 16 passes driving forward and 14 of 14 passes going into the final third.

When the squad needed it, his precision was impeccable at critical moments.

To clarify, Balde played for about 30 minutes in the Round of 16 tie against Morocco.

His wide positioning had been advantageous in that it had given him a passing option.

In the picture above, Sergio Busquets, a clubmate, finds Balde out wide to elicit threats with flank play.

Balde provides Spain with what João Cancelo provides for Pep Guardiola, a team that commonly faces low-block opponents and plays with greater possession.

The squad has gained wings thanks to his spacious position with the purpose of attacking at all times.

The conventional approach to lapping situations

Balde played for almost 69 minutes against Japan before being substituted by Alba during the World Cup.

After his performance of 35 minutes against Costa Rica and 14 minutes against Germany, when his abilities were displayed, he was awarded the start.

His performance against the underdogs showed him capable of creating all kinds of threats through his preferred left side.

The shot where Dani Olmo holds the ball to wait for Balde to overload the full-back is seen below.

As a result, his staggering pace disallows the full-back to handle the situation.

His lapping skills were on show in the game as he sat for most of the time he played for Spain.

Because of his mobility, he was able to manoeuvre around opponents when attacking the deep and delivering crosses.

Despite this, his crosses didn’t go in since he didn’t receive much playing time with the team.

Olmo and Balde once again combined together for Spain to overcome a low block in an attempt to locate a cross inside the penalty area.

This time, Balde used an underlapping movement against two opponents.

He moves inside, into the opponents’ blind area, to stand out visibly in the crowd while looking for a cross.

Because of his pass-and-go moves and lap technique, he is able to sprint up the pitch while offering complete support.

Thanks to his technique of lapping within their half, Barcelona can avoid a push or make quick progress.

He takes advantage of his dribbling skills to go past the midfielder in the game versus Athletic Club.

Later, as shown in the image below, he utilised Robert Lewandowski in the centre and a lap over him to pull one or two defenders.

As a result, Lewandoski has more room to shoot or pass to a sprinting Balde.

His persistent efforts to support high and attack the depth provide a lot of hope and energy.

His performance against the formidable Bayern Munich team proved that he has the speed and agility to challenge elite midfielders and defenders.

He attempted seven dribbles, and five of them were successful.

Balde skips over two opponents in the illustration above to find Pablo Torre in space.

He provided an additional man in the attack after the pass since he was impatient to attack.

He performed pretty differently against better teams than against weaker opponents.

His fast perception and vision to see space forward against Germany in the group stage were remarkable.

After winning the ball from Serge Gnabry in the penalty area, he sped through to free space, outpacing everyone he stumbles upon.

Balde had the assistance of Ousmane Dembélé on the left, and Gnabry, who was pursuing him, could not catch up with him.

He rushes over to the area to release tension and destroy the opponent’s structure.

The image below illustrates his audacious ability to utilise the space ahead.

His lapping movements during counterattacks and in his own half have greatly aided Xavi in testing out his concepts.

Balde’s attention to the flow of the game and his ability to lead the team forward from the very back has proven crucial.

Conclusion

According to the analysis, Xavi is gifted as a left-back who has all the perfect traits the team needs.

Balde’s current deal expires in the summer of 2023, and there has been much speculation that he will extend it in the coming months.

Given that he is still in the early phases of his rise, many clubs won’t want to purchase him this January or in the summer, but scouts that look for the young player will have an edge.

After seeing him play during his heyday, it should be incredible for him to replace Alba in the first team.

Balde would only have trouble matching Alba’s characteristics in his crossing.

Time ought to be able to bring it out as well, given the improvement in Balde’s game.

Following Spain’s quarter-final World Cup loss to Morocco, manager Luis Enrique stepped down.

The under-21 national team’s head coach, Luis de la Fuente, will fill the manager position.

Balde is likely to persuade de la Fuente since he is a more traditional manager with a direct 4-4-2 system.

The latter would place him in a highly favourable position given Balde’s Barcelona heritage and de la Fuentes’ straightforward style. He is capable of thinking and practically carrying out his desires at such a young age.

He may quickly become one of the wonder kids with time.

Balde will develop as the player controlling the game and the one who generates the majority of threats.

The young man has a promising future since he has been featured often and gained experience on the biggest stages.

This will hugely influence his progress in the approaching year, which seems promising for Balde and the rejuvenating Barcelona.

We might witness an impressive year after what he experienced in 2022.