I explain the reason for Guardiola moving Messi into the center of the field and how he consistently used players to free up spaces in the center for Messi and Iniesta to receive the ball and create dangerous attacks from. I also explain a bit why he moved away from this approach at Bayern and at City.

For my original article on the topic of “offensive pressing-trap players” like Messi and Iniesta under Guardiola and how they function, visit the link here: http://konzeptfussballberlin.de/door-23-2018/