Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan's column will be written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
Javier Mascherano is rightly credited with being a midfielder who has turned into a defender, but long before he was playing, I remember the great Lothar Matthaus playing in a similar role.
The German went on and on and on for his country where he played a record 150 times, featuring in five World Cups and winning one in 1990.
He was also named European and World Footballer of the Year – the only German to receive the award.
At the start of his career he was a box-to-box midfielder, by the end he was a defender and often the player closest to his goalkeeper.
His experience as a midfielder helped him as a defender and, as he aged and didn’t get any quicker, he was better playing further back.
There is a definite trend now at the bigger clubs for midfielders to play as defenders, from Daley Blind at Manchester United to Lucas at Liverpool. He is not as quick as Mascherano, but he's been at Liverpool for a long time, he knows what the other players do.
The shift can suit the player. The midfielder is usually more mobile, can see the game from more perspectives and have a quicker speed of thought – three qualities which can help a defender. And if the midfielders don’t have pace (and some of them do), they have the experience of how to read the game, another quality to help a defender.
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When you play in midfield, you have to have good vision to see what is going on all around you. As a defender, your concentration is largely on what’s going on in front.
When it comes to defenders, size is often mentioned to me, usually by British people who can be obsessed by big defenders because their type of football tends to be more physical.
In other countries, it's more tactical. This magnificent Barcelona side of the last 10 years is not the most physical side and its greatest players – Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta are hardly giants.
I don’t agree that size is a huge issue. Some of the best goalkeepers are not the biggest and some of the best defenders are not the tallest.
The best I played against was Fabio Cannivaro – a giant of a player but hardly a giant in height. I know smaller defenders who can jump higher than bigger ones, like Cannivaro.
Pace, passing ability and the reading of the game are all more important than size, though it always helps if you have at least one tall defender for set pieces and corners.
Mascherano has the taller Gerard Pique alongside him, but Mascherano’s experience in midfield helps him as a defender.
There are other factors. Would Mascherano get in the Barca team if he still played as a midfielder? He’s very good, but Sergio Busquets, who is better with the ball, is arguably the best in the world in his position, as are Iniesta and as was Xavi. Mascherano would have struggled to get in ahead of them.
Barca will be more inclined to play with an attack-minded defender because they are so attack-minded as a team. Look at their other defenders. Daniel Alves can be a one-man right wing.
Bayern Munich, who can play midfielders Javi Martinez and Xabi Alonso as central defenders, have similarities with Barca in that they're expected to win every game.
They can afford to play midfielders as defenders and push high so that they’re playing in territory used by defenders, especially when at home.
It would be interesting to see if they’d play them should they meet Barca in the Uefa Champions League semi-finals again.
Last season, Pep Guardiola went for a back three of Rafinha, Jerome Boateng and Medhi Benatia as he went for an away goal. Alonso was in front of the defence with Martinez on the bench. It was daring, but he quickly changed it.
Alonso is not quick, but he knows how to play, how to turn and he’s a superb passer. He has excellent technique with the ball and Guardiola values him bringing the ball from behind.
Playing in a great team helps. Bayern may have been under pressure that night, but they usually attack. It’s different if a team is getting attacked every minute when perhaps it’s better to use a traditional defender.
It’s to the credit of the midfielders that they can drop back because it would be much harder for a defender to play in the middle. You very rarely see that because they’re not as mobile and they’d struggle.
Maybe only a low percentage can do this.
There are players who can play in several positions – some to get a game. My old Manchester United teammate Phil Neville played across the defence and midfield, where he often did very well. Because he wasn’t technically as good as Paul Scholes or as dominant as Roy Keane, he wasn’t going to get in the side ahead of them, so he had to be ready and available to play wherever.
Teams need players like him, they’re actually really important because teams get injuries, but it can also work against the players.
I’m comfortable in different positions myself and I’ve had good games playing on the right or left, but I’m a striker and when I return to being a striker, I feel like I’m back home.
That’s where I’m most comfortable, that’s where I’ve been playing since I’ve been a child.
Maybe I’m too old to become a defender.
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