It has been almost 15 years since Josep Guardiola left Barcelona. Many believe that this specialist, who worked with the Blaugranas for four seasons, brought back to the team the playing principles that had previously worked and brought results under the great Johan Cruyff. Barcelona once again emphasized complete ball control, and Guardiola’s style even received a special name in the press: “tiki-taka”.

It is believed that in recent years “tiki-taka” has become increasingly obsolete in the tactical plans of mentors of most European clubs. Nowadays, it is fashionable in football to rely not on ball control but on quick transitions from defense to attack; This ends with the mandatory aggravation of the opponent’s goal (shots, crosses, earned fouls or corners).

But even now there are many teams whose tactical outlook is still associated with high levels of possession. Some have turned it into a sort of cult, while others just play their football this way without seeing other possibilities.

Now we will talk about the five teams that dominate the ball in the Champions League…

5. Borussia Dortmund – 56.4%

Surprisingly, Germany’s best team in this component of play in the 2025/26 Champions League is Borussia Dortmund, not Bayern, who lead the ball in their home Bundesliga. Even more strangely, the yellow-blacks, who ranked only sixth in the same rankings in the home championship with a rate of 52.4%, lost against Freiburg (53%), Eintracht (53.5%), Stuttgart (57.1%), Bayer (58.8%) and Bayern (66.6%).

However, Bayern, which completely dominates Germany in the Champions League, is worse than Dortmund with an average match control rate of 55.6%. At the same time, the best German team in the Champions League in terms of points collected is Munich; Borussia Dortmund with 11 points against 15. The “yellow-blacks” are currently actively fighting for the top 8, but in the last two matches of the general stage they will have to play with Tottenham and Inter, where it will be extremely difficult to get maximum points. This is where we can mention the two points lost (2:2) in the home match against Bude-Glimt at the finish line. The Norwegians then gave the ball completely to the opponent (38% vs. 62%), losing the score twice (0:1, 1:2), but still managed to draw the draw (2:2).

4. Real Madrid – 56.5%

Possession of the ball has rarely been a cult at Real Madrid historically, but in order to operate from a position of strength the Blancos are often forced to play this way. This sometimes feels like a cruel joke on Madrid; such as the defeats against English Liverpool (0:1) and Manchester City (1:2) in the current Champions League. On both occasions it was Madrid who had more possession (62% against the Reds and 53% against the Citizens), but this did not do Xabi Alonso’s men any favors.

In the home championship, where Real is fighting Barcelona for the title, Madrid is not focused on taking control of the ball. But it may frankly surprise some to learn that the Blancos are losing out on possession average in La Liga not only to Barcelona, ​​which is generally predictable, but also to Elche, the middle team of this season’s Spanish elite league. Barcelona has 67.3 percent, Elche has 59 percent and Real Madrid has 58.3 percent. These numbers certainly cannot bring titles, but Blancos fans may be annoyed to some extent that their players are inferior not only to their main rivals in Catalonia, but also to the brave “green stripes”. But as Real’s statistics in the Champions League show (Madrid are currently only seventh in the overall standings), today’s football is really such that possession can also be a problem, especially if your opponent is very skilled in counter-attacks.

3. Manchester City – 59.8%

Josep Guardiola’s current team, Manchester City, only finished third. City, who are the undisputed leaders of the last two Champions League draws at this point, do not show the same focus on ball control this year. Moreover, the coach of the English giants has repeatedly made it clear in press conferences, both in his native English Premier League and in the Champions League, that he is ready to change, and if modern football forces him to act more pragmatically or differently tactically, then Guardiola can emulate this.

Currently, Manchester City are among the top three teams in the 2025/26 Champions League. Having received 13 points in the ranking, the “citizens” lag behind PSG only in additional indicators. It is true that Guardiola’s side have had a complete advantage over their opponents in possession in just three of six Champions League matches. Coincidentally, these were City’s first three games this season; Napoli (2:0), Monaco (2:2) and Villarreal (2:0). In each of these matches, Manchester City had 65-70% of the ball. But in the duel with Borussia Dortmund, Guardiola surprised his opponent by the fact that both teams controlled the ball equally, but the British were much more effective in their attack – 4:1. In fact, the “townspeople” repeated something similar later in the match with Real (2:1), which surprised not only the opponent and the fans, but also many experts. Guardiola is trying to prove that he is much more tactically diverse and flexible than anyone thought…

2. Barcelona – 62.8%

In the second line of the rating is Guardiola’s former team, which still defines itself precisely by a type of football that dictates the tempo, conditions and other aspects of the game to the opponent. However, in the current Champions League, neither Josep’s current nor his former teams are leading, but we will talk about this later…

Barcelona have little confidence in the 2025/26 Champions League. Flick’s team currently sits only 15th in the standings with 10 points from 6 matches. In four matches, the Blaugranas had a complete advantage over their opponents in terms of possession: 64% against Newcastle, 70% against Olympiacos, 74% against Brugge and 74% against Eintracht. Chelsea (44%) – Flick’s team looked like a fish thrown out of water onto the shore. It is not surprising that Barcelona lost in these matches by 1:2 to the Parisians and 0:3 to the Londoners. Before the end of the general stage, the Catalans will have to play two more matches against Slavia and Copenhagen, and in these matches the Blaugranas will be able to play their usual football, and therefore should not be. Although there are no special problems with getting maximum points, it is not a fact that even this will be enough for the top 8.

1. Paris Saint-Germain – 66.7%

The leader of the current Champions League in terms of average match dominance is the current winner of the tournament, Paris Saint-Germain. But this is predictable to some extent, because the coach of the Parisians is now the Spaniard Luis Enrique, who was inspired by how the work of Josep Guardiola developed at the beginning of his coaching career. For several years, both of these experts have worked in the interests of Barcelona – Enrique is the coach of the second team of the club, and Guardiola is the coach of the main team.

PSG had 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in 6 matches in the current Champions League. Now 13 points are enough for the Parisians to be comfortably among the top three teams of the season; behind only Arsenal (18 points) and Bayern Munich (15 points). Moreover, PSG had more ball possession than their opponents in all six matches. Therefore, in this case, we can easily say that the current cup holder has stuck to his line without making changes to suit his rival. And so far it has brought him results. And what will happen next; The course of events will show…

Text: meta.ua