Back when Barcelona were redefining the way the sport was played at the highest level in the early 2010s, their manager attempted to explain his team's approach in what seemed like political terms.

"We play leftist football," Pep Guardiola said .

But it wasn't that he was using tiki taka to make the case for the Green New Deal or universal health care. (That would be ironic, given how Guardiola and a number of his players got in trouble for not paying their taxes.) Rather, he was trying to verbalize what made his team so different from their competitors: "Everyone does everything."

His goalkeeper was one of his best passers. His wingers defended like defensive midfielders. His defensive midfielders had the close control of classical attacking midfielders. His attacking midfiel

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