Taking its name from the Italian for ‘free’, a libero is a spare defender who sits behind
the defensive line and sweeps up behind. This is why in English, the role is referred to
as a sweeper. Although there is variation between how players interpreted the role,
with some primarily a last line of defence, and others using their freedom to progress
the ball and step into midfield, there is no real difference between a libero and a
sweeper – it’s just a difference in language.
The origins of the role are found in two systems: the linked defensive strategies of Karl Rappan’s
verrou and the catenaccio of Nereo Rocco and Helenio Herrera, and an adaptation of the
W-M.
Rappan’s verrou, or ‘bolt’, was developed with the Swiss club Servette in the 1930s
and then used when Rappan coached the Swiss national side. As Jonathan Wilson writes in
Inverting the Pyramid, the two wing halves moved back to flank the full-backs, meaning
there was a sort of four-man defence, but with one full-back covering deeper. This player
would then be a free man, but Rappan’s teams dropped off and ceded space, and also used
the centre-half to prompt attacks, so this was definitely a defensive move.
Wilson also notes that a similar change occurred in Russia, with Krylya Sovetov Kuybyshev,
a Soviet Air Force-backed side, dropping a half back into the defensive line to sweep
up behind the two full backs, who man marked. Under coach Alexander Kuzmich Abramov, Krylya
punched above their weight, and there was always a sense in the early days of sweepers,
that this was a system for weaker sides who needed solidity and counter-attacking to achieve
success.
These changes were relatively localised though, until catenaccio became successful with big
Italian teams. Some of those Italian sides had used spare defenders before, notably Giuseppe
Viani’s Salernitana and Ottavio Barbieri’s Genoa. These were adaptations of the W-M.
Like Abramov’s Krylya, these sides dropped a half-back to assist the defensive line,
allowing a full-back to sweep behind. Nereo Rocco, who made his reputation at Triestina,
developed Ivano Blason into the first celebrated libero, an uncompromising defender whose long
clearances would begin counter-attacks. Rocco went on to success at AC Milan using the system,
but Inter Milan are the club most associated with catenaccio. Under Herrera, with Armando
Picchi as the libero, Inter dominated Italian and European football with Giacinto Facchetti
as an attacking left back and playmaking deep midfielder Luis Suarez.
Picchi and his fellow defenders kept everything tight at the back, ensuring that Inter could
man-mark opposition forwards with Picchi spare to mop up anything that came through, and
then pass the ball to Suarez, who could free Facchetti on the left or Jair on the right.
All these formations have in common the idea of a sweeper playing behind two defenders,
usually the full backs of the 2-3-5. And the evolution to a back three, especially when
playing against what was then the predominant formation, 4-4-2, kept the sweeper as a key
role. With two defenders who could man-mark the two opposition forwards, the spare man
was able to sweep or take a proactive role moving the ball forwards. This was done by
passing, often long and wide to the advancing wing backs, or by carrying the ball vertically.
Sepp Piontek’s Denmark used a 3-5-2 at 1986 World Cup, which saw Morten Olsen used as
a sweeper with a defensive midfielder dropping back to help the two man-marking defenders
if necessary. This allowed Denmank security at the back, with Olsen able to carry the
ball forwards and play it long to Preben Elkjaer or Michael Laudrup, but with the security
of Jens Jorn Bertelsen dropping off. And Germany, coached by Franz Beckenbauer
- one of the greatest ever liberos while playing at Bayern Munich - used a similar system,
but narrower and less attacking, with West Germany in 1986 and then later in 1990, when
he won the trophy as a manager to go with his victory as a player in 1974.
As a player, Beckenbauer’s Bayern had used a sort of 4-3-3. In this formation, as with
Rinus Michael’s Ajax and Ernst Happel’s Feyenoord, one of the two central defenders
was in essence a sweeper, even in a back four. This meant that Beckenbauer, or Ajax’s Velibor
Vasovic or Barry Hulshoff, for example, would step out of the back line to bolster the midfield
in transition – in fact, Beckenbauer often played as a midfielder for West Germany. The
Ajax and Netherlands total football formation was even written as a 1-3-3-3, with a notionally
narrow back line, although the wide defenders were part of the constant switching on the
flanks, with the sweeper making a 3-4-3 when the side pushed forwards.
And despite the increased use of pressing and zonal marking, the libero still has a
function in modern football. Sometimes this is with a back three: David Luiz’s role
under Antonio Conte in Chelsea’s title winning side could be described as a libero – he
could bring the ball out, dribbling it to break the first line of the press, or launching
long passes to the wing backs. And many sides now use one defender in the
back four as a more progressive passing option, with David Alaba at Bayern a superb contemporary
example. He’s able to bring the ball out and enter the midfield area, especially as
Bayern push high and Joshua Kimmich is able to drop back to ensure defensive solidity.
Many teams who use a back three now – Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Sheffield United as
three examples – tend to use the outer centre backs to create numerical superiority in wide
areas rather than use the central centre back to do it through the middle of the pitch.
The central defender of the three does therefore perform a sweeping function, although goalkeepers
also have that task now, but the more attacking element of the libero role is given to the
outer centre backs. It’s a division of the libero role between two sets of players, but
it’s still hugely important in the modern game.