Champions League: Barcelona vs Internazionale

This Champions League match analysis first featured on our network site, barcelonaanalysis.com.

Barcelona welcomed Inter Milan at the Camp Nou for the game that settled the group leaders (for now), but also for a game that, in many ways, paved the road for the future. It was also a big night for Ernesto Valverde who is starting to feel the fire under his feet, only this time, there was no Lionel Messi to save him or his team. In the end, Barcelona did not need saving. Funnily enough, the Catalan giant played their second best game of the season, only falling short to the masterpiece at Wembley stadium, and they have done it all without the greatest player on planet Earth. This tactical analysis will reveal how Blaugrana toppled the Nerazzurri, along with some statistics that will emphasize their dominance.

Line ups

Barça (4-3-3): Ter Stegen  Sergi, Pique, Lenglet, Alba  Rakitić, Busquets, Arthur  Rafinha, Suarez, Coutinho

Bench: Cillessen, Semedo, Dembele, Malcom, Munir, Vidal, Chumi

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Inter (4-2-3-1): Handanović  DAmbrosio, Skriniar, Miranda, Asamoah  Vecino, Brozović  Candreva, Valero, Perišić  Icardi

Bench: Padelli, Vrsaljko, De Vrij, Martínez, Keita Balde, Ranocchia, Politano

Coach: Luciano Spalletti

The whole world was trying to analyze Ernesto Valverdes next move after that horrible Messi injury, and not many people got it right. The Ant has managed to, once again, fool everyone, and pull out an ace out of his sleeve. Replacing Leo is borderline impossible but the man who was tasked to fill his shoes was not Ousmane Dembele, nor Malcom, but Rafinha Alcantara. Ironically enough, Rafinha has spent half of the last season at Inter but the Italians refused to buy him, thus breaching the gentlemen’s agreement they had with Barcelona. Safe to say it blew up in their face. Apart from Rafinha starting on that right side of the pitch, another change was Roberto for Semedo, which was a genuine surprise given the form that the Portuguese RB is currently in. Nonetheless, it was all a part of a collaborate plan of Valverde’s. The Catalans opted for their traditional 4-3-3 formation. On the other hand, Spalletti had also decided to shuffle the pack a bit but not too much. He remained loyal to his 4-2-3-1 system but also made two changes to his gala XI: João Miranda for Stefan de Vrij at center-back, and Danilo DAmbrosio for the newcomer Šime Vrsaljko on the right-back position. The rest was standard Inter but it proved insufficient.

Messi, who?

At the moment, it seems that this season, there really is a bigger emphasis on the Champions League. Going three years without the biggest club trophy to their name, Barcelona are starting to get a bit desperate. Nonetheless, the club that we are watching week in, week out in La Liga is nowhere near the one we get during big Champions League nights. The former one is far more impressive, both in terms of the results and the sheer quality of play. With the absence of Lionel Messi, the rest of the team needed to step up in order to fill that giant hole in the squad. And step up they did. Valverde decided to deploy Rafinha as the right wing in his standard 4-3-3 formation but just like Messi, the Brazilian had the freedom to move around the pitch almost freely. As a result, Rafinha would cut inside to the left, position himself behind the striker in that number 10 role, leaving the right flank completely empty. That space was then occupied by Sergi Roberto. A similar thing happened on the other side of the pitch where Philippe Coutinho played as a left winger. This was also only on paper, since Coutinho mostly operated in the left half-space, also leaving his side open for Jordi Alba to overlap.