La Liga 2018/19: Levante vs Barcelona

This Sunday, Barcelona returned to ”lescena del crim” where they suffered the only league defeat in the whole of last season. Levante have definitely become one of the most entertaining teams to watch in La Liga, especially in the most recent years, regardless of their mixed results.

Either there’s something funny in the water of Valencia or it is a direct result of two attacking sides clashing but a Barcelona vs Levante match almost guarantees goals and excitement. Sunday’s game at Estadi Ciutat de València was no exception.

Still, while in their last encounter both teams rattled the net multiple times, now it was all Barca, and, unsurprisingly, all Lionel Messi. But what else is new, huh? This tactical analysis will use statistics to determine just how Barcelona dismantled Levante and made sure they finish the calendar year as the league leaders.

Lineups

Barcelona (3-4-3/ 3-5-2)

Starting XI: Ter Stegen  Pique, Lenglet, Vermaelen  Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal, Alba  Messi, Suarez, Dembele

Bench: Cillessen, Denis, Coutinho, Arthur, Munir, Aleña, Miranda

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Levante (3-5-2/ 3-4-1-2)

Starting XI: Oier  Cabaco, Postigo, Rober  Jason, Bardhi, Toño  Rochina, Campaña  Boateng, Morales

Bench: Aitor, Mayoral, Chema, Moses, Prcic, Roger, Coke

Coach: Paco Lopez

Barcelona’s setup

Ernesto Valverde must have suffered a little stroke when he realized that Nelson Semedo injured himself on the day of the game. The Ant had to think creatively since he was all out of right-backs at his disposal with Sergi Roberto also being sidelined for a while now.

This resulted in a completely new and improvised Barcelona side that functioned in a different 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 systems with three centre-backs forming the back line. Thomas Vermaelen was given a nod, and Jordi Alba and Ousmane Dembele were used as false full-backs or wing-backs.

The midfield and the forwards were not tampe