This post was initially featured on serieaanalysis.com our comprehensive analysis site, which covers players, matches and much more from Serie A.
Group B’s third round big match saw an Inter side on the back of a derby win take on Barcelona, first in La Liga after dispatching Sevilla in a 4-2 home victory. Both teams stood at 6 points, and a win would have guaranteed an almost certain qualification, given Tottenham’s draw against PSV. Plagued by injuries, with Messi and Umtiti missing for Barça, and Nainggolan out for the visitors, the two sides had some key absences and had to adapt accordingly. Rafinha and Lenglet respectively replaced Messi and Umtiti in the starting eleven, whereas Borja Valero took Nainggolan’s place.
Barça take control
Barcelona resembled a 4-3-3 shape in possession, with Coutinho and Rafinha in the half-spaces and Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto providing width, and depth through their overlapping runs. The Spanish full-backs overlapped to create access to the wingers, by pinning Asamoah and D’Ambrosio and allowing them to drop and receive between the lines. In addition, with the full-backs slightly deeper, the wingers’ occupation of the half-spaces invited the full-back inside, opening a passing lane into deep areas.
Rafinha’s positioning in the half-space invites Asamoah to step out and opens a passing lane towards Sergi Roberto.
In deep build-up, the home side circulated the ball and progressed up the field through excellent passing sequences between Busquets and Arthur, the deepest midfielders, forming a double pivot in which the two were diagonally staggered (even though they both moved constantly to make themselves available and give the opponent the least points of reference as possible) to create passing triangles with the centre-backs and occupy the field more efficiently. The third midfielder, Rakitic, weighed his movements depending on Sergi Roberto’s position. When the latter was deep, he pushed high, drawing Brozovic with him and opening potential diagonal passing lanes towards Suarez. Moreover, the Croatian provided the necessary runs into deep areas to stretch Inter’s lines. Conversely, when the full-back pushed up himself, Rakitic stayed slightly deeper in the half-space to maintain a stable structure and control over counterattacks.
Subscribe To TFA To Unlock All Posts - Free 7 Day Trial
Try TFA Free For 7 Days
Gain access to all of TFA's premium contents.More than 12,000+ articles.
