How Huesca managed to secure a draw against a heavily rotated Barcelona team

After such a huge game at Old Trafford mere days ago, going back to La Liga action felt like going downhill a bit. As much as the Spanish domestic competition has been fierce this season, the bumpy road is coming to its end as Barcelona need a total of nine points in the remaining six games in order to claim another crown and reclaim the throne for their own.

Huesca were first in line of La Liga’s resistance movement as Barcelona made a jump from performing in front of 76,000 people on Wednesday to roughly 7,000 on Saturday. And interestingly enough, the small team from Aragón made a fine stand and earned a point for their troubles, albeit against a heavily depleted Catalan lineup.

This tactical analysis will use statistics to determine just how things played out on Estadio El Alcoraz and how both teams settled for a draw which saw them share the spoils.

Lineups

Barcelona (3-5-2)

Starting XI: Ter Stegen  Murillo, Todibo, Umtiti  Aleñá, Vidal, Puig  Wagué, Malcom  Boateng, Dembélé

Bench: Cillessen, Lenglet, Alba, Semedo, Arthur, Coutinho, Abel Ruiz

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Huesca (4-1-4-1)

Huesca: Santamaria  Miramón, Etxeita, Pulido, Javi Galan  Juanpi, Rivera, Moi Gomez  Avila, Gallego, Ferrerio

Bench: Jovanović, Mantovani, Musto, Herrera, Melero, Gallar, Chucho

Coach: Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vílchez

Barcelona’s setup

The reports from the media led us to believe Ernesto Valverde would go all out with rotations in order to keep his big guns ready for the return leg against Manchester United in the Champions League. And this is indeed what happened on Saturday night.

We saw a Barcelona lineup that did not include some of their most prominent star names. The likes of Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets were rested while Ivan Rakitić and Sergi Roberto were left out due to injuries. Gerard Piqué and Luis Suárez were suspended due to yellow card accumulation.

This meant that a lot of the youngster