After beating Villarreal comfortably, Barcelona travelled to face a Celta Vigo side who have had a positive start to the season too. With Real Madrid having secured another win only 24 hours before, the pressure was on Barcelona not to slip behind them in the running.
Ansu Fati opened the scoring early on for Barcelona with a fine finish, though Clement Lenglets dismissal for a second yellow card on the stroke of half-time changed the game for Barcelona. It didnt affect them though, as a Lucas Olaza own goal and an injury-time third from Sergi Roberto sealed a 3-0 victory.
This tactical analysis will consider the tactics of both Celta Vigo and Barcelona. The analysis will look at how Ronald Koeman outsmarted Óscar García in a tactical battle to come out with the three points to keep up Barcelonas strong start to the La Liga season.
Line-ups
García changed the shape of Celta Vigo, dropping Nolito from midfield to add in another defender as José Fontán came in to create a back five, with Olaza moving into a central position. Equally, Fran Beltrán was left out with Gabri Viega preferred for his defensive solidity.
Koeman stuck to his preferred 4-2-3-1 shape with an unchanged line-up from that which overcame Villarreal. Neto continued in goal as Marc-André Ter Stegen is sidelined by injury. The interesting decision was the one which led to Antoine Griezmann being taken off for Ronald Araujo following Lenglets decision, being sacrificed ahead of Fati or Philippe Coutinho.
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