Barça disappoints in Naples

Messi tiptoed through San Paolo, as if he were any player, caged by Naples. No one noticed any resemblance to Barca with Maradona. The Rosario was carried away by the party, more conformist than rebel, and even took a card for entering Ospina with his feet ahead. There was not even a Messi dribble evoking the figure of Maradona. The 10 was one more in a disfigured and anonymous team, fortunate in a play, almost the only one of merit, topped by Griezmann.

4-1-4-1

Gennaro Gattuso

25

David Ospina

6

Mário Rui

22

Giovanni Di Lorenzo

44

Manolas

19

Maksimovic

24

Distinguished

7

Alley

twenty

Zielinski

4

Diego Demme

8

Fabian

14

Mertens

one

Ter Stegen

two

Nelson Semedo

2. 3

Umtiti

3

Pique

24

Junior Firpo

5

Busquets

4

Rakitic

twenty-one

Frenkie De Jong

22

Vidal

10

Messi

17

Griezmann

4-3-3

Quique Setién

The Barca players were surprisingly the lateral ones: Junior put the leg in the goal of Mertens and Semedo deepened for the final shot of Griezmann. In the absence of football, the two plays summed up a match that never responded to the expectation that had aroused in Naples. The Barcelona pass game proved so tiring that it never messed up Gattuso's team. The Catalans overlapped at the beginning and disseminated at the end: Busquets loaded with a card that will prevent him from contesting the return, Arturo Vidal was expelled and Piqué was injured. It is not the inventory of an epic contest but of an insipid, improper night of a city like Naples and outside the exciting script announced by Quique Setién.

The coach has become fond of Arturo Vidal and the commitment to the Chilean has meant the replacement of Ansu Fati. It is not an ordinary choice but can be interpreted as a conservative decision, respectful of the hierarchy of the costumes, reinforced in the lineup by the presence of footballers such as Rakitic and Umtiti ahead of Arthur and Lenglet, and if you want also intimidating for the Neapolitan fan by the passage of the Chilean through Juve. There are few players more energetic and versatile than Arturo Vidal, half defense and half forward, located on the right end of San Paolo.

It is not very well known what the Chilean painted in that corner of the court, even though Barça took the ball and camped in a rival field, better in the pressure than in the preparation, lacking unmarking and excessively slow, a circumstance that favored the defense from Naples. The Italian team was very calm against a club seized and responsible, always dependent on Messi. Gattuso's boys were waiting on his court, always looking for the backs of the Barca centrals, ready to throw the offside line before Ter Stegen.

It was convenient for Naples that nothing should happen in his field while Barça did not know how to make something happen, flat and unable to stir the game, with no game options for Messi, greatly reduced by the rear.

Vidal as an extreme

No player was able to break the lines, the two teams more aware of the error of the opponent than their own success, as noted in the 1-0. Junior was hooked on the ball, Alley was alert for theft and his immaculate center was flawlessly finished off the edge of the area by Mertens.

The sides often lose Barça defensively, easy to decode for technicians like Gattuso. However, he should not have seen Naples against Juve, Inter or Lazio. At ease with a flat game, slowed down and without spikes, the Italian team petrified on its first arrival at Ter Stegen. Ospina lived peacefully, surrounded by a supportive and swinging defense that did not let Messi receive the ball. Barça did not accelerate or generate football, without a shot: reached the break, had not finished off the goal of Naples.

Gattuso's team closed very well inside, focused on covering the pass lines, without granting spaces, and Setién's could not find a way to attack, without players who progressed and focused on the bands, nor without interiors that came through surprise, the eleven soccer players prisoners of a tired possession before the surprise of San Paolo. Barça could not find his place on the court and did not know what to do Setién on the bench when Busquets leaked a pass for the breakup of Semedo and the center of the side was topped by Griezmann. Although he does not stop running anywhere, the Frenchman usually appears to leave the important goal, which helps to redirect or fix the game, none as dangerous for Barça as Naples.

The draw was a treasure for a Barca diminished by cards and injuries, confused by the alignment of Vidal as an end, lost by the loss of De Jong, at the mercy of Naples, stopped by an excellent Ter Stegen. No one helped Messi to be Messi and could imitate Maradona. The captain was infected by the vulgarity of Barça to the astonishment of San Paolo. To a party that demanded a grandiloquent response, the Catalans responded in a mean way, without greatness and in such a disoriented way that it frightened even the courageous Setién.

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