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Empty or crowded, silent or boisterous, Camp Nou has long since begun to experience the bitter discovery that it only has the inspiration of Messi. Of course, the Argentine also knows it. Barcelona's leader with and without the ball, on the pitch and in the locker room, he has now evolved to give effusive harangues to his teammates like this Saturday before the match against Napoli. He doesn't stop trusting the team. But trust him. And in a one-game tie, such as the exceptional format of the Champions League in Lisbon, Messi clings more to illusion than to play. Of course, he needs his friend Suárez and a reliable team in defense.
Quique Setién tried to impose his style. He did it as soon as he arrived at Camp Nou, when he assured that he could only promise one thing and that was that his team would play well. In their presentation against Granada in LaLiga, Barça counted 1,002 passes. A declaration of intentions that was celebrated in a part of the directive, which pointed to Ernesto Valverde as responsible for the hard falls of the Barça team in the last two editions of the Champions League (Rome and Liverpool), in addition to having moved the team away from the essences in the game. Josep Maria Bartomeu relied on a conversation with Busquets, Piqué and Sergi Roberto in Saudi Arabia to fire Valverde after falling in the Spanish Super Cup, with the leading team in LaLiga. A decision that divided the dressing room and upset Messi.
The same formula as with Valverde
The president of Barcelona tried to use the same formula when he doubted Setién's continuity after the LaLiga fiasco, but then the heavyweights did not fall into the trap. They did not want problems in the group or for Bartomeu to excuse himself in a conversation with the locker room to fire a new coach. The group understood that they had to stay together. "In the end, almost nothing has changed in the game," they understand from the Barca dressing room. Valverde's Barça registered their pass record in 2018 against Valencia: 993, nine less than that of Setién's team against Granada. The average of good passes is 15% higher with the Cantabrian and the effectiveness only 2% better. "It depends on how Messi is," emphasizes a club employee. The 10 had an average of opportunities created of 2.52 with Valverde for the 2.83 that Setién has.
But the Cantabrian, until the last moment, wanted to impose his style. In the week prior to the match against Napoli, after having ironed out rough edges with Messi in a one-on-one conversation at the Ciudad Deportiva, Setién again tried his preferred system, 3-5-2, the same one he had used in the Betis. It only lasted a while in training. Semedo, Piqué and Lenglet were the centrals and the lanes Sergi Roberto and Alba. In the middle, De Jong and Rakitic and Riqui Puig. Above, Messi and Luis Suárez. "Don't worry, we're going to end up playing with four behind," said one of the heavyweights after practice. “The players were not comfortable and the pressure was not coordinated. It was not the ideal thing to gamble everything on a game ", explain sources of the Barcelona club.
Against Napoli, defense of four and Griezmann along with Messi and Luis Suárez. More security in the rear and all the references in the field. The duel was won by the squad again, as it had already happened with Valverde and even with Luis Enrique. The current coach backed down after a confrontation with Messi in his first season on the Barça bench and the former Athletic coach was blamed for being too aware of the wishes of 10. In any case, Sergio Busquets, who did not play against Naples but who spoke in the previous one, he was in charge of remarking how hard the team had worked after the holidays.
In front of Gattuso's team, Barça counted 537 good passes, practically half the number in Setién's debut and less than the average for the team with Valverde (577). And possession of the ball was divided. What is not discussed at Barça is Messi. On the 10th he scored a great goal, they gave him a penalty and he was active both to raise the morale of his teammates and to make himself respected by the referees (he denied the greeting to the Turkish referee). Without news of his new contract (his renewal was paralyzed in July), the Rosario is mobilized by faith. And he wants his fifth orejona. He knows, however, that it will be difficult for him in Lisbon.