Barcelona travel to the San Siro for their fourth group game in the Champions League against Inter Milan on Tuesday night.
The Catalans may have Lionel Messi at their disposal, who was a late inclusion in the squad, and the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s presence will certainly have some tactical implications.
Here, we look at the key tactics for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
Check out Inter’s key tactics here.
MESSI FACTOR
Lionel Messi may play some part in this fixture, restoring Barca’s dynamic while he’s on the pitch. Luis Suarez won’t be able to drop off as much with the Argentine drifting into central areas while Philippe Coutinho will tend to hold his position more often as well.
Messi will occasionally peel wide to catch Inter’s defence off guard but he predominantly operates between Suarez and the midfield, almost giving Barca a diamond shape in the middle of the park with Ivan Rakitic pulling out to the right and Sergi Roberto offering width.
From there, Messi attempts to play quick one-twos, dribble through the heart of the opposition or play Jordi Alba in behind on the far side.
RAFINHA AND COUTINHO
Without Messi, Rafinha should retain his place positioning along with Coutinho’s can cause Inter a few problems.
Occasionally, Rafinha will play through the middle, allowing Suarez to peel wide but more often than not, the midfielder is attracted to the ball. As such, he tends to operate ahead of Inter’s double pivot of Marcelo Brozovic and Matias Vecino. Coutinho on the other hand tries to find space just in behind them.
Either one of them is able to then receive the ball in a pocket of space or they manage to disrupt the pivot and subsequently find cracks to exploit in Inter’s shape.
