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NEW Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman did the unthinkable during his team’s last friendly against Girona … changing the starting line-up.
For years, Barça have remained true to their proven 4-3-3 formation.
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But Koeman opted to turn things around Wednesday night by shifting his team to an aggressive 4-2-3-1 lineup.
Lionel Messi seemed ready to leave the club earlier this summer, but now he seems destined to stay.
Philippe Coutinho was another seemingly leaving, with Premier League teams lining up to catch the former Liverpool player.
Now, however, Messi and Coutinho appear to be the key men in Koeman’s new system, with BOTH OF THEM scoring in the friendly 3-1.
Interestingly, both stars played a different role than previous systems.
Despite Antoine Griezmann starting, Messi was tasked with leading the line on a false nine.
Griezmann played right in front of the Argentine in the middle of an offensive midfield three, assuming a role of number 10.
Meanwhile, Coutinho was transferred to the left wing, rather than the central midfield role he was most familiar with at Camp Nou.
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The Brazilian “Little Magician” played down the left many times during his spells at Liverpool and Inter Milan.
But at Barcelona, and even at Bayern Munich during his 2019-20 season loan, Coutinho has often been forced to take on a deeper and more central role.
And it’s fair to say that Coutinho thrived in his new position, scoring the first goal of the game before setting Messi up for his first goal of the game at halftime.
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Messi also shone: he scored two goals in a six-minute period on either side of halftime.
The dynamic duo could have wreaked more havoc as well, but both were pulled after 63 minutes when Koeman made NINE changes from the bench.
Only time will tell if the 4-2-3-1 experiment was unique or just the beginning of a renewed Barcelona in its bid to claim the LaLiga title from Real Madrid.
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