Quique Setién still has his job, but Barcelona did not look completely convincing in their 3-1 victory over Napoli.
Lionel Messi is the main reason the scoreline was comfortable, as he scored a wonder goal and won a penalty unanimously. Clément Lenglet also deserves praise for his goal from a corner and his defensive work. Gerard Piqué also did well in clearing a few dangerous balls, and the fullbacks also performed to standard. Frenkie de Jong was the best midfielder for the Catalans.
Setién surprised no one by choosing Antoine Griezmann and Sergi Roberto in midfield, instead of Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig. But it was quite interesting that he did not take one from the bank, and in fact used the bank very badly. Monchu got a first team debut, and then Junior Firpo was brought into stoppage time.
Barcelona were pretty narrow, with a 4-3-1-2 formation trying to give the Messi options to play in the middle of. With no wingers the fullbacks had to deliver width, and to their credit Jordi Alba and Nélson Semedo had pretty good games. Napoli were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Unfortunately, the fullbacks were fairly isolated, often afraid of overloading 2-vs-1 in defense or leaving the opponent’s wings unguarded as they run over the opponent’s fullback. They had to backtrack or else Napoli could break forward with full superiority through the flanks.
Alba in particular came a long way a few times and left the team with 3 created chances, although none were goals. However, you have to wonder if this formation is sacrificing the wings too much, both in the offensive and defensive sense, and whether you can continue to do so as the matches get tougher.
The Catalans did an excellent job of stopping the progress through the middle, thanks to a diamond in midfield that allowed Griezmann to drop as the fourth man without the ball.
After the half, Barcelona went down a tie and could have paid for it. Napoli missed some great chances, had a shot on goal and had not conceded a goal (although the defense was credible, it was thanks to them that they played the offside trap well.)
Setién would have to react as his team was put under pressure, and deploying Fati to exploit the wings would have been an interesting choice. Puig could also have done a job, even though he is a bit light and not the most defensive player, he does have an engine that allows him to cover a lot of ground. Given that the manager preferred the duo to play in Barcelona B’s promotion game, it’s hard to understand why they did not see the field at all.
Rino Gattuso made a sub on the right at the half, then made four subs between the 70th and 79th minute. Napoli started to control the game, and Barcelona only made their first sub at 84 minutes. Monchu came on for Griezmann, playing as a fourth midfielder to join the attack. He was not a bad sub, but it was not enough, and the Catalans were still under pressure. Setién ‘s last substitution was to move Monchu up to play as a forward and put Junior Firpo in (for Luis Suárez) to play as a left-back, moving Jordi Alba to left-back midfielder in a 4-4-2. This was the bus parked, more or less.
Napoli outshot Barça 18-7, and had 49% of possession. This game could have gone differently, especially if Messi did not have some enormous moments.
For all this, Barcelona are clearly second favorites to advance against Bayern Munich. The German champions have a great team, with Robert Lewandowski shooting in top form and some very fast players on the flanks.
For Barça, they will bring back Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal, that will be the key. But it remains to be seen how this formation (if preserved) will work against higher quality opposition. For now, it seems that Barcelona’s chances of winning the UEFA Champions League come down to two things: Messi, set pieces, and good defense. If they can keep it tight, they can get a few goals and win – although this is not necessarily a reliable strategy.
