Match date: 22 November 2014

Both Barcelona and Sevilla have gone through dips of form in La Liga recently. Barcelona lost 1-0 to Celta Vigo and then won just 2-1 against Almeria, while Sevilla lost to Athletic and drew with Levante, but prior to these matches, both were in the top three in La Liga.

Luis Enrique has been under the microscope, not just because of the poor results, but because of the poor and frustrating performances that have lead to those poor results. Even in their last win (in all competitions) against Ajax, the Dutch side were the better of the two sides for much of the match, only for Messi to score twice and earn Barcelona three points. Enrique stuck with a 4-3-3, with Neymar, Messi, and Suarez all in the side.

Sevilla have done well this year under Unai Emery, despite losing Ivan Rakitic to Barcelona and Alberto Moreno to Liverpool. The summer transfer window saw Sevilla bring in the likes of Ever Banega, Grzeforz Krychowiak, Nico Pareja, and Daniel Carrico on transfers, while bringing Denis Suarez and Gerard Deulofeu in on loan.

Barcelona’s Shape

Much of the discussion when talking about Barcelona’s flaws this season has been focused on the front three and the question of where Messi should play. Does he play as the central striker? Does he play behind a front two of Suarez and Neymar? Or, does he play on the right and allow Suarez the central striking role? While these are legitimate questions, they are not as pressing as what is going on behind the front three and to answer the question, Messi should really be given the freedom to play anywhere he wants in the attacking third and the others must remain fluid around him.

However, one of the more frustrating parts of Barcelona under Enrique so far this year is the positional play of the midfield three. In the two defeats covered earlier in the season, against Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid, the same problem of too much space between the midfield three persisted in Barcelona’s midfield. Against Paris Saint Germain, Rakitic was essentially playing as a wide midfielder, not only occupying the same space as Alves when the right back went up the field, but also leaving Busquets and Iniesta at a numerical disadvantage against what was essentially a midfield diamond from Paris Saint Germain. Against Real Madrid, a 3-1 loss, Xavi was unable to keep up with the pace and power of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Isco. This left Busquets with a huge amount of space to cover himself, which he was unable to do, allowing Real Madrid to win El Clasico in the midfield.

Against Sevilla, however, Barcelona’s midfield three of Xavi, Rakitic, and Busquets kept their 1-2 shape well, but more importantly, were much more compact as you can see below.

The narrow shape made it easier to Barcelona to win the ball back and avoid counter attacks through the middle, which they did exceptionally well, especially in the first half.

The midfield positioning also allowed for the likes of Suarez, Alves, Neymar, and Alba to use the width effectively. Alves has been relatively poor this season, especially with his decision making in the final third, but he always seems to be Barcelona’s outlet on the right side of their attacks. Against Sevilla, he looked to recycle the ball a bit more rather than put in aimless crosses as he has many a time this season. On the other side, Alba had an excellent game going forward and was unlucky not to get a goal on either of his shots. Both excelled because the width in the side was provided by Neymar and Suarez (Neymar on the left more so than Suarez on the right), so the burden was not on the full backs to do so, as it has in previous matches, which also forced the midfield to play wider in an attempt to cover the full backs.

Sevilla Sit Deep, Press Physically

Much of Emery’s pre-match discussion was based on the idea that Sevilla were an attacking side, even away against Barcelona, they were made to attack their opponents. However, it was very clear from early on that Sevilla were more than willing to sit in a mid to low block and absorb Barcelona’s possession. For much of the match, Sevilla did just that and had all their players behind the halfway line in a 4-4-2, with Denis Suarez and Bacca the furthest forward, putting pressure of Pique and Mathieu. Below, you can see an example of the Sevilla defensive shape in a mid block, with the back line rather high. Notice as well the large space between the lines. Not only was Messi was able to exploit this space well throughout the match, but it allowed Barcelona to have plenty of unopposed space once they beat one line of pressure.

Along with trying to maintain their space, Sevilla would always look to put pressure on the ball carrier as quick as possible once the ball was beyond the centre circle. This didn’t necessarily lead to Sevilla winning the ball back, but rather they conceded a number of fouls because of late challenges and Barcelona looked dangerous on set pieces, with Neymar scoring from one.

The away side were much more adventurous in the second half as they pressed higher up the pitch, forcing Barcelona into errors when trying to build out of the back.

While Sevilla failed to register a shot on goal in the match (their goal was a Jordi Alba own goal), they were able to break much easier in the second half because of their more effective pressing. Rather than simply having one player being physical in challenges, Sevilla now took away the passing lanes for the player on the ball with the second defenders in support, which allowed errant passes from Barcelona to be picked up by Sevilla and lead to counter attacks.

Messi

It would be wrong not to mention Messi after a record setting performance. He has now set La Liga’s goal record with 253, overtaking Zarra’s previous tally. However, Messi’s performance was more than just three goals and a new record as he looked to move around the pitch with much more enthusiasm than he has in recent matches. As mentioned before, Sevilla kept their lines well, but they also conceded a huge amount of space between the lines which Messi was able to exploit throughout the match.

His second goal, scored on a counter attack, saw him pick the ball up in front of the Sevilla centre backs and behind the midfield duo of Banega and Krychowiak.

Conclusion

A better game for Barcelona, but still far from their best as Sevilla looked poor for much of the match. However, the corrections in the positioning of the midfield for Barcelona will certainly go on to improve the team.

Suarez looked very lively for Barcelona and assisted another goal, but is still looking for his first goal. It was interesting to see Enrique take the Uruguayan off for Pedro rather than Neymar despite the Brazilian not playing as well as Suarez had in the match, but with Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League, it was forgivable.