{"id":1150097,"date":"2020-07-05T23:21:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T22:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1150097"},"modified":"2021-03-30T09:53:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T08:53:58","slug":"villarreal-1-4-barcelona-match-analysis-diamond-setien-griezmann","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/villarreal-1-4-barcelona-match-analysis-diamond-setien-griezmann\/","title":{"rendered":"“Monsieur Griezmann, we’ve been expecting you!” – Barcelona’s diamond formation devastates Villarreal in vibrant 1-4 victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a breathtaking night of football, Barcelona battered Villarreal 1-4 at Estadio de la Ceramica.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The visitors took the lead just three minutes in and proceeded to dominate the entire game, whilst Villarreal also managed to thrill with some lightning counter-attacks. After weeks of struggle, Barcelona put on a genuinely vintage display against Villarreal.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>

Black Lives Matter:<\/span> Read more about the cause footballers are taking the knee for<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Barcelona came into this game off the back of two straight draws and three draws in their last four. Their form was worrying. They had ceded the advantage (and the title, perhaps) to Real Madrid and looked very much like an old team. The thing is the team couldn’t just give up because they are still involved in the Champions League which will take place in August.<\/p>\n

So Quique Seti\u00e9n needed to turn things around somehow. And to do that he made change of formation to a diamond. He used the shape against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid but it’s hard to measure any system’s effectiveness against the defensive bulwark that is Diego Simeone’s Atleti, but nevertheless the system showed promise in terms of energising Barcelona’s interplay but it still wasn’t quite fast enough.<\/p>\n

Against Villarreal, Seti\u00e9n made two crucial changes: he brought Antoine Griezmann and Sergi Roberto into the starting line-up. What these changes did was supercharge the system, because Roberto is kind of like Arturo Vidal only better in his ability to make driving forward runs and add verticality to the Barcelona midfield.<\/p>\n

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Lionel Messi has now provided two assists in three of his last four LaLiga away games.<\/p>\n

Two exquisite assists on the board before the break tonight. ?\ufe0f?\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/fh5Oiz8Lsp<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) July 5, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n