Barcelona hosted Mallorca at the Camp Nou on Saturday night and the Catalans put five past their struggling guests, snatching all three points in La Liga after a rather dominant display lead of course, by a Lionel Messi hat-trick.
This tactical analysis will use statistics and analysis to give you both teams’ tactics and tell you just how Barcelona got the best out of Mallorca.
Lineups
Even though this was a match against lower-table opposition, Ernesto Valverde took no chances and deployed what was his strongest available lineup. The only change in a standard 4-3-3 system was the inclusion of Ivan Rakitić, who replaced the injured Arthur Melo, while the rest of the squad saw no reshuffles.
Vicente Moreno also did very much the same thing like his counterpart coach, deploying his team in a familiar 4-4-1-1 formation, used in 55% of all games in 2019/20, with minimal personnel changes along the way.
Lumor Agbenyenu, who was sent off in the previous clash after receiving two yellow cards, was replaced by Joan Sastre and the rest of the team consisted of familiar faces who were also present in their defeat to Real Betis prior to this game.
Mallorca’s narrow shape and Barcelona’s wing exploitation
As everyone probably expected even before the start of the game, Barcelona completely dominated the possession throughout the 90 minutes and Mallorca’s defensive tactics revolved around sitting deep and compact.
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