Barça is so caught up with pins in the central position that Quique Setién is going to be forced in the next few days to rehearse with players who improvise urgently in that position for what may happen in the Champions League. Namely, Barça have already dropped Ronald Araújo, Barça B center back who suffered an ankle injury in the playoff promotion to Second this weekend; and it has Umtiti with chronic problems On his left knee they make him think that he will not be able to play either against Naples or, possibly, in the rest of the Champions League. So, can only count on Piqué and Lenglet in that position. Neither has been warned of a sanction yet, but the risk will be latent due to both the cards and injuries in a competition so short that it could have four games in two weeks.
So Setien has ten days of training to go looking at options. Some have already been intuited during the season. Arturo Vidal came to play central for a few minutes against Alavés. His knowledge of the game allowed him to improvise in that position in the Chilean team with Sampaoli. Vidal is powerful, brave, aggressive, goes well above and, in that position, more tactically ordered than later. However, the first option could be Nelson Semedo. Portuguese is super fast and it could coordinate well and be a correction factor for Piqué, but tactically it has gaps and that in the central position is an excessive deficit. And more for a lover of order and rigor in the position game like Setién. Semedo already had a hard time adapting the position from the extreme right to the one on the side, so much so that he still has some defensive attention deficit. Placing him central could be dangerous because he does not have a good aerial game.
Is there any other option. For example, Sergi Roberto. “He can even play as a central defender! You've already seen him,” Setien warned before putting him back on defense. He had already done it in Valencia accompanying Piqué and Umtiti in a line of three and he did it again in Valladolid on the penultimate day of the League. Sergi Roberto gives a good ball out and is very good tactically. He lacks some aggressiveness and presence in the passing game to be in such a specific position. Finally, De Jong is also an option for his tremendous ease to get the ball played and the extra he would give to break a supposed pressure line ahead. Against him, his ease of losing position and his lack of aerial play.
Sergio Busquets disappears from the equation. Badia's has never wanted to play there, not even when Guardiola tried it in the 2010-11 season after Busquets' injuries and had to pull Mascherano. Slow legs, playing with so many meters behind him penalizes him too much and limits his best virtues: the placement and the perfect reading of the game. Given the panorama, surely the best that Setién can do is pray or entrust himself to someone so that Piqué and Lenglet can endure healthy and without cards in this express Champions League that has sparked everyone's interest.