Antoine Griezmann does not have a guaranteed place in the starting eleven of the Barça next friday before him Bayern. Although Quique Setien has qualified the 4-3-3 into a 4-3-1-2 so that the Frenchman moves away from the band and collaborates more in creative work and, ultimately, feels more comfortable, The Cantabrian coach will give turns this week to the possibility of playing with four pure midfielders in Da Luz to balance the team and protect themselves against a Bayern that arrives a lot on the sides and ends with players like Kimmich, Davies, Perisic, Gnabry, Coman …
Sergi Roberto, Busquets, De Jong and Vidal it would be the flyers on Friday. The Chilean could act as a false left interior that in attack would move with that freedom that he likes so much. Sergi Roberto would do the double winger with Semedo and Busquets and De Jong would try to dominate the central plot. The Barça could thus gain numerical superiority in the center of the field and take down Messi and Suárez, that they would not have defensive obligations other than to scare a little with the initial pressure once the two lines of four were composed.
The first minutes of the game Naples they were disturbing. While the good touch lasted, Napoli easily broke the pressure of Barça with simple changes of orientation towards their sides, Di Lorenzo and Mario Rui. The Catalans stopped badly on the field, with many tactical doubts. It was surprising to see De Jong even look back at actions where the ball was close by wondering where he really needed to position himself. Concessions of this type against Bayern would be dangerous, which is why Setién may have a more protectionist profile. In favor of the French, Griezmann gave oxygen to the team against Naples. Despite not participating in plays of real danger, he did air with De Jong his teammates. He knew how to have the ball and find interior spaces, accelerating the attacks well in the first half and keeping pace with them in the second. He is a player of great tactical wealth. His presence in the eleven cannot be ruled out, but neither that he appears in the last half hour to give the team alternatives and make it less predictable.
The Frenchman, who scored one of his career goals against Bayern in the Allianz Arena with the Athletic of Madrid, has already been out in a key game of the season (Bilbao in the Cup, Sevilla and Atlético de Madrid in the League). The truth is that the result was not satisfactory for Setién. But, with Suárez and Messi untouchable, his position is the only vulnerable Up front and with that unknown, Setién will play this week.
Barça already won in the field of Betis playing with 4-4-2. With Suárez injured, Setién put Vidal in the midfielder position, but with defensive obligations to balance the team. The experiment worked, especially in the second part. Bayern are major words that can take Griezmann ahead of the eleven.