Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona have the steel to hold off Chelsea

Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona may lack the swagger of previous sides, but the club have benefited from his more solid approach.

It’s been six years since Chelsea last visited the Camp Nou. Some things have remained the same: Barcelona are still a Spanish superpower, Lionel Messi is still a god among mere mortals and the stadium itself is still the vast, gladiatorial arena it has been since the 1950s. Other things, though, have changed.

This was billed as a transitional season for the Catalans. The club’s self-confidence was broken by the loss of Neymar to PSG in the summer, with boardroom politicking and public squabbling instilling a deep sense of malaise ahead of the 2017-18 campaign. What’s more, they had a new manager, one untested at such a high level. Everything looked to be set up for a disastrous season.

Of course, it hasn’t materialized that way. Barcelona sit eight points clear at the top of La Liga and a giant 15 points ahead of rivals Real Madrid. They’ve already made the final of the Copa del Rey for the fourth successive year and with Chelsea visiting on Wednesday night, stand on the brink of the Champions League last eight. Meanwhile, Messi remains the best.

And yet nobody really considers this to be a vintage Barca team under Ernesto Valverde. There’s a self-assurance to their performances with the former Athletic Bilbao coach at the helm, but not a swagger. For so long, the Catalans set the zeitgeist for an entire era of European soccer, but now they lack a trademark style or hallmark philosophy.

At first, this lack of character, this lack of identity, didn’t exactly endear Valverde to the Barcelona faithful. Attendances at the Camp Nou were down in the early part of the season, despite the Catalans’ exceptional form in the league. Barca started the season with seven straight Liga wins, but glowing praise was was rarely forthcoming.

Indeed, Barcelona under Valverde are more efficient than entertaining. More than once this season, they’ve ground out results. Their performance against Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie was the perfect illustration of what they’ve become under their new manager, taking the one opportunity they were presented with to claim a positive result.

But far from being a negative, Valverde is exactly the sort of manager Barcelona needed at this time. After Neymar’s exit, the club were left with a gaping hole in their tactical identity. Finding someone to replace the Brazilian immediately was never likely and so Valverde was tasked with pulling together Barca’s entire team to compensate. He has succeeded, and then some.

Over time under Valverde, Barcelona could become trend-setters once again. The addition of Philippe Coutinho for a club record transfer fee in January suggests they’ll attempt a more nuanced, subtle, possession-based style of play in the final third once the Brazilian becomes accustomed to his new surroundings. Ousmane Dembele will also give Barca a different dimension once he regains full fitness, having missed much of the season through injury.

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There are already signs Barcelona are starting to pivot. They ended 2017 by netting three unanswered goals against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu and started 2018 by scoring 18 times in just six outings. Midway through a 5-0 home win for Barcelona against Celta Vigo, the Camp Nou finally embraced Valverde. His name rang round the famous old venue as his team turned in one of their performances of the season. It was a landmark moment in Valverde’s managerial career at the club.

On their last visit to Catalonia, Chelsea faced a Barcelona side still in the throes of the Guardiola generation. Besting Barca at that time felt like a military operation and with Fernando Torres’ famous late goal at the Camp Nou, the Blues toppled a regime. Now, however, they face an altogether different task.

Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Messi are all still there and Barcelona, from time to time, still obliterate opponents with ease. But Guardiola’s side, a man up for the majority of the contest following John Terry’s sending off, were extremely inefficient that night back in April 2012. Valverde’s team, going on form, won’t make the same mistake.