3 takeaways from Barcelona’s 2-1 Champions League win against Inter Milan

Barcelona capped off Champions League group stage play with 14 points after their win against Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan.

In the final Champions League group stage match for both teams, Barcelona finished with another win against Inter Milan as they won the away fixture by a 2-1 score.

With Barcelona already locking up Group F, manager Ernesto Valverde came into this game looking to provide several of the team’s youngsters with a golden opportunity to prove their worth for the club. Valverde started five U-23 talents, including midfielder Carles Alena. On the other hand, Inter Milan needed a win to advance to the knockout stage, so manager Antonio Conte rolled out his best 11 for the contest.

However, the game did not go according to Inter’s plan. They missed three big chances and had three goals called off by VAR. In the end, Valverde comes away from this game pleased with his team’s performance, while Conte’s side will look back in dismay at the multitude of missed opportunities.

There is certainly much to take away from this fixture as Barcelona move on to the Champions League knockout stage and Inter drop to the Europa League.

Antoine Griezmann goes back to his Atletico roots

For the first time this season, Valverde opted to go for a three at the back formation. He set up his side in a 3-1-4-2 shape, which positioned Ivan Rakitic to be the lone central defensive midfielder while both Antoine Griezmann and Carles Perez played as the two forwards upfront.

Of course, two-striker tactical setups are nothing new for Griezmann. For five seasons with Atletico Madrid, the French international played the vast majority of his games under Diego Simeone’s 4-4-2 setup. However, Griezmann was not a prototypical forward under this setup. He often dropped deep out of his front line and orchestrated play as a deep-lying forward — a role that calls for the forward to involve himself in the build-up of play upfield.

In the two-striker formation against Inter Milan, Griezmann reverted back to his old play style with Atletico and played as the main deep-lying forward.

Through his 62 minutes of playing time, he really was everywhere on the pitch. He strived to drift out to the flanks to assist either of the fullbacks by providing an open passing option. He also dropped deep behind Perez when Barcelona were comfortably distributing possession in the final third, which often formed a 3-1-4-1-1 attacking setup. His objectives revolved around negating Inter Milan’s pressing setup by providing passing lanes for the ball carrier.

With this approach, Griezmann added another dimension to Barca’s attack. Rather than hovering the space around Inter Milan’s trio of centre-backs, Griezmann’s constant movement alleviated the pressure off Barca’s midfielders when it came to progressing the ball from the middle to the final third. The movement into open space often dragged an Inter midfielder to come in to prevent the French international from making free runs upfield, which then often freed up an unmarked Vidal to accelerate to the final third with ease.

To an extent, Griezmann emulated Messi’s play style with dropping deep and retrieving possession on the flanks or center.

His most notable contribution in this role came on Perez’s goal; his ability to send in a near perfect long ball to Vidal in the box shuffled Inter’s backline, which then Perez took advantage of by launching the loose ball to the back of the net.

Jean-Clair Todibo shines for Barca

Barcelona’s array of youngsters had themselves a game to remember. Carles Alena had a commanding performance in the midfield while Anssumane Fati became the youngest goal-scorer in Champions League history with his late game-winning goal in the 86th minute.

But the most impressive of them all was 19-year-old Jean-Clair Todibo. Not only was the pressure high for the French international considering this was his first ever Champions League appearance, but he was tasked with marking Inter’s revered striker duo of Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez.

For the most part, Todibo was cool, calm and collected under the San Siro lights. According to WhoScored, he recorded a game-high eight tackles to go along with four clearances, one interception and one blocked shot. Arguably the most impressive stat of his potent performance was his success in winning ground duels in Barcelona’s defensive third; he won a total of 11 out of 12 ground duels (92 percent).

Todibo essentially did not shy away from aggressively challenging Inter’s striker duo. Taking into account he was positioned alongside both Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti in Barca’s three at the back setup, Todibo had more freedom to move out of his defensive line at will. When he left open space in the team’s defensive third, Umtiti and Lenglet were both there to cover up the space and prevent from opening up any clear-cut passing lanes in the box for Inter to take advantage of. Thus, the 19-year-old sought to make the necessary challenges to halt incoming Inter attacking sequences and cleared the ball away from the box when the opportunity presented itself to do so.

As mentioned, Todibo took it up himself to take on Inter’s lethal striker duo. See here how he tracks back to closely mark Martinez’s run into the box. Both players battle for the ball but in the end, Todibo is able to prevent any immediate danger in the defensive third as he comfortably wins possession. Simple and effective defending from Barca’s youngster.

Valverde and the coaching staff can certainly rely on Todibo down the road after this exceptional showing in a hostile environment.

Inter are early favorites to win the Europa League

Even with Barca opting to not play several of their usual starters, Inter were still not able to take advantage and come away with a win that would have sent them through to their first Champions League knockout stage appearance since the 2011-12 season.

Nonetheless, playing in the Europa League gives the Nerazzurri another opportunity to bring home a European trophy. And from an early outlook, Inter may very well be considered one of the favorites to win this season’s tournament.

Of course, Inter have the talent to match up with any team over a two-legged tie. They can certainly rely on both Lukaku and Martinez to link up and create goal-scoring chances on quick transitions after winning back possession in dangerous areas of the pitch. More importantly, Conte’s side is capable of holding leads to finish off games as they have shown in league play with their deep low block — a conservative tactical approach that pits at least eight players in the team’s defensive third.

A deep Europa League run from Inter would not impact their current chase to win the Serie A. Not only do they have the depth to rotate players, but they may not even have to roll out their best lineup until April when the quarterfinals stage of the tournament kicks off. For instance, Sarri’s Chelsea were able to make a Europa League-winning run even with many of the usual starters being rested over the first two rounds, including Eden Hazard. Conte may follow the same approach by then electing to rest players like Romelu Lukaku and Marcelo Brozovic over the first two rounds while providing Alexis Sanchez and Nicolo Barella with pivotal playing time.

It certainly will not be easy considering teams like Ajax, Arsenal and Sevilla will also present extensive tactical challenges for Inter. But with the expertise and experience of Conte, they could very well end up lifting the Europa League trophy next year.

For now, Barcelona and Inter Milan will now continue to focus on maintaining the slim lead they each currently hold in their respective leagues.