Football Update: Barcelona vs. Levante – Match Review (Part 3)
Two key players that Barcelona were missing out on included their captain Carles Puyol who suffered from a groin injury during a midweek fixture in which he was representing Catalonia. With http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 out, Josep Guardiola chose the experienced French defender
Eric Abidal to play as a centre back. Generally, Eric Abidal plays as a full back on the left flank but whenever the team needs him in the centre, he is always there to help. Moreover, the Frenchman is a very skilful defender and that is exactly the reason
why the Catalan boss decided to play him rather than any other defender like Marc Bartra or Andreu Fontas – the two young up-coming La Masia products who can feature as centre backs for the Catalan side.
With Eric Abidal occupying the space of Carles Puyol as left centre back, it was expected that Josep Guardiola would play a young Catalan as a centre back in his team. However, the Catalan coach showed how versatile his players are and how they can perform
in different positions. It was the holding midfielder Sergio Busquets who changed his position as a holding midfielder and joined Eric Abidal as a right centre back in the defensive walls of the La Blaugrana. It was a very unexpected move but it gave Barcelona
great aerial ability in their own box and that way they could easily deny the crosses coming in from Levante’s side. Both, Eric Abidal and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048 are tall and that is what gave the home team an “extra-advantage” in their own 18 yard-box.
With Eric Abidal and Sergio Busuqets taking control of the situation in their box, it was Daniel Alves who performed his duties on the right flank. The Brazilian full back was simply extraordinary on the right flank. He used to move forward to join the team
in the attack and while Levante tried to counter attack, he used to fall back to give Barcelona an extra man at the back. On the other flank, it was the other Brazilian and the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maxwell-c25051 had a good night as well but he barely
made a run forward from the left flank. The Brazilian tried to provide the team with defensive duties and he was simply great in a position where he showed great composure even though he is not given too many first-team opportunities.
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