Barcelona 2-0 Inter Milan: Rafinha and Alba give Barcelona the victory
In their first game post-Messi, Barcelona do enough to get past Inter Milan. Rafinha and Jordi Alba got on the scoresheet.
Barcelona secured a 2-0 victory over Inter Milan, at home, in their third Champions League game. The win sees Ernesto Valverde’s team at the top of Group B with three wins out of three. This was the first game the team placed since losing Messi over the weekend in their game against Sevilla.
The question leading up to the game was who Valverde was going to choose to replace Messi up top. Some wondered if he would switch to a 4-4-2, play Ousmane Dembélé, or play the forgotten Malcom. In the end it was neither of the three as he chose to stick with the same formation but play Rafinha on the right of a front three.
Rafinha may not possess the offensive capabilities of Dembélé or Malcom but he does provide more balance on the pitch. The Brazilian will put in defensive shifts that we’ve still yet to see from Dembélé. Considering how unhappy Valverde appeared to be after the forward’s performance against Sevilla, it was no surprise that the Frenchman did not feature in the staring eleven.
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Aside from including Rafinha, Sergi Roberto also returned to the side taking over the right back position from Nelson Semede. Early on, it was evident to see why Valverde chose Rafinha.
That decision would pay off in the 32nd minute as the former Inter Milan player scored from close range after a pinpoint cross from Luis Suarez. Barcelona headed into the half leading 1-0.
Inter Milan came out in the second half on the front foot taking over control of the game for the first ten or fifteen minutes. Barcelona were able to weather the storm and eventually even things back up. The blaugrana had a few chances to pad their lead and Coutinho even had a shot hit off the bar.
It took until the 83rd minute for Barcelona to seal the deal as Jordi Alba scored inside the box off a pass from Ivan Rakitic.
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Barcelona sit pretty with a perfect record atop Group B. While not the exciting Barcelona team people are used to, they passed their first test without Messi. Things do not get easier for the Catalan as their next game is the clasico against Real Madrid. Do not be surprised if Valverde repeats the same starting XI.