Barcelona - Sporting: The show of 'supporting actors'

(Baonghean.vn) - The Camp Nou home team has officially won a ticket to the knockout round and is top of the group 1 round early, so there is no reason for coach Valverde to send out his strongest force in the match against Sporting.

The latest injury to center-back Umtiti (about 2 months out) has sounded the alarm about the personnel situation at Camp Nou. Therefore, coach Valverde will have to be very careful in using players.

The best solution at this point is to rotate the squad. In a match that is not as meaningful as the upcoming match against Sporting, Barcelona can field mostly reserve players to fight.

'Supporting actors' such as Deulofeu, Alcacer, Vidal will be used by coach Valverde. Photo: Internet

Stegen, Busquets, Iniesta, Alba... will be rested, making room for players who play less often like Cillessen, Digne, Gomes, Alcacer... What fans are interested in right now is whether coach Valverde "dare" to put superstar Messi on the bench or not?

Although Barcelona only played this match as a formality, the Argentine player is pursuing the goal of winning the Golden Boot award in the 2017/2018 Champions League.

Currently, Messi has only scored 3 goals, leaving behind rival Ronaldo with a gap of 5 goals (Ronaldo has scored 8 goals). Against an opponent not highly rated like Sporting, the opportunity for Messi to find more goals is completely possible.

With a player who is always eager to play like La Pulga, it is not easy for coach Valverde to put him on the bench. Most likely, the star born in 1987 will appear from the beginning.

The first leg between the two teams ended with a 1-0 victory for Barcelona. Photo: Internet

With Messi on the field, Barcelona still have an advantage over their Portuguese opponents, even though coach Valverde only used reserve players. In a situation where they must win to have any hope of advancing, Sporting will have to push their squad up to play offensively.

That is no different from committing suicide.Many gaps in Sporting's defense will be exposed, there is no reason why Messi and his teammates cannot take advantage to bring goals for Barcelona.

More than ever, the "supporting actors" such as Alcacer, Gomes, Deulofeu, Denis Suarez... are eager and want to take this opportunity to score points with coach Valverde. Playing at home in a fairly open game from the away team, Barcelona does not need to spend too much energy to still be able to win all 3 points.

Simply put, their second team is still at a higher level than Sporting. Perhaps, coach Jorge Jesus and his team should consider the prospect of playing in the Europa League./.

Thanh Hung