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Despite Barcelona's dominating performance in La Liga last season, the club's exit from the Champions League in the semifinals after a deficit overturning defeat to Liverpool has caused the management to make a few changes to the squad for the upcoming campaign.
The Spanish giants announced the arrival of France forward Antoine Griezmann from rival La Liga club Atletico Madrid recently. With Griezmann in the squad, Barcelona can boast of some of the finest attacking talents in world football. While Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will be the veterans along with Griezmann, the presence of players such as Phillipe Coutinho, Ousman Dembele, and Malcom in the squad will make it hard for any opposing defense to contain this attack.
Ernesto Valverde has an extremely tough job of accommodating these players in the starting XI and keeping in mind the team balance, a few players could be unlucky to miss out on a few games next season. However, there are plenty of games for all these players to contribute to the team and here are 3 possible attacking formations Barcelona can field next season depending on the opposition and the type of competition.
#1 Coutinho-Messi-Suarez-Griezmann
This could be the preferred forward line of Barcelona if Coutinho does stay at the club. Employing these four mean could mean that Ernesto Valverde will have to go with a 4-2-3-1 combination.
Messi would play the No.10 role while Suarez will occupy the position of central striker in front of him. Griezmann and Coutnho will be the wide men out in this tactic.
However, Griezmann has excelled in a central role at Atletico Madrid and it needs to be seen whether Valverde will tweak his combination to suit his new signing's style of play.
#2 Dembele-Messi-Griezmann-Suarez
If Coutinho does leave Barcelona or if he is out of form, Ousmane Dembele will be the man to replace the Brazilian in this forward line. Dembele offers a brutal pace and flexibility to the line-up. In fact, we could see the rise of Dembele as a Barcelona player in this formation.
However, Malcom could also be a part of this formation depending on the competition and the availability of the players.
#3 Coutinho-Griezmann-Messi
Suarez has had the worst season of his Barcelona career the previous campaign and if the 32-year-old cannot get back to form, we could well see him dropped from the starting XI. If Valverde needs to have a balanced approach, he can employ a 4-3-3 formation and his front three could be Coutinho, Messi, and Griezmann.
While Coutinho will occupy the left-hand side, Messi can do the honors on the right flank. Griezmann will be the central forward in this case. Based on how the game goes, Valverde will have a solid bench strength to make an impact as substitutes.
