LaLiga 2018-19: 3 reasons why Barcelona drew against Valencia

2. Marcelino’s strategy

Marcelino's attacking formation paid off

Usually, it is very tough to compete with this Barcelona side by sitting back on the field without any attacking intention and only Atletico Madrid has done that consistently. The Valencia manager Marcelino took a risk and stuck to his regular 4-4-2 formation. This meant that every time Barcelona attacked there were minimum eight players guarding the goalpost and in the absence of Jordi Alba Barcelona struggled to find a way through.

This deep defending also resulted in Barcelona stretching their defensive line further up the pitch and opened up the possibility of counter-attacks which eventually resulted in the first goal. This strategy worked mainly because of complete team cooperation as everyone worked hard to cover up the passing lanes and managed to keep the famed Barcelona front three quiet for most parts of the game.

Valencia captain Daniel Parejo was right at the middle of some wonderful defending in dangerous shooting positions and even took the ball off Lionel Messi a couple of times.