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#2 Rafinha decision pays off
With Messi being out, it seemed inevitable the hosts would lineup with Coutinho on the left, Ousmane Dembele on the right, and Suarez through the middle.
But Valverde saw it differently and opted to start Rafinha on the right, to the surprise of everyone before the game. In 11 outings this season, Dembele has scored five goals in all competitions. However, Valverde chose to look past Dembele’s goals and played Rafinha, who looked to be on his way out of the club in the summer.
Although he only managed to play 18 games in his last season for Barcelona two years ago, Rafinha scored six goals and impressed whenever he was given an opportunity. Yet that still did not convince Valverde as he decided to send him on loan to, guess who, Inter Milan, for the whole of the 2017/18 season.
With that loan move, it looked like his time at the Nou Camp was up, but this summer he returned and was kept in the squad by the Barca boss. Tonight he was given the chance to repay the faith Valverde put in him to both keep him and to start him in a big game with Messi missing, and he did just that.
In the first half, he was absolutely instrumental to every Barcelona attack and had two efforts, admittedly weak ones, saved by Handanovic. Then, with Barca going frustrated, he finally struck with a much stronger effort and beat the Inter goalkeeper to give his side the lead.
It seemed a bizarre decision to leave Dembele out with Barca requiring as much creativity as possible, but Rafinha more than made it up for it with his goal and his performance.
