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Barcelona and Villarreal produced one of the games of the season at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Tuesday evening when they shared the spoils in an eight-goal thriller. Barca had led 2-0 early on but Villarreal scored four times without reply to take what looked like a famous win for the relegation-threatened El Submarino Amarillo, before he combination of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez broke their hearts with two late goals.
Fans, players and managers were left stunned by what had happened throughout a pulsating 90 minutes. But what led to the game transpiring in the way it did?
On paper, this looked like a comfortable day at the office for Barcelona. The Blaugrana are well clear at the top of LaLiga while Villarreal are hovering just above the relegation zone. But things got interesting about an hour before kick-off when Ernesto Valverde’s lineup saw Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic and Gerard Pique on the bench.
Squad rotation has long been an issue for Barcelona. At times, coaches have been accused of over-rotating. Last season, many blamed Valverde for the Champions League defeat to Roma, because of his refusal to rotate in the league match against Leganes three days before the trip to Rome that saw Barca capitulate and lose 3-0.
Rotation is a near-impossible task to perfect, and with the benefit of hindsight it is easy to criticize. But when you look at the numbers when Barca rotate the “Gala 11”, they are not good.
The main players rotated on Tuesday were Messi, Rakitic and Pique. Those three are extremely important to Barcelona, so choosing to rest them all in the one game was always going to be risky.
Seven Barca players have played over 2000 minutes in LaLiga this season, and those three are in that band. There is no doubt that when Valverde is picking his best team, they are in it. Let's look at how the team perform without them.
Messi has missed a few times this season due to injury, but on the rare occasions that he has been rested, he has always been called upon for a rescue mission. In LaLiga, he has started as a sub three times and when he was called upon, Barca were either drawing or losing.
On two occasions he helped change the result, once from losing to a draw and once from drawing to winning. He was also rested completely on two occasions in the Copa del Rey as Barca lost to Levante and Sevilla before turning the ties around in the second leg with Messi in the team.
Pique has been almost ever-present this season and in fact, had played every league minute until Villarreal. His absence was notable as Barca conceded four goals with his direct replacement, Samuel Umtiti, being way off the pace and struggling throughout.
Other games he has missed were the 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League and both legs of the Copa del Rey win over Levante, which included a 2-1 defeat in Valencia.
Messi and Pique are hugely important for Barcelona as the clear leaders in attack and defence respectively, but there is an argument to be made that Rakitic is every bit as vital to the Blaugrana - and the stats are there to back it up.
Rakitic missed the Levante first leg in the Copa del Rey, along with both Pique and Messi, before returning for the second leg as Barca rescued the tie. In the league, he has started 24 times and come on as a sub five times. In total, he has played 99 minutes from the bench.
In that time, Barcelona have scored six goals and conceded just one. In three of those games, he helped the team change the result, and the stats are actually more impressive than Messi who after coming off the bench has helped Barca score five goals and concede three.
With Barcelona targeting a potential treble, they will have to use their entire squad. Atletico Madrid visits Camp Nou on Saturday, and a win over them would leave Barca 11 points clear at the top with seven games remaining.
That would allow Barca to rest players in league games as they chase other honours, but there's no doubt that it makes them a weaker team.
Fortunately for the Blaugrana, they have a cushion that they can afford to take these risks at the moment. But it looks like rotation is a problem that hasn't gone away, and will continue to be an issue in the coming seasons.
