In the intense and sometimes ruthless environment that is modern day soccer, depth is no longer a unique trait that teams can do without. It is a necessity. Unfortunately for Barcelona, they were one of the latest and greatest examples of this new reality.
Last season was shaping up to be one of the best for the Blaugrana, with their striking trio on top form and the rest of the starting XI playing their part. However, by Barca’s ridiculously high standards, things didn’t necessarily go to plan over the final few months of the season.
Fatigue started hitting the team’s main players, and the results took a turn for the worse. A late March draw with Villarreal sparked a string of six matches wherein Barcelona lost four, drew one and tallied only a single victory.
In that span, they managed to get knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Atletico Madrid, and they nearly allowed Real Madrid to catch up to them in the La Liga table.
In the end, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez managed to hold on to their lead and claim the title, but it was too close for comfort after holding a seemingly insurmountable advantage.
Luis Enrique, keen to avoid a similar problem this season, started planning early in the hopes of avoiding such an ordeal.
So far this season, the Spanish manager has played 21 out of his 22 squad players. The only man yet to hit the pitch for Barcelona is third-string goalkeeper Jordi Masip.
Barca has played in seven competitive matches this season and not a single player has started all of them. As expected, Messi leads the team in minutes played with 570 spread over six games in the starting lineup. Unsurprisingly, the only match he came on in as a sub was also Barca’s sole loss so far.
MSN vs. BBC, this season. pic.twitter.com/S5yCHRx3s9
— Scores & Video (@ScoresVideo) September 20, 2016
The only other players with six starts are Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets. Suarez has five starts and one substitute appearance. Neymar, on the other hand, is the only player to start 100 percent of the matches he’s been available for.
The striker was away with Brazil for the Olympics and South American World Cup qualifiers, making himself available for selection on only three occasions thus far.
Despite having one loss already on their record, the rotation seems to be working for Barcelona as Luis Enrique slowly polishes the details he believes need fixing. Their offense is as powerful as ever, and seven different players have already scored for Barcelona in only four La Liga matches.
Their next match will be a home showdown against title contenders Atletico Madrid. Emotions will likely be running high as Atletico was responsible for crushing Barcelona’s treble dream last season, and the two clubs are only separated by one point in the La Liga table.
While the stakes are high, Luis Enrique is still keen on the idea of resting his superstar trio whenever he can (though probably not for this game).
"I would like to have all three play all 90 minutes of every game, but it cannot be so," he said. "We have to find time for them to rest. Sometimes I discuss it with them and other times I decide during the game."
