Messi More Effective on the Wing?

Barcelona Despite having more of the ball in El Clasico, he is more influential on the right

Lionel Messi adopted a central role for Barcelona against Real Madrid, rather than patrolling the right wing, where he has been very successful in recent times.

During his time in charge of Barcelona, Luis Enrique's first three assaults on El Clasico had all come with a hint of surprise.

On Saturday in Camp Nou, Enrique went with his tried and trusted eleven for the first time against their great rivals. 

In 2014/15 it was the introduction of debutant Luis Suarez after a lengthy ban, while Jordi Alba and Ivan Rakitic occupied the bench.

In the reverse fixture he opted for Jeremy Mathieu in central defence, with Javier Mascherano in the holding role. 

Those alterations had mixed results but the team which arrived at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu at the end of last November was something much more risky, yet it paid off in the end.

Lionel Messi was held in reserve after a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury and in came Sergio Roberto on the right wing.

The result was emphatic as the Catalans cruised to victory against Rafa Benitez's tactically deficient Madrid side.

The Argentinian was called in during the second half and was as potent as ever despite not scoring.

On Saturday, the surprise was not necessarily the personnel selected by Lucho, but where they were positioned. 

On the day when Barcelona paid homage to the great Johan Cruyff, their emphasis was firmly placed on keeping possession of the ball, and playing through Messi in the central areas.

The idea was well intentioned, but the execution left a lot to be desired, particularly as the game entered its closing stages. 

It's common knowledge that Real Madrid are often content to play without the ball, in an effort to free up space for their front three of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.

This persistence paid dividends at the weekend.

Enrique ditched the traditional Barcelona 4-3-3 in favour of 4-4-2, in which Suarez and Neymar played up top, with the Argentinian just behind. 

However, it was a night to forget for the dangerous trident, as their influence was curtailed for the most part.

Suarez had one clear opportunity that should have been put in the back of net, and Messi was restricted to an improvised chip from outside the box which was well saved by Keylor Navas.

After a difficult international break in which he travelled to Argentina twice to play for his country, La Pulga was on the ball plenty of times but rarely threatened close to Navas' goal. 

The heat map shows his movement more akin to Xavi Hernandez than the world's top forward.

It's worth comparing the areas where he touched the ball in El Clasico in comparison with one of his most potent performances in recent times, against Bayern Munich in last year's Champions League semi-finals.

Despite having more touches than against Madrid, Messi was far more effective against the Bavarians, scoring twice and creating an assist, all from the right wing.

He made twice the amount of passes against Los Blancos than the Germans (80-40), and had possession more times also (99-79). 

What this demonstrates is that Messi can control the game much more on the wing, where he has more space to operate and cause problems for the opposition defence.

It has now been two years since the Argentinian has scored in El Clasico, despite remaining in great goalscoring form throughout this period. 

Saturday's most recent encounter was supposed to be a runaway victory for Barcelona and their talisman, but things rarely happen like they're supposed to in these huge games.