Iniesta gets his position back against Athletic Madrid

Andres Iniesta is set to play against Atletico Madrid in the midfield. In recent games, Iniesta has been playing on the left wing. Playing on the left is not new for Andrés Iniesta but it’s been a while since he’s played there.

The reason for Iniesta playing on the left is none other than Cesc’s current excellent form in which he was challenging for the midfield position. Vilanova has been forced to play with Cesc, Xavi and Iniesta in the Barca first team and that meant pushing Andrés out to the left and into an attacking position.

However, for the match against Atletico Madrid, Vilanova will re-position Andres Iniesta because of Cesc’s injury in which he’ll be out for four weeks. Tito wants Iniesta in Cesc’s place and he wants him fresh. That’s why he had Iniesta on the bench at last Wednesday’s game in Cordoba. Alongside Iniesta will be the other two first team midfielders in the shape of Busquets and Xavi.

Iniesta’s return to the Barca midfield means that four players are fighting over the two positions up front with Leo Messi in attack: Pedro, Alexis, Villa and Tello. Even Thiago might get a look in. Nobody knows what Vilanova has in store.

Pedro isn’t too prolific in front of goal at the moment but his work rate is very positive for the team. The constant pressure Pedro puts on the rival team when they get the ball is incredible as neither Messi nor Villa are as sharp as he is. Vilanova has continued to rely on Pedro from the start of the season because of his work rate and as far as finding the back of the net, there are others who can do that.

David Villa – the big question mark

The big question is whether Tito will put Villa in the starting lineup. With the absence of Fabregás, Villa should make the team. However, no one can overlook the fact that Tito rarely sees Villa at 100% for these crunch games. He did play 90 minutes against Alavés and nearly the whole match against Cordoba. We will have to see if the coach counts on him to face Falcao and Athletic Madrid.

Christian Tello is Vilanova’s Achilles heel. He has just renewed his contract until 2016 and is in all effects, a first team player, even though in recent games he hasn’t been. The last time he was in the starting eleven was against Benfica in which Tito used lesser well-known players as an experiment.

This brings us to Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean is under fire this season for his style of play and the few goals he’s scored. But Vilanova values his quality to put pressure on the opponent just like Pedro and his ability to open up spaces for his teammates.

Another option for tomorrow’s big game is that of young Thiago, who is recovering well from his injury and Tito would probably have to play him in an attacking role, which is unusual for the player.