If there is a player who has noticed the change in the Barça bench, that is Samuel Umtiti . Although Quique Setién insists on ensuring that both he and his compatriot Clément Lenglet start with the same options and that only the details lead him to decide for one or the other, the truth is that the former Olympique de Lyon player is counting on many more minutes in LaLiga than the former Sevilla. And that proves to be still far from its best version. With Setién he has participated in six of seven League matches (five starts). Lenglet, only in three.

Real Madrid's 2-0 play at the Bernabéu would be a very good example. Mariano not only won his back, but was also able to take a great advantage in the race to stand alone against Ter Stegen and seal the Barcelona defeat. The Frenchman, who is still on a card of the suspension for accumulation of reprimands, did not even look for a foul that would have caused him to miss a match, either to see the fifth yellow or to be expelled with direct red, but that would have allowed His team still has a very timid hope of taking at least one point.

With Ernesto Valverde , Umtiti only got to participate in five of 19 league games, yes, seven of them lost them due to injury. His physical problems have long been an ordeal for the French. Last season, for example, he was absent in 16 First Division events because of a left knee that has bothered him since before the 2018 World Cup. The defense did not want to operate then so as not to miss a compromise in which France managed to raise its second scepter, but his decision has meant a path of thorns that seems endless. And, although from the club it is considered that the operating room is the only possibility to forget once and for all of these problems, the player does not even want to hear about it .

The physical state of Umtiti allowed Clément Lenglet, who landed at Camp Nou in summer 2018, to become a basic piece for Valverde. In his first campaign as a Barcelona player, he played 23 League games of 38 possible. The center from Sevilla maintained the favor of the former Barca coach at the start of this season and played 15 of the first 19 league games, of which one was lost due to a penalty and the other due to injury. The arrival on the bench of Quique Setién, on the other hand, meant for him a completely unexpected turnaround.

“They are two players who, within the similar characteristics they have, also pose differences in some aspects and that is what I cousin in each game. Now Umtiti has had more prominence, but I am delighted with Lenglet. He will play a lot and has very good characteristics. I don't mean more for one or the other. I don't think one is vastly superior to the other. So far I have decided to do so, but tomorrow I can opt for something else, ”said Setién, without clarifying much, during the press conference prior to today's match against the Royal Society .

A meeting for which you can not count on Arthur . The midfielder carries discomfort in the ankle and will undergo a treatment with growth factors together with the medical team of Dr. Ramón Cugat for an indeterminate time. «In principle you have pain, some discomfort , you have started a treatment and you have to be very aware of how it evolves. It is not known. You have to see the evolution. I can't say more, ”the Barca coach said with some resignation.

The loss of Arthur could give the young Riqui Puig the option to enter today in the starting lineup. For now, the midfielder returned to a list of summoned in which he did not enter since the confrontation against Betis in Benito Villamarín. His playing style bears many similarities with the former player of the Porto Alegre Guild. However, the precedents invite us to think that Rakitic will finally be Setién's bet to complete Barcelona's core.

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  • Quique Setién
  • Clément Lenglet
  • Seville
  • Real Madrid
  • Real society
  • France
  • Ernesto Valverde

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