Samuel Umtiti was a key figure in Barcelona this season, standing out from the crowd of outstanding players and becoming the one whose moments were important enough to decide the course of the game.
Messi and Suarez are already well known for their goalscoring feats and deadly attributes at Barca, while Neymar has contributed the most assists for the team this season. But as things stand, Umtiti's role can't be overlooked either, as the defensive player from Lyon has been widely acclaimed since arriving at Camp Nou and is no worse than anyone else.
In Umtiti's start, Barca won all 16 La Liga games, but in his absence, Barca won just two of the 11 games, three of which ended in defeat, including a 2-1 defeat to A Coruña two weeks ago.
The way to solve this unexpected dilemma is to get Umtiti back on the pitch, and Barca won 4-2 without suspense in the next match against Valencia. Umtiti has been with Lyon for two of his last three seasons, playing for a team that wins 67.9 per cent when he plays and only 18.1 per cent when he is not.
Umtiti has experienced different formations such as 4 and 3 in Barca this season, and the team-mates he has worked with are also different, but he does not look like he has been disrupted by the changes that have occurred many times.
"I was very surprised by Umtiti's ability to adapt quickly," Luis Enrique said earlier this season, "and the position he is in has always been a weakness of the team. "The biggest highlight of Umtiti's trust in winning the manager is his control over the ball, with his pass success rate at the top of the table with 93.3 per cent across the team.
However, Umtiti's performance on the field was not seamless, and his disadvantages were fully exposed in Barca's 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, and another Copa del Rey game in which Barca lost 1-2 to Athletic Bilbao can also illustrate some problems.
(Translator: Wang Yinuo)