Player Focus: Alexis Sánchez Exhibiting His Importance To Barcelona

In the summer of 2011, Alexis Sánchez was a player in demand amongst Europe’s elite. The Chilean had enjoyed a blistering final season with Udinese, netting 12 and helping himself to a further 6 assists as the Zebrette secured a 4th place finish. The attacker was pivotal in this and it was little surprise to see Manchester City, Chelsea and Barcelona, to name 3, linked with a big money move for the 24-year-old.

Eventually, it was Barcelona who secured his signature and fans were understandably excited about his arrival. Sánchez had been crucial to Udinese’s domestic success and with the Catalan side operating with 3 strikers, the wideman would seemingly slot into the Barcelona attack with minimal ease.

However, while Sánchez performed fairly well initially, having attained an average WhoScored rating of 7.35 in his debut season, his score of 7.03 denotes how underperforming a campaign he endured in Spain last year. Yet, under the stewardship of new head coach Gerardo Martino, the player has seen that figure rise to an impressive 7.69 this term. Of every Barcelona regular, only Lionel Messi (8.56) and Neymar (8.03) have scored higher. Messi and Neymar may have the spotlight focused firmly upon them, but Sánchez is certainly as deserving of the plaudits.

Only Messi (8) has netted more league goals than Sánchez (7) of every Barcelona player, but it is the importance of these strikes that has been key. Of his 7 league goals, 6 have either been the opening goal of a match, an equaliser or a winning goal, 2 of which came recently in the 2-1 victory in El Clásico and the 1-0 win over Espanyol.

An increase in playing time is more than deserving for the former Cobreloa trainee as result of his start to the season, having already played 628 minutes of La Liga football over 9 appearances this season. Up to and including November 5th last term, Sánchez had accrued just 404 minutes of playing time from 7 appearances, while he had 122 minutes under his belt at the same stage from 2 appearances during his first season in Spain.

This increase in playing time is likely to have provided a much needed confidence boost to the player, denoted in his number of shots on goal per game under Tata, with that figure currently standing at 2.1; only Messi (5.4) and Neymar (2.5) are attempting more for Barcelona. Last season, that figure was 1.1; a shot fewer per league encounter as the player struggled for consistency.

His style of play hasn't altered too much, as indicated in the number of times he is dribbling past opponents in each appearance (0.8), a negligible fall of 0.1 per game from last season. Instead, Messi (4.5) and Neymar (4) are the players that prefer to drive forward when in possession, this possibly benefitting Sánchez and the team more than him attempting to dribble with the ball. Messi and Neymar dragging the opposition out of position through dribbling frees up space in the attacking third and evidently the Chilean is exploiting this to its full potential.

This was exhibited best in the win over Real Madrid, during which Los Blancos' defence stepped up to pressurise Neymar, only for Sánchez’s darting run to be capitalisied upon by the Brazilian, who executed a defence splitting through ball for his teammate. Despite pressure from Real centre-back Raphaël Varane, Sánchez was then able to loft the ball over the questionably positioned Diego López to secure the 3 points for Barcelona in the first Clásico of the season.

Most telling, however, is his placement in the team compared to last season. Sánchez is best found on the wing where he is able to make runs from wide and in behind the defence, like he did in scoring the winner in El Clásico. Evidently, Tata has looked to utilise this, as proven that all 7 of his league starts this season have come from the right wing. Looking at his heatmap and his insistence on hugging the right touchline more so than last season, the Barcelona head coach has evidently found Sánchez's ideal position in the starting XI by focusing his ability on this right rather than see him operate across the frontline.

Following 2 disappointing seasons in Spain, Sánchez appears to have fully acclimatised to his new surroundings. Perhaps he wasn’t utilised to his full potential under Vilanova, or the arrival of Neymar sparked the player into life, but he’s excelling this term, enjoying an increasinlgy important role in the team, with an impressive return in front of goal the result.

The timing of these strikes has ensured he’s able to keep his place in the first team. Despite being linked with a move away from the Camp Nou over the summer, Sánchez has shown time and time again this season why the club were right to resist the temptation to sell him, regardless of the capture of Neymar and he’s rewarding the faith shown in him with goals that have helped to ensure Barcelona have dropped points just the once this term.

How do you rate Alexis Sánchez's performances this season? Let us know in the comments below