Barcelona boss afraid of the five substitution rule

Barcelona boss Quique Setien believes the additional substitutes will hurt Barcelona when the 2019-20 season resumes next month. Setien feels the fiver substitutions per game will have an adverse effect on La Liga champions as the league prepares to restart following the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic has caused havoc globally because of which all major top-flights were suspended in March but the 2019-20 campaign is set to resume in the coming weeks of June. La Liga teams will be allowed to make five substitutions instead of the usual three, to avoid injuries and keep players fresh.

Barcelona are currently two points ahead of Real Madrid with 11 matches to play. Setien when asked his views on the five substitution rule by the Las Palmas Football Federation, he said, “I don’t know it will harm us or benefit us. I think it will harm us because of our way of playing. We know that a lot of matches we will resolve in the final minutes. If you give the rival the option of putting on fresh players in that time, the weakness that is generated, with tired players will not come out.”

“But it can also give you resources in a specific moment. It’s an unknown quantity and we’ll see how it goes.” La Liga is set to return with the Sevilla derby between Sevilla and Real Betis on June 11. Earlier this week, Spain’s Higher Council of Sport (CSD) said it had agreed to the resumption plans with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and La Liga.

“There will be lots of games in a short time. The heat will have an influence on performance and it will affect injuries. We’re hoping that it does less damage than people think. It’s possible that there will be lots of injuries like in Germany because we’ve spent almost two months sitting on the sofa, not playing.”

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