Mauricio Pellegrino

Leganés were bottom of La Liga and still pursuing their first victory of 2018/19 when they hosted league leaders Barcelona, whose fine start to the Spanish league season had included four victories and a draw from their opening five fixtures. Leganés, who were targeting their first league victory under Mauricio Pellegrino, recently appointed their manager, had then recorded only a point.

When Philippe Coutinho gave Barça the lead in the 12th minute their latest win looked particularly likely. Pellegrino's team instead responded in the second half with two goals in the space of two minutes, scored by Nabil El Zhar – like Coutinho and Pellegrino, once of Liverpool – and Óscar Rodríguez, and they thereafter largely negated the significant potential threat Barça posed.

Even Lionel Messi was unable to prevent a defeat that, when combined with Real Madrid's by Sevilla, represented both teams doing so on the same day in La Liga for what was the first time since 2015. Speaking exclusively to The Coaches' Voice, Pellegrino revisits the approach that was responsible for their unlikely success.

Starting line-ups

LeganésBarcelona

11432852123227261012032324547191011

Leganés3-4-3

Barcelona4-3-3

1Iván Cuéllar

1Marc-André ter Stegen

28Rodrigo Tarín

20Sergi Roberto

3Unai Bustinza

3Gerard Piqué

14Raúl García

23Samuel Umtiti

2Juanfran Moreno

24Thomas Vermaelen

5Jonathan Silva

5Sergio Busquets

23Mikel Vesga

4Ivan Rakitic

21Rubén Pérez

7Philippe Coutinho

10Nabil El Zhar

10Lionel Messi

27Óscar Rodríguez

11Ousmane Dembélé

26Youssef En-Nesyri

19Munir El Haddadi

Author: Tony Hodson