Arturo Vidal to the rescue for Valverde Barcelona Another big performance from the bench

When things get bad for Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde remembers that he has Arturo Vidal.

The Chilean has the coach's complete trust, having arrived as a specific request of Valverde after Paulinho was sold back to China.

Valverde wanted someone with a different profile to his existing core players, someone who had a more rough edge but also matched that with experience. He needed someone to go to war with.

Vidal arrived and it took him a while to settle. He started on the bench and, used to being important at his previous clubs, he wasn't happy. There were rumours of a rebellion, social media protests and general discontent.

But the Barcelona coach managed the situation well, and Vidal ended the season with an important position in the squad.

This year has started along those same lines. The Chilean hasn't played all that much, accumulating just 73 minutes before the game against Inter, but Valverde hasn't forgotten him and when things looked ugly against the Italians, he was introduced.

Unlike against Granada, when Valverde tried the same thing but it didn't go to plan, Vidal made a big difference on Wednesday. He lifted the team and brought an intensity that was lacking when Sergio Busquets was on in his place.

"The coach detected it very well and told us what we needed at the break," Arthur Melo explained afterwards, praising Valverde.

"We had to improve in our pressing and Vidal's arrival helped us with that. He has very particular characteristics and his entrance gave us exactly what we needed."

It was more than just his intensity though. In his 38 minutes on the pitch he contributed in attack as well, giving the ball to Luis Suarez for what was his first goal of the night.

We'll have to wait and see if his performance against Inter is enough to make him prominent in Valverde's plans again, given he's yet to start a match this season.

But it's clear that Vidal still has a part to play at the Camp Nou and, for now at least, he's still Valverde's fire extinguisher.