After replacing the uninspiring yet successful Ernesto Valverde with Quique Setien, La Liga leaders Barcelona will be expected to produce a spectacle of attacking football when they host Granada on Sunday in their first game under the new manager.
Barca have long seen themselves as purveyors of beautiful football rather than a club that only care about results and underlined that reputation by axing double league title winning Valverde, even though his side were top of the standings.
For the Barca board and many fans, the silverware Valverde won did not compensate for sluggish displays of late which lacked intensity and tended to rely on big performances from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and talisman Lionel Messi.
Setien, 61, is renowned for his commitment to the type of football Barca mastered under Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola, when the team monopolised possession and undid opponents with flowing passing moves.
He will be expected to return a joie de vivre to the team while also staying ahead of Real Madrid in a close title race, with the two sides locked on 40 points at the halfway stage and Barca only ahead on goal difference.
