Luis Enrique insisted there was nothing strange about his team selection as Barcelona returned to winning ways in La Liga by beating Leganes 5-1 on Saturday.
The Barca coach's lineup caught the eye due to the lack of a right-back, with Javier Mascherano replacing Sergi Roberto to form a three-man defence with Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti, while Jordi Alba and Rafinha took on advanced full-back roles.
It was a gamble given last weekend's 2-1 defeat to Alaves at Camp Nou, but Luis Enrique did not feel the decision was dramatic and said the idea was to find more space further forward.
"We've played several times with a line of three in defence in other games," he said in his postmatch news conference.
"The deep midfielder situates himself between the two centre-backs. On this occasion, it wasn't the deep midfielder who dropped back, but we played with three central defenders from the start.
"There was nothing strange about the selection. It was just a little different because we had the line of three instead of the midfielder dropping back.
"We started that way because we wanted to have the ball and take advantage of the spaces they [Leganes] gave us. This idea had its risks but I like that the players are capable of taking it on."
Pique was part of the back three and the Catalan admitted to feeling more exposed than normal. However, he also liked the fact it meant he saw much more of the ball.
"I enjoyed myself," he said. "I felt like I participated more. I was more exposed, perhaps, but that comes with the benefit of being more attacking and creating more chances for the three up front who decide games.
"Leganes were able to put us under pressure at the back and, on occasions, we were overwhelmed with one on ones. But we're Barcelona and you have to take on those risks."
Lionel Messi opened the scoring after Leganes had started brightly before Luis Suarez and Neymar helped the Blaugrana into a three-goal lead by half-time.
Messi added his second of the game from the penalty spot after the break and Rafinha scored from 20 yards. The home side grabbed a late consolation via a Gabriel Appelt free kick.