The Catalan giants wasted the chance to move top if La Liga, as they failed to break down a stubborn Malaga side who even fell to just nine men
Barcelona wasted the chance to go top of La Liga as they stumbled at home against Malaga,unable to break down the visitors’ tight defence in a dull 0-0 draw before the Madrid derby.
They dominated the game, creating several half-chances which they did not capitalise on, with Arda Turan and Rafinha seeing shots blocked and go wide of goal, while Gerard Pique was twice denied by Carlos Kameni.
However without the sick Lionel Messi and suspended Luis Suarez, the Catalans lacked the sparkle to break through and Malaga’s defensive display frustrated home supporters.
The second half started in more open fashion and Arda Turan wanted a penalty after he was caught by Federico Ricca in the box but referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea waved the appeal away.
At the other end Juankar should have scored but sent an effort inches wide after rounding Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Malaga were reduced to 10 men when Diego Llorente was sent off for a cynical hack on Neymar to stop Barcelona breaking.
Four minutes of stoppage time were added on but injuries and substitutions led to eight being played. In the last of those Juankar was shown a red card for protesting, reducing Malaga to nine men but by then it was too late.
Here are five things we learned from the game…
1. Barcelona suffer after international breaks
Messi was vomiting on the morning of this game and had to pull out of the squad little over an hour before kick-off.
Although tests will need to be taken, there is a decent chance it could be related to the sickness he started feeling while flying with Argentina in midweek, while on a particularly turbulent flight to San Juan.
Although he faced Colombia after that—and played extremely well too in his country’s 3-0 win—his return saw him take another long haul flight back to the Catalan capital from South America.
The same was true for Neymar, who only trained once before this game, on Friday, and looked a shadow of his usual self, although in the second half he drew on his last energy reserves to
Luis Enrique spoke before the game and said that “if anyone knows how to deal with this [problem], it’s the South Americans”, although his comment was not validated by this performance.
It was after an international break that Barcelona suffered their only other defeat at home this season, against Alaves.
Again the South Americans suffered jetlag from their flights and in that game Messi and Suarez came on from the bench—this time Luis Enrique didn’t even have that luxury.
2. Paco Alcacer still struggling to prove his worth
Paco Alcacer is still looking for his first Barcelona goal. In fact, he spent most of the first half looking simply for the ball.
Between the 10th minute and the 41st he didn’t have a touch, looking lost out on on the pristine surface of the cavernous Camp Nou.
Getting chances to start games is hard for him because of the quality Barcelona have in attack but when he does get opportunities, he has failed to take them.
Alcacer started in the Alaves defeat and also failed to impress from the off against Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League.
This was his eight Barcelona game and he doesn’t look any closer to finding the net than he did in the first.
Having better supply would help but he doesn’t take the initiative himself, failing to make many good runs or work hard off the ball to make himself an option his team-mates could not ignore.
Some Barcelona fans were skeptical when the club loaned out Munir El Haddadi to Valencia and paid £25m to Los Che for the forward. Their number is steadily increasing.
3. Gerard Pique return a huge boost
Gerard Pique is arguably the best centre-back in the world and Barcelona have missed him during the past month, since he damaged his ankle in the Champions League clash with Manchester City.
This was his return and even though Barcelona struggled as a whole, he put in a superb display, mopping up any trouble at the back and proving a threat in attacking areas too.
Pique nearly scored twice in the first half, with Kameni denying him both times and eventually had the ball in the net while playing as an auxiliary centre-forward, but was correctly ruled offside.
While Alcacer was invisible as Barcelona sought a winner, Pique was leading the charge. Flying into tackles at the back, causing panic and devastation in Malaga’s penalty area, and the first to challenge any decisions that went against his side.
He doesn’t wear the armband at Camp Nou, but he doesn’t need to. He is a leader and everyone knows it.
4. Malaga follow “park-the-bus” blueprint at Camp Nou
Malaga saw what Granada did before the international break and had their own go at stifling Barcelona.
Back in the Pep Guardiola era it used to be common for visiting teams to sit deep in their own half at Camp Nou and play extremely defensively.
However, in Luis Enrique’s reign it has been more common for opposition sides to succeed by playing with a high press and look to counter whenever they get a chance, instead of parking the bus completely.
That is because the MSN forward line and Andres Iniesta do a great job of lock-picking defences, so with just the N - Neymar - available from that trio, Malaga decided to take a leaf from another Andalusian side.
Granada lost 1-0 on October 29 but it was a tight game which Barcelona struggled to break them down in, and this match followed a similar pattern.
Malaga used a 5-4-1, denying Alcacer, Neymar and Arda Turan any space, while Denis Suarez and Rafinha struggled to fulfil the creative function of Iniesta.
5. Sergi Roberto shows mistakes were just a dip
Sergi Roberto is Barcelona’s first-choice right-back this season, despite being a central midfielder.
Recycling a player is nothing new at Camp Nou, with Javier Mascherano another example of someone who has been converted.
Until recently he has been outstanding in that role, strong defensively when required to be and even better going forward.
However in recent games against Manchester City and then Sevilla, he made mistakes which cost his team goals. That caused some in the Spanish media to make knee-jerk comments about his suitability for a role which until this point he had fulfilled well.
Against Malaga he reverted to his previous good form and was one of Barcelona’s strongest performers.
The one question which still needs to be answered is if he can produce these displays consistently against the trickiest teams—the games he needs to spend more time defending in may be his weakness.
As an extremely intelligent player with time he will learn how to handle those, but time is a luxury which is rarely afforded at top clubs like Barcelona.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário