Last night Barcelona travelled to Villarreal who were looking threatening for their last 6 games and the Catalans who were the favorites in the title race suddenly due to the two draws dropped significant amount of points to Real Madrid lead by Ramos. Real Madrid were 7 points clear Barcelona and already the title is slipped from Barcelona’s hands and yesterday’s match was more like a challenge for Barcelona to show their attack as they had nothing to lose for.
Yesterday, we saw a completely new Barca against the yellow submarines, who were looking valiant thanks to the likes of Cazorla, Gerrand Moreno and Paco Alcacer.
Villarreal: Asenjo; Mario, Albiol, Torres, Moreno; Chukwueze, Anguissa, Iborra (Bruno), Cazorla (Trigueros); Gerard (Gomez), Alcácer (Bacca) (Nino)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo (Rakitic), Piqué (Araujo), Lenglet, Alba; Vidal, Busquets (Braithwaite), Roberto; Messi; Griezmann (Fati), Suárez (Puig)
The Goals
The first goal was a deflection from Pau Torres which was marked towards Griezmann by Jordi Alba, thanks to Sergi Roberto and the Frenchman’s deadly positioning led to the first early goal for the Blaugranas.
Then, a brilliant pass from the Villarreal’s midfield and Santi Cazorla’s shot was deflected into Moreno’s path by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and the Gerard Moreno made no mistake from the close range.
Next goal came from Saurez, which truly was a brilliant curled goal into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area with no chance for the goalkeeper to save and it was a intelligent assist yet again from the Argentine.
When the half time was about to end Messi was holding off the Villarreal defence and made a cheeky backheel towards Griezmann who arrived from the back and scored a stunning goal by chipping the ball over Sergio Asenjo and went in off the crossbar. This was the goal almost all Barca fans were waiting to see from the Frenchman, reminiscent to a world-class goal from Messi against Real Betis when Setein was their manager.
In the second half also Barca came back even more strong with Sergi Roberto helping from the midfield and Jordi Alba as always breaking with pace into the Villareal defence. It was almost another brilliant team play from Barca that could have marked a Messi goal but as per the VAR check Arturo Vidal was offside by just an inch and the goal was ruled out.
The 17-year-old Ansu Fati again came off the bench to showcase his talent and combined with Alba the youngster made an electrifying finish to make the score 4-1. Barcelona was completely dominant with the ball, having 68% possession and most importantly, 12 shots on target which is the Barca we know, converting possession to goals.
A new Trio: Messi-Saurez-Griezmann
Yesterday almost all Barca fans would be happy to see the trio Messi, Saurez and Griezmann attacking in a triangle. Griezmann is never a winger so Setien made up the mind to make an ideal triangle formation with Griezmann and Saurez upfront while Messi in-behind them.
Messi made the assists and the link-up between those three were deadly because had not been Sergio Asenjo in goal for Villarreal then there could easily be 6-8 goals yesterday. This trio worked last night because all the three were playing exactly where they supposed to and actually were making the triangle formation whether Grizmann dropped deep or Messi and even Saurez played Messi’s role in the Frenchman’s stunning goal.
They holding the formation and linking up beautifully while the full backs and midfielders especially Sergi Roberto making those runs and making key passes to open the heart of defense. Griezmann was never a bad player but he was not used properly in Barca and yesterday’s match proved it, if proper link-up is there with Messi, the Frenchman can be deadly which is evident and full marks to his work rate shown yesterday.
Nothing to lose defensively
Yesterday Barcelona were playing freely because they knew the title race were almost over and so we saw all of the players attacking in a fierce way. So, except for Lenglet and Pique at the back no player were in the defense which resulted in the only goal conceded but that was repayed with the brilliant attacking play from the Blaugranas.
The full-backs again played a key role in the attack, especially Jordi Alba and Roberto, who was playing in the midfield but was accurate enough to show the spark, which we are used to seeing from De Jong, who is out from injury.
The Perfect Substitutes
Obviously, the fans were surprised not to see Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati not starting the game but still they came of to make an immediate impact in the last 20 minutes. Riqui Puig again showed the spark in the midfield, making runs, intercepting the ball, tackling and winning the ball back, a true package in a small form factor. He almost setup the goal for Messi which got ruled out due to VAR.
Ansu Fati again steamed down the left-wing combining with Alba and opening the defence with a lot of chances and actually scoring the goal as well. Both the youngsters played a good role in the second half, also we saw Martin Braithwaite taking the striker position and he almost scored twice if Sergio Asenjo did not make those brilliant saves.
Araujo replaced Pique to give some fresh air in the heart of defense and was able to hole back the Villareal attackers to the rest of the match comfortably. Rakitic played the role Busquets quite well, given his good performance record for last couple of games, it was expected to see the Croatian in the midfield in the second half.
Overall, yesterday’s match was a dream comeback match for Barcelona against a strong opponent away from home with a lot of positivity and good teamwork. Saurez got a goal, Griezmann too needed a goal to boost his confidence and Messi almost scored one but provided two brilliant assists, on the other hand, the future stars of Barcelona, Puig and Fati shine again with Braithwaite playing some minutes as well.
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