Normal business resumed in the La Liga as Barcelona ran riot at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque, putting 5 past the newly promoted Leganes side to go to the top of La Liga.
Barcelona went back to winning ways yesterday after making light work of newly promoted Leganes. Messi, Neymar, Suarez got on the score-sheet along with Rafinha to put 5 past Asier Garitano’s men. Here are 4 talking points from the game.
1. Irreplaceable
If last week’s shock loss to Alaves proved anything, it was that the ‘MSN’ trio couldn’t be broken up. Since the arrival of Luis Suarez in 2014, the trio have become the best attack in all of world football and arguably the best front three in history. As they have done to many teams before and they will to many teams from here on out, they pulled Leganes apart from the start and showed no mercy to the newly promoted side.
Last week after Messi and Suarez were rested for the match against Alaves, Neymar struggled up front alongside Paco Alcacer and Arda Turan, and Barcelona couldn’t take the chances they made. The duo, despite being talented individuals themselves, do not come close to offering the same kind of quality. To say that Messi and Suarez are a bit better than Turan and Alcacer would be an understatement and this was made even more clear by yesterday’s performance. The ‘MSN’ cannot be broken up if Barcelona want to continue dishing out defeats by large margins that their fans love seeing.
2. Sergio Busquets’s Absence
The most notable name to miss out on this clash was Sergio Busquets. One of Barcelona’s most important midfield players, the 28-year-old was rested by Luis Enrique for reasons unknown, likely to experiment with his squad.
This gave Iniesta a deeper role and he had to defend more than he would have liked, reducing his influence going forward. Barcelona missed Busquets’s calm midfield presence and that technical prowess the Spanish international is so famous for. The Catalans couldn’t dominate in the midfield like they usually do and the difficulty in breaking up the Leganes attack in its early stages was visibly obvious. It just goes to show that despite the tremendous quality of Rakitic and Iniesta, nobody can quite do what Busquets can and leaving the La Masia graduate out of the squad altogether is something that is unlikely to happen too much going forward this season.
3. Leganes’s Attacking Intent
Asier Garitano’s men should be applauded for trying to take the game to Barcelona, rather than sit back in their half and defend for the entire 90 minutes. Though it failed miserably, it is not a risk most teams would dare to take. They were perhaps encouraged by their performances against Celta Vigo and Atletico Madrid, when they held Los Rojiblancos to a draw last month at home, before succumbing to a narrow 2-1 loss to Sporting Gijon last week.
They threatened as much as they could and tried to make it difficult for Barcelona with their direct approach and aggressive pressing, but the gulf in quality was just too much for the newly promoted side to handle. They maintained a high defensive line and this cost them dearly, with 4 of the 5 goals coming from counter attacking moves. They were perhaps boosted by Alaves’s victory last week and wanted to put a show in front of their home crowd. But it’s not a mistake they’ll do the next time they face Barcelona this season.
4. Defensive Frailties
One of the surprises from yesterday’s match was the manner in which Luis Enrique had decided to set up his team, notably his defence. The Blaugrana were set up in a 3-4-3 formation, with Rafinha and Jordi Alba on the right and left wings respectively. The centre-back comprised of Samuel Umtiti, Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique. There is little doubt that Enrique chose to experiment with this kind of a defensive setup only because the quality in Leganes’s squad was considerably lower and it is unlikely that the Barcelona defence will be set up like this in the future.
But this formation too didn’t seem to work too well for the Champions as they conceded their fourth goal in the La Liga in as many games. In the same number of games, Barcelona have scored 13 goals. Leganes did trouble them more than expected and despite the Pepineros getting their solitary goal via a stellar Gabriel Perez freekick, Barcelona’s defence didn’t look entirely at ease. The Catalan giants have struggled to replace Carles Puyol since his retirement and have often missed the leadership and stability that he would bring to the side. Barcelona can’t afford to have leaky defences against the likes of Real Madrid, Atletico and bigger teams in the Champions League, and it’s something Luis Enrique would want to fix sooner rather than later in the season.
