Analysing Barcelona's goal against Espanyol

Barcelona registered their 12th game of the season with a 1-0 victory against city rivals Espanyol. The victory ensured Barca with an unassailable 9 point lead over Real Madrid with 34 points. The Catalans were frustrated by Espanyol’s well-organised defence and consistent attack. Tuesday’s game witnessed Barca forming a transition from their natural passing style to rather an attack-minded gameplay, although they retained possession. Dani Alves’s explosive 18- yard long ranger after a beautiful one-two with Busquets struck the post just before the stroke of half time. Nevertheless, Barca struggled to score against a defence minded Espanyol until Alexis’s 68th minute goal.

Match stats via www.squawka.com

Moving onto the analysis of the match winning goal.

Messi at times used to drop deep, which allowed Neymar and Alexis to cut inside while the full-backs pushed up. We start with Sergio Busquets having the ball, having spotted Neymar on the left wing, the Spaniard gives a comfortable pass to the Brazilian. We can see four defenders lined to put a stop to the Barca attack. However, Espanyol’s Raul Rodriguez,the defender at the end fails to mark Neymar and ends up giving the brazilian the required time and space to cut inside the box.As Neymar proceeds with his attack, we can clearly see Messi is not marked by the defender and is left open.

Sidnei and Raul Garcia tries to stop Neymar from making any sort of threat but fails to snatch away the ball. The formerSantos forward sneaks the ball past the defenders with a descent through ball as Sanchez positions himself with great ease as the Espanyol defender, Moreno leaves the Chilean unmarked. As the defence tilts the otherside, the Brazilian’s efforts meet Alexis who slots the ball into the net with a simple tap in at the far post.