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Barcelona faced Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou before they get ready for Lyon mid-week. The previous fixture at the Vallecas was a tough one for the Blaugrana as they only scraped past Vallecano to get the win.
Keeping the midweek game in mind, Valverde rested Rakitic and Clement Lenglet and started Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti. Ousmane Dembele was also rested for Philippe Coutinho. Even though Barcelona enjoyed a lot of possession in the first half and had some half-chances, it was Rayo Vallecano who took the lead, against the run of play. Raul de Tomas finished off a brilliant piece of play, created out of nothing by himself.
Barcelona kept pushing for the equalizer and soon got their reward. Lionel Messi made Rayo pay for their lack of defensive capabilities during set pieces, with a beautifully curled ball and Gerard Pique greeted it with his head.
In the second half, Arthur came off for Ousmane Dembele and Barcelona's attacking flair multiplied in the right wing. Dembele and Semedo's link-up play got Barcelona a penalty which was converted with a minimum of fuss by Lionel Messi. Ivan Rakitic came on for Coutinho late in the day, but he made his quickest of contributions by building up towards Suarez's goal and the final assist.
Barcelona are still 7 points clear of Atletico Madrid at top of the table in La Liga and now have the big one to play on Wednesday against Lyon. Here are five hits and flops from the game.
#5 Flop: Jordi Amat
Jordi Amat had a very tough time on the field, be it against Ousmane Dembele after he came on, or Nelson Semedo and Arturo Vidal from the start. Even though he completed 100% of attempted tackles, he was possibly the worst Vallecano defender.
Amat gave away the unnecessary free-kick to Barcelona when he fouled Arturo Vidal and Lionel Messi made them pay from the angle. He should have known better, that his team is weak defending set-pieces from the side. He also couldn't deal with the pressure that Dembele and Semedo created from the wing in the second half and both players could find a through ball to each other easily.
Consequently, he clipped Semedo inside the box to concede the penalty that gave Barcelona the lead. A bad performance from Jordi Amat which saw him directly giving away two set pieces that turned to goal.
#4 Hit: Arturo Vidal
When the big and physical Chilean was signed by Barcelona, a lot of questions were raised on his creativity and Barca DNA. Arturo Vidal does not have a Barca DNA but he has the heart. He gives his 100% every time when he is on the pitch, a workhorse who could die for the team.
Other than Luis Suarez, he was the most actively participating player on the pitch, be it in the attack or in the defence. His dissecting pass through the defence was perfect and it was a shame that Coutinho didn't finish the play. He kept running like a rampaging bull for the entirety of the game.
It wasn't like he ran like a road-runner without any result. He had the most number of touches by any player in the game (116), he made the highest number of accurate passes (91), and he had the highest pass success percentage among attackers and midfielders in the starting 11 (96%). He also had the highest possession count for a player at 9.2%, a ball carrier. Also, he made 8 tackles out of 10 attempted, made 3 interceptions, and also won 3 aerial duels.
A true workhorse.
#3 Flop: Philippe Coutinho
It seems like whenever Coutinho is playing for Barcelona, he is doing so to get on the flop list. Why Phil? It hurts to see such a huge talent like Phil Coutinho failing to do what is expected of him at Barcelona, but that is what the pressure at Barcelona is.
Coutinho wasn't exactly bad yesterday but it isn't about being bad at Barcelona, it is about how good? For all we know, he still looks very confused about his position, doesn't know where to start, doesn't know how to operate in the half-space. He takes the ball, dribbles into a defender, gets it into his right foot, looks to shoot and decides against it, squares the ball to Arturo Vidal. This is what he did in the first half yesterday.
There is no element of creativity or risk involved whatsoever and there is not telepathy with him and any other player like there is better Messi-Suarez, Semedo-Dembele, Messi-Alba etc. Above everything, he had such a great chance to put Barcelona into the lead and he helped the ball into Dimitrievski's hands with a rather weak shot.
Coutinho is showing all signs of a player who is lost of confidence, can he recover from this slump, ever?
#2 Hit: Raul de Tomas
Energetic, lone-warrior, clinical, a wonderful performance by Raul de Tomas. If there was one man who didn't deserve to be on the losing side, it is this man. He had the defence at ropes on many counter-attacks but he was outnumbered on most of them.
What a first goal it was from him. All he had was the ball with Pique dead in front of him, a man who would tackle the ball away if you try to round him, then Semedo came to support as well. He just got the ball into his right foot and found a narrow-angle to shoot from outside the box, then he curled it with the perfect weight and the perfect angle.
He made attempts in the second-half, even managed to cut the ball into the box within finishing range, but no other player was making the run into the box. He did what he could but he was all alone every time. Yet, being alone most of the time all alone the season, he has still bagged 11 goals. If Rayo is relegated which they possibly will be, then de Tomas is up for grabs for many top-flight teams.
#1 Hit: Lionel Messi
To find Leo Messi in the hit list is almost inevitable, he does something in the pitch to end up here. Who remembers when he tiptoed past the defenders just a shot away from scoring? Who remembers when he found a lazy through ball to Nelson Semedo? These are just Messi things, magical even when not that elegant.
The free-kick from Messi was picture-perfect, right above the defence, bending straight into Gerard Pique's head. The penalty was cool as ice, a slow run-up and watching Dimitrievski till the last moment before tapping the ball in. He should have had another assist had Coutinho finished off the ball from Messi's pass.
Now even though, he was not very good in counter-attacks, not at his sharpest when dribbling, not at the sharpest with passing, he still got the goal and the assist. And to think he should have had two more assists if Coutinho had finished the 1v1 and also if Suarez had finished from a side angle. Even the most average Lionel Messi performance is a hit performance. La Pulga for a reason.
