Saturday’s late kick-off from Spain had Barcelona locking horns with the team at the bottom of the table in Granada at the Camp Nou. In a game, that looked like a possible stroll in the park for the Catalan giants, the Andalusians put in a fantastic performance to frustrate Barcelona who earned a hard fought 1-0 victory to move into the second spot on the table.
Barcelona now sits behind Zidane's Real Madrid after 10 games into the season with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla both just a point behind them. With a big game in the Champions League on Tuesday and a long injury list, Luis Enrique was forced to field a team that was not full-strength. With only 15 recognized first team players available, Enrique had to call in three players from the B squad to fill up with bench but their presence on the pitch was not required.
Here are five talking points from an intense encounter from the Camp Nou.
#1 Organized defence's frustrate Barcelona the most
Barcelona has always had one style of playing their football and have more often been successful than not. However, there has always been one style of football that has managed to stop Barcelona, and that's a tightly organized defence that has the ability to soak in pressure and hit them on the counter. Teams like Atletico and Chelsea have frustrated Barcelona in the past with a tight defence while many of the smaller clubs in the La Liga try to adopt a similar formula.
Tonight, Granada, the team with the worst defensive record in the league shut down Barcelona, the team with the best attacking record with what was a fantastic five-man defence that was helped by midfielders dropping back. Barcelona struggled to break through the defence and it took a brilliant piece of play from Suarez and Lionel Messi to break open the defence before Rafinha’s fantastic finish.
#2 Could Rafinha step into Iniesta’s boots?
With Barcelona’s leader and most influential midfielder out for up to eight weeks thanks to an injury, the race for which player replaces Don Andres in the starting 11 has intensified. The battle will be between Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez, and Rafinha, all three of them being youngsters with a bright future ahead of them. Each of the three players possesses qualities that would be required to replace Iniesta, but there is one man leading that race now.
Rafinha looks to be the favorite to replace Iniesta and will be expected to start on Tuesday evening when the Catalans fly across the sea to face Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. His fantastic skill and hunger to contribute to the attack are great to watch, and the youngster looks to be in great form at the moment. However, he lacks the composure of Iniesta, which is a major factor in big games, while Andre Gomes is one of the most composed players. He could be given the nod ahead of Rafinha for that reason on Tuesday.
#3 Fantastic atmosphere at Camp Nou as a cause unite the fans
With the capacity of almost 100,000 in the Camp Nou, it is almost always difficult to fill up the stadium. Besides, Barcelona has always had a lot of tourists and overseas fans visiting the Camp Nou rather than a regular group of fans. The stadium is usually pretty average regarding noise, in particular against the weaker teams. With the exceptions of big games like the El Clasico, the fans at Camp Nou aren’t the loudest.
However, this evening, the fans were as loud as ever singing and chanting for their club. It looked like their protest against the President of La Liga for his comments on the ‘bottegate’ incident at the dying moments in Mestalla, and the omission of Luis Enrique had united the fans. The club has openly protested against Javier Tebas in the recent past. The atmosphere created by the fans certainly did intimidate Granada.
#4 The defensive high-line: Smart or Risky?
A prominent feature in the Barcelona defense this season has been the high line that the club has maintained in their games leading to a number of offside calls going against their opposition. While the high line has been very successful tonight, it has proven to be an extremely risky move, especially against teams that possess fast attacking players. The question is, will Luis Enrique deploy the high line against teams like Manchester City and Real Madrid?
Pushing the defensive line forward when the ball is out of possession is probably one of the riskiest moves, with players like Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne in the ranks. Manchester City could punish Barcelona who is without both Gerrard Pique and Jeremy Mathieu for their game on Tuesday. Umtiti and Mascherano are not the fastest players you will find and expect Aguero to be a nuisance on Tuesday if the high-line will be back.
#5 Sergi Roberto slotting in as a right-back
While this is something we have been accustomed to this season after the departure of Dani Alves to Juventus, Sergi Roberto’s performance at right-back is something to be appreciated for sure. Barcelona’s faithful servant moved into the first team after four fantastic seasons with the B team but never managed to break into the main 11, facing competition from the likes Xavi, Iniesta, Rakitic, Busquets and Fabregas over the years.
However, last season proved out to be his year as he proved his versatility playing in 7 different positions on the pitch. After a few good performances at Right Back, he is now the first choice right-back for Barcelona and has been terrific. Bursting down the flank with pace, he has been combining well with Lionel Messi while his crossing is arguably better than that of Dani Alves. Sergi Roberto is certainly one of the best Right backs in the world already.
