Barcelona recorded a comfortable 4-1 win over Granada to keep their slim title hopes alive and maintain the pressure on league leaders Real Madrid. The Catalan giants find themselves 2 points behind Los Blancos – albeit having played a game more.
Luis Suarez opened the scoring for the away side with an outrageous chip before Chelsea loanee Jeremie Boga equalised for the relegation-threatened outfit. Barcelona looked to be in a spot of bother but goals from Paco Alcacer, a deflected strike by Ivan Rakitic and a volley from Neymar helped them get the 3 points and pile further misery on the 19th placed team.
Here are the major talking points from the La Liga encounter:
#1 Paco Alcacer may finally be coming good
A lot has been said about Paco Alcacer’s dismal stint with Barcelona so far, having scored only 3 goals and assisted another 2 since making the £30 million move to the Camp Nou outfit. The Spaniard was not supposed to play such a pivotal part in the game as he was named on the bench by Barcelona manager Luis Enrique.
However, a potentially season-ending injury to Rafinha – who had started in the absence of Messi – less than 20 minutes into the game provided the 23-year-old with the opportunity to prove his worth to the team.
Alcacer scored the second goal to put his side ahead in the tie before setting up Neymar for the last goal. The Blaugrana have a hugely important one month ahead of them, which can make or break their season – both in the league and the UEFA Champions League. Given the meniscus injury to Rafinha, this might be the perfect time for the former Valencia man to come good and win over the Barcelona fans.
#2 Granada need a miracle to escape relegation
Granada are currently in 19th position in the league table and find themselves 8 points behind 17th placed Leganes. With only 9 games left from now until the end of the season, relegation is almost certain for Lucas Alcaraz’s men.
To make matters worse for the Los Cármenes outfit, they have an away trip to Sevilla scheduled for later this month, while a home game against Real Madrid also awaits Granada towards the fag end of the season. Unless there is a miracle, Granada are certain to lose their top flight status, bringing an end to their 6 year run in La Liga.
#3 Luis Suarez and Neymar just about save the day for Barcelona
Barcelona were able to create the chances but were denied on more occasions than is countable by the genius of Guillermo Ochoa. There was even a point – around the 60th-minute mark – when the 3 points looked to be a huge doubt and the Blaugrana’s over dependence on the genius of Lionel Messi was evident.
However, Suarez and Neymar stepped up to the occasion, the former justifying his hype as the next ‘King’ of Barcelona and helped negate the absence of the diminutive Argentine. The Brazilian was sensational last season when Messi was sidelined due to injury and while Barcelona have been a completely different team without Messi this season, they came up good – just about – to help them keep the pressure on Real Madrid.
#4 Guillermo Ochoa was the reason Granada conceded only 4
The Mexican denied Luis Suarez a sure shot hat-trick in the first half and if not for his brilliance the score could have been much worse, even double digits was possible at one point in time.
We all know that Ochoa is capable of truly scintillating yet single-handed performances, as was witnessed in the heroic Man of the Match performance for Mexico against hosts Brazil in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Ochoa’s heroics may not be enough to help Lucas Alcaraz’s side ensure their top-flight survival but there’s no denying the undeniable talent that the Mexican possesses.
#5 Barcelona are a shadow of their self without Lionel Messi
Any team struggles in the absence of their best player but how average Barcelona are without Lionel Messi is scary to say the least. There were early signs that the Catalan giants had moved past their era of Messi-dependence when Neymar and Suarez kept their run going when the 5-time Ballon d’Or was sidelined with an injury last year.
However, their dependence on Messi is worse than one can recall during the 12 years of Messi-merization. It begs the question if Barcelona have regressed in recent years or is this just a result of Luis Enrique’s tactics?
We will have to wait until next season to get an answer to that question but right now, Barcelona should make it their top priority to ensure that Messi extends his contract with the club because they are just not ready for life without the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner. But to be honest, who would be?
Also Read: Twitter explodes as Neymar and Suarez guide Messi-less Barcelona to 4-1 win over Granada
