La Liga: Granada 0-3 Barcelona - 5 Talking Points

The game at Los Carmenes couldn’t have gone any better for the Catalan side as they successfully completed a run of games at the business end of the La Liga to gallop into the sunset as Champions again. They left behind Real Madrid side breathing on their necks by a solitary point as they won the game against Granada by 3 goals to nil with a Luis Suarez hat-trick sealing the deal.

The game was opened up in the 22nd minute as a delightful square ball from Jordi Alba to Luis Suarez set up a tap in for the Uruguayan to open the scoring. The second came in shortly afterwards as Dani Alves ran his heart out to reach a Javier Mascherano lob, only to cross for a grateful Luis Suarez who headed in with glee.

Granada seemed overtly content with their fate but tried a few things after half time as they came close on occasion to pull one back. A late Suarez goal ended the Granada attempts as Neymar unselfishly set up his partner for his hat-trick. Let’s have a look at the game’s talking points.

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#1 Luis Suarez clinches Pichichi

Liverpool fans continue to pine as their beloved ex-player goes on to prove to the world why he absolutely needed to play for Barcelona. He moved one step closer towards the pantheons of Football’s greatest players by clinching the ‘Pichichi’, La Liga’s equivalent of the Golden Boot in style.

Luis Suarez was teed up by Jordi Alba, Dani Alves and Neymar Jr. on the night to take his tally up to 40, 5 more than runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo, who himself scored a brace on the night. In doing so, He broke the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly on the award that has carried on since 2009 when another Uruguayan beat them to it.

What is impressive about ‘Luisito’ and his goal tally is that he has scored 59 goals overall and played in another 19 assists in all competitions, having played 46 games across the entire Barcelona season. The best bit is Barcelona still have the Copa Del Rey Final to allow Suarez to add to his already absurd tally. Well done, Luis!

#2 Granada had little fight in them

There was little to talk about from Granada’s point of view. The first half was as much a whimper from the Andalucian outfit as it could have been as they meekly surrendered command of midfield and seemed content on trying to park the bus. The plan may have been to attack the Catalan side on the counter but that hardly worked as they found it hard to get hold of the ball.

Their forwards, the likes of Rochina, El-Arabi and Penaranda seemed to be feeding off scraps and were not good on the ball.

While it is true that there is little you can hope for against an overwhelmingly strong Barcelona outfight, Granada could’ve been more courageous for the same reason that they weren’t; they had nothing to lose.

Regardless, this Granada team did spark to life on occasions in the second half and tried to pull one back but it was a case of a little too late for them. Perhaps if they had something to play for this season, the game could’ve unraveled differently.

#3 Barcelona lift the La Liga title

It did seem in doubt for a bit, as Barcelona felt at one point that the La Liga title could have been lost. It was around the time that they faced Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, a tie that they would eventually lose, that their hold on the title race started to loosen up.

Villarreal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Valencia had cut down Barcelona’s lead at the top of the table so much that Atletico were tied on points with them and Real Madrid were sniffing around only a single point away. Things were beginning to fall apart for Luis Enrique’s men as the record-breaking season powered by Barcelona’s high octane ‘MSN’ fuelled attack was about to give way.

It was from here that Barcelona did the unthinkable, they won their last 5 games in a row but that wasn’t it. They won the games scoring a mammoth 24 goals and conceding none.

During this time, Atletico lost out to Levante, hence giving up their chances for the title completely and Real Madrid kept their winning streak alive like Barcelona, but without the Catalans dropping points, the result was inevitable.

Barcelona lift their 24th Primera Division title and the party is just getting started with more to come in the Copa Del Rey final if the stars are on their side again.

#4 Andres Fernandez left frustrated

Goalkeeper Andres Fernandez has spent the season on loan at Granada from FC Porto. However, he must have never been as frustrated in the goal as he was in this game. The Spaniard made as many as 7 saves in the game and a big chunk of those were excellent saves at crucial times in the game.

Yet, he ended up letting in 3 goals that he could’ve done little about.

All three goals were scored from inside the box and maybe even the distance of 12 yards from goal by a single player left unmarked by his defenders. The game began well for Fernandez when he pushed a good header from Gerard Pique onto the bar to keep the scores down to 0-0 early in the 7th minute.

He saved magnificently when Neymar ran through on goal and palmed away an excellent Leo Messi free kick from 35 yards. He even got carded for locking horns with some of the Barcelona players in a heated argument midgame between both teams.

The irony of the situation was that in spite of putting together an excellent performance otherwise, he couldn’t stop Luis Suarez who tapped in three goals and stole the game rather easily. However, if Andres Fernandez can play games like this more often, he may be a wanted man in the seasons to come.

#5 Copa Del Rey Beckons Barcelona

Barcelona could end their season on a further high and ease out the pain of having lost out on retaining their UEFA Champions League title while their two greatest rivals in La Liga play the competition’s final. They could go out to Vicente Calderon and snap up a double with the La Liga title already in the bag.

Having beaten second division side Villanovense, Espanyol, Athletic Bilbao and Valencia on their way to the final, the Catalan side will hope to beat fellow finalists Sevilla to end the season on a real high. Sevilla though, will not be any pushovers.

One could argue that Unai Emery’s men have had it relatively easier than their fellow Spanish side, having faced relatively easier opponents on their way to the final, these boys from Andalucia are also the UEFA Europa League finalists which will be played in Basel, mere 4 days prior to the Copa Del Rey final.

Regardless, Luis Enrique’s side will bask in the glory of their title triumph for a week and will face a comparatively tired Sevilla side with their won batteries recharged.