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FC Barcelona faced Valladolid in the LaLiga Matchday 24. Winless in the month of February, FC Barcelona were looking to get back to winning ways in LaLiga. Ernesto Valverde rotated his starting 11 ahead of the clash against Lyon in the Champions League.
Kevin-Prince Boateng started ahead of Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal started ahead of Ivan Rakitic. Ousmane Dembele found a place in the starting lineup upon his return from injury. Clement Lenglet was rested and Thomas Vermaelen started in central defence.
The Valladolid side started in a 3-5-2 formation. There were not many chances in the first half for both teams. Barcelona took the lead through Lionel Messi's penalty in the 43rd minute after Gerard Pique was bundled down in the box.
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In the second half, Valverde brought Suarez, Coutinho, and Rakitic on but still, there was no change in the scoreline. Lionel Messi missed a penalty late in the second half.
Barcelona are still on top of the table with a 9 point lead over Real Madrid, at least till they play against Girona on Sunday. The Blaugrana will now travel to Lyon for their Champions League game.
#5 Real Valladolid come out with one intention, sneak a point
Valladolid had only one thing in mind from the first minute itself. They were trying to defend the game, get a point, and get the heck out of Camp Nou. There was not even one shot on target from the Valladolid team. There was no counter-attacking or pressing from them either.
Sergio González structured his team for this purpose as well and it has to be said he did it really well. The 3-5-2 formation outnumbered Barcelona in the midfield and allowed the Valladolid side to keep track of all the midfielders. Lionel Messi was man-marked and had to dribble and create things on his own rather than finding players. There was little to no gap to find other players.
The frustration on the face of Lionel Messi told how stubborn the Valladolid team had been. It did break eventually with the likes of even Gerard Pique offering attacking support but it was a near-flawless plan from the underdogs.
#4 Barcelona turn the heat up in the second half
The game yesterday was a great example of how football is truly a game of two halves. In the second half, Ernesto Valverde's gentle tweak worked effectively. To overcome the difficulties of the physical pressure Barcelona needed more manpower.
Kevin-Prince Boateng was taken off for Luis Suarez in the 60th minute. Suarez's involvement was different from Boateng and his movement around the defence caused positional problems. He helped Messi get unmarked at times, thanks to the dangerous presence that he is.
Philippe Coutinho's introduction 10 minutes later proved to be a good move too. Coutinho had a lively game making good diagonal runs and overlaps catching the defence out of position. Sergio Busquets too pushed up with Pique defending the hole and at times, even he went forward to attack, thus creating an extra man for Valladolid to mark.
Barcelona were unlucky and at the same time horrific with their finishing, which led to the scoreline being stuck at 1-0. Not the most convincing of performances but Barcelona sure stepped up to what was in front of them- a solid defence.
#3 Jordi Masip haunts his former club
Who is Jordi Masip? Born in Sabadell, Barcelona, Masip moved to the club's famous academy La Masia in 2004, when he was 15 years old. He played for Barcelona B from 2008-14 as a third choice during his first years, going on to make 74 appearances. In 2014, he was promoted to the first team but hardly featured due to the presence of Claudio Bravo and Marc Ter Stegen ahead of him.
In 2017, he moved to his current team Real Valladolid. Masip had a solid first game against Barcelona at their home earlier this season. This time he came to their home to haunt them. Already with 7 clean sheets under his belt, he looked poised to get an 8th. Masip made 7 saves in total and all of them came from close-range.
He denied Luis Suarez from dead in front of goal in a 1v1 and he did the same to Leo Messi. He also denied KPB from scoring in the first half.
Even from the spot, Masip had the upper hand over Messi. He dived the right way during the first penalty but the shot proved to be too good. In the second half, during the second penalty, he dived the right way and saved it before saving Messi's rebound header.
The former Barcelona man kept his team in the hunt till the very end and also kept the scoreline respectable. A Man of the Match performance from Jordi Masip.
#2 Barcelona need a striker ASAP
It is what the club has been looking for and it has been quite a while. There have been talks of Barcelona gunning for a young striker but eventually, they ended up signing Kevin-Prince Boateng on loan. Yesterday's game from Kevin-Prince Boateng shows that he does not deserve to be a permanent member of the roster and should leave for Sassuolo.
He missed a clear 1v1 against Masip and also took too long to take a shot on another occasion. He is hardly involved in the play and does not confuse defences with his runs. Also, he is too slow.
Luis Suarez is good when it comes to being involved or making confusing runs in front of the defence. But age is catching up with El Pistolero and he is not at the sharpest with his passes.
He missed three clear-cut chances against Valladolid, all three of which should have ended up in the back of the net. Suarez has also missed the most big-chances in Europe's Top 5 Leagues (24). He is one of the reasons why Messi's assist tally is stuck at 10.
Suarez is also getting older and cannot play every game at his sharpest. Luka Jovic, Kasper Dolberg, Nicolas Pepe, Timo Werner, all could be a good long term replacement for Suarez. Barcelona needs one of these guys and not any goal poacher. Hopefully, they can get one of them, they have to. There is not a way around it.
#1 Gerard Pique's mammoth performance: One of the most underrated players
Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos are two of the most hated people in football. However, the latter is appreciated highly enough for his defensive talents and leadership qualities. Gerard Pique is unlucky enough to be booed by people of his own country, called slow and finished by his own fanbase, and not be considered among the all-time greats as a defender.
To be really honest, Pique is one of the best personalities that one could come across. He is a great defender, very good in 1v1 situations, great in anticipation and tackling, and is a great ball player.
He is one the better leaders on the pitch too, motivating his defense, helping out in the attack, doing his duties well. Due to his blunt attitude, people hate him. He is very vocal about his likings, his support for Catalan independence, and pretty much everything else.
Take his performance against Valladolid. He helped in holding the defensive line and when he saw that the forwards needed help, he drove forward. Pique's presence in the front provided an extra man to pass, and defence had one more man to watch out for. He won the penalty for Barcelona due to which they won the game.
He had 7.1% of the team's possession, the most for any Barcelona player. He had 95% pass accuracy while making 79 accurate passes, the most by any player in the game. And to add to it, he also won five aerial battles.
For how much more time are we going to underrate Gerard Pique? Barcelona have been depending on him for the last 5 to 6 games.
