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Fabrice hits the post and Valdes makes a double-save
Normally, teams lose their determination once Barca open the scoring, often allowing them to score again and again. That is why we often see big scores of 4-0 and 5-0. And in the final half-an-hour, teams start getting tired due to the intense pressing that they put in, in the first half. Well, neither was the case with Malaga. The game opened up quite a bit in the second half as the crowd witnessed end-to-end football resulting in Malaga getting their chance to equalise soon enough.
Elisue on the counter-attack, very nicely picked out the run of Santa Cruz and laid a through ball to him. Santa Cruz rode past the challenge of the advancing Valdes, taking the ball to the byline. The angle being too tight, Santa Cruz provided a cut back into the box which found Fabrice, who now had Victor Valdes and a pair of Barca defenders covering the goal. He tried putting the ball in the only empty area of the goal he could immediately find, but unfortunately couldn’t get a proper hold of the ball and ended up hitting it slightly wide to hit the post and rebound.
Cesc Fabregas started in the false 9 role, in the absence of Lionel Messi
That was a big let-off for Barca, so they set out to find a two-goal cushion, to be helped by the introduction of Neymar. Neymar showed a few bright touches and brilliant runs, one of them resulting in a free kick about 20 yards out, from which Neymar forced a good save from the Malaga keeper. As the final few minutes of the match started, Barca defenders started to panic. Vades was forced into action with a double-save from a point blank header and a shot from just inside the area as Barca just managed to hang on to take the 3 points home.
What went wrong and what did not?
Without tiki-taka, Barca at times looked aimless. They got the ball into the box time and again, but couldn’t create as many good chances, as they are habituated to getting goals in a precise way by playing through the centre. Had Fabregas started as a midfielder, this style of play would have suited him perfectly. With the introduction of Neymar, things brightened up a little. Once the season gets fully underway and some big fixtures start taking place, expect Iniesta, Busquets and Fabregas in the midfield and Neymar, Messi and Alexis in the forward line. Expect a lot of fireworks too.
Martino seems to be taking the squad rotation aspect quite seriously. Dropping Alves for Adriano and Busquets for Song indicates that everyone will get their chances and that players’ energy will be conserved in order to play the second-half of the season more effectively. In the end, that seems to have paid off as Adriano scored the winning goal for them.
The next fixture is against Atletico Madrid for the Super Cup clash, who secured a big 5-0 victory over Rayo earlier today. Hopefully Messi will start that match and Barca will be keen to start the season with a trophy under their belt, however low it is on the priority list. The Camp Nou provides a home advantage as good as any in Europe, so Barca should start the game as favourites to clinch the trophy. Right now they are top of the table in La Liga, while Real Madrid play their second match tomorrow against Granada. Pressure already on Madrid?
