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Barcelona are among the teams that have benefitted hugely from Atletico Madrid’s failure to win against Villarreal over the weekend. The Blaugrana are back joint-top of the league after winning their own game against Getafe on Sunday.
Ronald Koeman’s side is one of six teams with seven points in the league table, although they are yet to hit their best form.
The Blaugrana are still adapting to life without Lionel Messi, who has joined Paris Saint-Germain, but they haven’t looked bad at all in their first three matches.
Of course, there’s a lot to improve upon, but seven points out of nine is a good return despite the team’s seemingly overreliance on Memphis Depay.
Depay the match-winner against Getafe
Depay seems to have assumed Messi's role at Barcelona and, despite joining just this summer, his importance to the team cannot be understated.
The Dutchman has contributed in each of his first three matches for the Catalans and was the match-winner on Sunday against Getafe.
Barcelona swept into an early lead when Sergi Roberto opened the scoring after just two minutes, however, Getafe restored parity in the 18th minute through Sandro Ramirez.
Depay, though, once again came up clutch for Barcelona by putting Koeman’ side 2-1 up on the hour mark, a goal that proved to be the match-winner. The former Lyon star hasn’t been at the club for long but he’s already becoming the main man.
Barcelona still lacking creativity
Koeman opted for a front three of Depay, Antoine Griezmann and Martin Braithwaite on Sunday, with the hope that they could trouble Getafe.
However, only Depay was a lively presence. Griezmann endured a frustrating afternoon and was booed by the home fans when he was substituted, while Braithwaite had an equally poor game.
"It was a difficult game. Getafe are a strong team. We started very well. They equalised. We had control of the game but we didn't create many chances,” Koeman admitted, as quoted by beIN Sports.
"I think that in the second half we lowered our performance with the ball. It should be noted, the work and the attitude we had to win the match. It was different from last year. Last year we drew games like today's. I'm very happy with the team."
Barcelona may have made an unbeaten start to the season, but Depay alone cannot continue to carry the team. And unless other players begin to step up, the team could soon be punished for it.
