In a demolition in Catalunya, Barcelona ripped the heart out of Real Madrid, winning 5-1.
This was the biggest Clásico victory since winter 2015, and a much-needed tonic for the Messi-less Barça. The win put the Blaugrana two points clear at the top of the table (and seven points above their eternal rivals). What did we learn?
1. Luis Suárez the Clásico King
Luis Suárez made his Barcelona debut in a Clásico four years ago, and within 10 minutes he already had an assist. This was a marker of things to come. Suárez has been incredible in Spain’s biggest fixture, scoring 9 times in the 10 games since that debut assist.
Nobody, not Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, has as many goals since Suárez joined Barça. The Uruguayan adores the fixture, and today, with Messi (the Clásico’s greatest ever scorer) out of commission, the Blaugrana needed someone to be their star forward.
Luis Suárez obliged. Despite his mediocre season up to Messi’s injury, Suárez stepped up and stood tall against Inter in the Champions League with a good performance but he stood tallest of all here with his goals. He dispatched his first-half penalty with unnerving calm to make it 2-0, and then bagged his side’s crucial third with a stunning 18 yard header.
Finally, he “did a Messi” and chipped Thibaut Courtois delightfully to complete his hat-trick. This was a classic Suárez performance, inasmuch as he didn’t technically play all that well, making a lot of bad decisions. But when it came to the final touch, to having the bottle to be decisive in the box, Luis Suárez made it count.
2. Jordi Alba is the new Messi
Ever since Ernesto Valverde took over as Barcelona manager, Jordi Alba has developed his already considerable game even further by becoming an essential offensive output, essentially “replacing” Neymar as the team’s left-winger.
So just as Neymar stepped up to lead Barcelona during Messi’s last injury, the man who has most stepped up during this injury so far is, yup, Jordi Alba. You wouldn’t have though that the left-back would be the one who assumes the mantle of talisman, but that speaks to Alba’s talent and temperament.
Against Inter, Alba pushed forward into attack to score the second and game-killing goal in the second half. And today against Real Madrid he was resplendent in his offensive leadership. His forward run and supreme touch put him in a great spot to thread the ball across for Coutinho to open the scoring.
And then again he stepped up to drive a glorious cross in behind the defence for Luis Suárez to chase. That saw the Uruguayan get fouled and earn the penalty to make it 2-0. Then in the second half, Alba knuckled down and defended well, shielding his flank from too many Madrid incursions, and it was his pass that started the move that ended with Luis Suárez making it 3-1.
3. Marcelo The Miracle
Marcelo has scored three goals in the last three games for Real Madrid.
Marcelo is a left-back.
Well, “left-back” really. He is nominally a defender but he is far more comfortable and useful in attack. Both as Madrid’s primary playmaker and, more recently, their most deadly player in the final third of the pitch. Tonight against Barcelona we saw just how potent he can be.
It’s not that Marcelo is a better striker of a ball than, say, Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema, but it’s his confidence and swagger that allow him to improvise where others wouldn’t. Against Barça, Marcelo scored to make it 2-1 and give Madrid hope, but he only got that goal because he had the composure, nerve and vision to chest the ball beyond the onrushing Gerard Piqué, giving him a clean shot at goal.
It seemed fitting that, as part of Real Madrid’s epic collapse, Marcelo left the field with a hamstring injury – an injury incurred trying to make things happen in attack and rescue Real Madrid again. Get well soon, champ!
4. Valverde learning his lessons!
Last season the only black mark on Ernesto Valverde’s copybook was throwing away a 4-1 first leg lead against Roma in the Champions League because he tried to sit on a lead rather than extend it, leaving his fast forward Ousmane Dembélé on the bench despite Roma leaving acres of space behind their defence.
This has happened numerous times this season, with Valverde largely being bailed out by his players (Messi vs. Spurs, Alba vs. Inter) in those situations because he simply refused to make attacking changes. Today against Real Madrid, however, he made the right changes. First, he pushed Sergi Roberto forward into midfield, and then he brought on the lightning quick Ousmane Dembélé.
Dembélé added the pace Barça were crying out for, and it was his run through the middle of the pitch that facilitated Sergi Roberto’s assist for the crucial 3-1 goal. And then his sublime skill on the left that saw him set-up Arturo Vidal for the game-capping fifth (inbetween those, Sergi Roberto had pressed Sergio Ramos into a mistake and allowed Luis Suárez to make it 4-1).
Has Ernesto Valverde learned his lesson about using Ousmane Dembélé’s pace as a weapon? If he has, Barça could become very dangerous!
5. Adios Lopetegui
It’s been a terrible, awful, horrendous four months for Julen Lopetegui. From getting sacked from the Spain job one day before the World Cup started because he agreed to take over at Real Madrid (without first informing Spain) to then doing so badly at Madrid that he is surely going to get sacked before November begins.
Lopetegui oversaw an ageing Madrid squad meandering into a maelstrom, without anything in the way of new attacking blood (that was very much needed) nor the remit to move on from Los Blancos’ epic veterans and bring through their young bucks. As a result the Madrid squad was demotivated and disorganised.
They were an utter shambles against Barcelona, torn to pieces by a Blaugrana side missing Leo Messi. The last time this happened to a Madrid manager, it was Rafa Benitez and he didn’t last much longer before being replaced by Zinedine Zidane. Lopetegui is now in that same boat, and is about to cap a disastrous few months of his professional life.
The post Barcelona 5-1 Real Madrid: five things learned as Luis Suarez hammers the final nail in Lopetegui’s coffin appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2yEFrBz
No comments:
Post a Comment