La Liga Round 29

Granada CF 1-4 FC Barcelona

Lineups:

Granada CF: Ochoa; Foulquier, Saunier, Lombán, Gastón, Héctor; Uche, Angban, Wakaso, Pereira; Kravets. (5-4-1)

FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Mascherano, Mathieu, Alba; Rakitić, Busquets, Gomes; Rafinha, Suárez, Neymar. (4-3-3)

FC Barcelona had to face a tough challenge on the road while knowing that they will not count on Lionel Messi due to a suspension. They could get out of Nuevo Los Cármenes with a victory thanks to the brilliance of Neymar, Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets. Granada CF did not do enough to hold that frontline and lost 4-1.

Luis Enrique had to tweak the style of play without Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué on the pitch. Those three players and Busquets are the last members of that zonal theory implemented in the Pep Guardiola’s Barça. Barcelona kept the possession of the ball but used the long-pass method to reach to their forwards in a faster way.

Neymar moved freely throughout the last third of the pitch. He was the one who connected every dot on offense. His way to combine playmaking and dribbling is delightful. Lately, he has been unstoppable when driving the ball through the left wing. Meanwhile, Suárez fought for every ball inside the box. Matthieu Saunier and David Rodríguez Lombán struggled at holding Suárez away from the ball.

One of the crucial moments early in the game was when Rafinha was substituted by Paco Alcácer due to an injury. Alcácer had a fantastic game even tough he had to play as the right winger of the team, which is not his natural position.

Barcelona created multiple chances throughout the entire first half. But it was up until the 44th minute that they could open the score. Jordi Alba sent a beautiful long-pass to Suárez, who made the cut through the right side. He took advantage of the bad position by Guillermo Ochoa and made a cheap shot.

Granada responded quick in the second half. In the 50th minute, Saunier drove the ball through the midfield and sent a well-measured through-assist to Jérémie Boga while being under the pressure of Busquets and André Gomes. Boga made the cut through an open gap between Javier Mascherano and Alba to score the tie.

Alcácer responded with a goal 14 minutes later after Boga’s goal. Suárez assisted him with a beautiful semi-long pass while he had Lombán marking him. Alcácer made it with a right-footed volley.

Uche was suspended after seeing a second yellow with eight minutes left on the clock. One minute later, Ivan Rakitić closed the game after he sent a shot just outside of the box that ended up reflected by Saunier. Neymar was the nucleus of that play because he made the diagonal cut and passed through Dimitri Foulquier, Saunier and Lombán.

Neymar scored the fourth and final goal for Barcelona. The play was set-up by a triangle conformed by Neymar, Suárez and Alcácer. Suárez passed the ball to Alcácer after dragging Saunier and Lombán to his side. That left an open gap for Alcácer to receive the ball on the right side of the box. Alcácer sent an easy assist to Neymar who only had to made a soft touch. This was Neymar’s 100 goal with Barcelona in all competitions.

Barcelona is alive in the battle for the league title. A title race that is starting to become a two-headed contention after Sevilla FC‘s 0-0 tie against Real Sporting de Gijón. Anything can happen in football, but it seems like El Clásico will be the defining moment in this title race.