Barcelona continued its push for a historic treble with a professional yet difficult 2-0 victory over an impressive Valencia at Camp Nou.
The victory left Barca with a two-point gap on top of La Liga ahead of Real Madrid with another crucial week looming, while Valencia remain in the fourth position and the Champions League play-off spot.
Luis Suarez fired the Blaugrana into the lead after just 55 seconds after an exquisite through ball from Segio Busquets found Lionel Messi, who superbly picked out Suarez. The seemingly inevitable onslaught from Barcelona did not come, however, with Valencia dominating the next phase of the match.
On 10 minutes, Rodrigo won Valencia a penalty after been brought down by Gerard Pique. Dani Parejo stepped up, but his poor penalty was saved by Chilean Claudio Bravo to the delight of the 92,000 crowd. The excellent centre-back missed a glorious chance to level the scores as Valencia would have felt extremely unlucky to be 1-0 down at halftime.
Barcelona boss Luis Enrique switched back to his usual 4-3-3 formation for the second half with Ivan Rakitic deployed in midfield and Javier Mascherano dropping back in defence. Jeremy Mathieu slid along to left-back, the position he played last season as captain of Valencia. The change allowed Barca to dominate possession and prevent Valencia from finding space. The league leaders were finally rewarded when Messi scored his 400th goal for the club in injury time to seal maximum points.
Lionel Messi should be made captain next season
Lionel Messi is the world’s greatest footballer, a four-time Ballon d’Or winner and captain of his country, yet not captain of the club which he came to at the age of 12 in 2000. This should change next season. The Argentine’s extraordinary display against Valencia, where he played as a right-winger, striker, no.10 and deep-lying midfielder all in the one game only accentuates Messi’s standing as the true leader of the club.
Regardless if Xavi stays, the 27 year-old should be given the honours of club captain ahead of Andres Iniesta, Mascherano and Pique. Providing the Argentinean maestro with further motivation to reach heights never seen in football before could be a shrewd move by Luis Enrique, completely flat-lining absurd transfer rumours linking Messi to the EPL and Ligue 1.
World-class Otamendi is Argentina’s premier centre-back
Nicolas Otamendi is one of Europe’s most sought-after central defenders, currently been courted by the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. At 183cm, the 27 year-old is surprisingly dangerous at set-pieces, using his body strength to cause havoc in the air. Otamendi was excellent once again for Valencia at Camp Nou, putting in a shift sure to only increase his transfer value.
Argentina suddenly has a wealth of options in the centre of defence for the looming Copa America and World Cup qualifiers. Eighteen-times capped Otamendi is now his country’s premier centre-half, ahead of Zenit Saint Petersburg’s Ezequiel Garay, Villarreal’s injured Mateo Musacchio and Manchester City veteran Martin Demichelis. The former Porto star has crept into a defender’s prime age (27-32), hence the overwhelming likelihood he will be playing at a bigger club next season.
Mascherano and Busquets in midfield together do not work
Luis Enrique started Mascherano and Busquets as holding midfielders alongside each other in a 4-2-1-3 formation. It did not work. Valencia was afforded too much space, while a lack of creativity was evident in the absence of the sublime Iniesta and industrious Croatian Ivan Rakitic.
Valencia was stiff not to be level, if not ahead at the interval. Enrique responded, substituting Adriano for Rakitic, dropping Mascherano to the centre of defence and reverting to the usual 4-3-3 formation. The result was instant as the Catalans took ownership of the second half. Rakitic provided energy and creativity while Busquets looked far more comfortable playing as the lone holder. Credit must be given to Enrique for acknowledging and correcting the error accordingly.
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