Barça is on fire

 

Yesterday 8th February 2015, Barcelona won 2-5 at New San Mamés against Athletic Club.

Mathieu entered the squad for Masche because of the aerial fight the basque striker Aduriz would propose. Therefore Claudio Bravo played behind Alves-Piqué-Mathieu-Alba. In the midfield,
Xavi was in for Iniesta and was accompanied by Busquets and Rakitic. Neymar, Suárez and Messi were the forwards.

The first minute of the game was enough to set the scene. Athletic was positioned very high on the pitch and wanted to provoke mistakes next to Claudio Bravo. They oriented Barça way out towards Mathieu and Alba and then pressed them.

After 10 minutes of more or less chaos, the culés managed to implement a solution: Neymar. Alba played straight balls to the brazilian on the left wing. Then, backwards to the goal, Ney played one touch to Xavi who was looking towards the goal, or arranged to dribble past Athletic right back De Marcos.

Another solution to the pressing was Luis Suárez. Several times he was sent long balls from behind and proposed a real challenge to the Leones centerhalves. This is a move Barca could not use during previous years and it might prove very important in the coming months. 

The azulgranas were playing 7+3, letting the three beasts waiting for the ball in order to counter attack fiercely.  

After 14 minutes, Messi scored the 0-1 from a free kick.
Barcelona was getting more and more comfortable, the way they could outplay the basque high positioning with one touch moves was stunning.

When one of the forwards received the ball, they had plenty of space behind the back of the defence and several times we could see a very impressive 3vs4, all running full speed towards Iraizoz.
Lucho's team created several chances this way, and Suarez scored the 0-2. 

But although the culés were able to sort out the pressing,  some balls were lost in Barça's half and Athletic had their chances. Many times it was just a question of centimeters to see them creating a huge opportunity. All in all, they managed to shoot 15 times in 90 minutes, 10 from inside the box !

Athletic shoots

During the second half, Athletic positioned themselves lower than during the first 45 minutes.
They were more compact. But Barca still could have scored the third, failed and then Mikel Rico made the 1-2.

After wasting so many opportunities, that was harsh for the catalans. But this is when you see what you're made of. And Barca at the moment is on fire. They immediately scored 2 goals in 5 minutes to go 1-4. Messi participated of both. He was playing since the beginning of the second half as central forward as Suárez moved to the right flank. The argentinian and Neymar were playing closer and managed to create several opportunities.

Since Valverde's squad was positionned lower than before, Barca was having longer possessions and Busquets started to appear. One-touch passes under pressure, openings to the flanks, pressing forward... The Busi we like to see. 

Busquet's passes

Messi also started to appear everywhere, as a pure playmaker.

Messi's passes

Messi's heatmap

But he lost the ball in a dangerous position just in front of his own defense, and Aduriz scored the 2-4.
Then Etxeita was sent off at min. 75 for a bad foul on Suárez and the game was over.
Pedro, in for Suárez, scored the last goal after a beauty from Messi.

2-5 and only one point behind Real Madrid. 9 victories in a row, 34 goals for and 7 against.
Luis Enrique seems to have found the way he wants to play. Messi on the right flank,  the team rushing into wild counterattacks as soon as they get the opportunity.
Yesterday Barcelona looked like they could also mix phases of crazyness with more "traditional" positional play.

Succeeding at it will be fundamental for trying to win all competitions.

8th February 2015.
La liga, 22nd League match.

San Mamés.
Athletic Club 2 - 5 FC Barcelona (Messi min.14 , Suárez min.25, Mikel Rico min.57, De Marcos (own goal) min.60, Neymar min.62, Aduriz min.64, Etxeita sent off min.75, Pedro min.84)