The Euro Preview: Barcelona not getting the credit they deserve this season
Barcelona have dominated La Liga, but a loss to Atletico Madrid on Sunday could bring into question coach Ernesto Valverde’s tactics.
La Liga
Barcelona may have a seven-point lead atop the Liga table following last weekend’s games, but one large question looms large: why are Barca playing so poorly? It seems like a rather odd question for a team with no losses in league play this season. While Barcelona have also reached the round of 16 in the Champions League, observers, pundits and fans in Spain and around the world haven’t been kind to the Catalan giants this season.
Last November, ESPN’s Graham Hunter mused:
"Barcelona used their own Twitter account to post a picture of Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Lionel Messi embracing with the text: ‘The two biggest reasons we are where we are right now.’ Although it missed one or two of the important supporting cast — Samuel Umtiti particularly, plus Sergio Busquets, Paulinho and Jordi Alba — the admission was right on the money. Messi’s genius keeps opening up or deciding games at one end, while Ter Stegen has made more excellent saves in the first third of this season than in all of last term combined."
A month later, even after Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-0, The Independent’s Gonzalo Canada observed:
"In spite of Barcelona’s fine performances this season, the departure of Neymar at the start of the season has shown up a real problem in their team. Aside from Messi, Barcelona really lack players willing to pick up the ball and drive forward. Possibly only Gerard Deulofeu has this kind of dribbling skills to leave a rival in his wake, with the rest of Barcelona’s players slower and more considered in possession. The club have so much quality in the middle … but this lack of explosive attacking ability could come to haunt them in the later stages of the Champions League."
The critics also haven’t been kind lately. It’s mostly true that coach Ernesto Valverde’s side isn’t playing pretty (like Barca teams of the recent past), but they have been effective. A team can’t be undefeated without talent and Messi is a big reason for it all. He isn’t alone. Messi, Luis Suarez and the newly-arrived Philippe Coutinho combined last Saturday for six goals in a 6-1 rout of Girona.
Seasons are loaded with what ifs. What if Neymar had never left Barcelona for PSG? What if Real Madrid had played better this season? What if Coutinho had been signed over the summer and not in January? We’ll never know. We do know that this Barcelona team will play second-place Atletico Madrid this Sunday at the Camp Nou.
Valverde said the timing of Thursday’s Liga clash against Las Palmas, a nearly four-hour flight in each direction off the Spanish mainland just three days before a crucial match with challengers Atletico, is potentially detrimental to his club’s title hopes.
“There are a lot of questions and reasons why the schedule is the way it is. Normally when two teams have a day free they normally play that day,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “We have a long trip, it’s not Atletico’s fault.”
A Barca win will all but give them the title. A loss will move Atleti closer to Barca as well as highlight once again that Barcelona need to play a little prettier if they hope to gain praise from fans and pundits not in love with Valverde’s pragmatic style.
Related Story: Suarez hat-trick leads Barca to 6-1 win
Serie A
It’s another weekend of big games over in Italy. League leaders Napoli host fifth-place Roma on Saturday, while second-place Juventus plays on the road against third-place Lazio the same day. If that isn’t enough, Sunday’s Derby della Madonnina, pitting fourth-place Inter Milan and a surging AC Milan, could very well change the makeup at the top of the table.
In what has been the tightest title race in all of Europe’s five major domestic competitions, Napoli currently have a four-point lead on Juve entering matchday 27. Juventus have a game in hand after their home game last Sunday against Atalanta was postponed after a snowstorm blanketed Turin.
“With Napoli we have been battling them in what has been a great tournament, unique in all of Europe,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told reporters on Tuesday. “We remain in first on May 20 [the last day of the season] will have certainly deserved it. We want the seventh [straight] Scudetto.”
Napoli, aside from being ahead on points, also have other advantages. They’re out of both the Europa League and Coppa Italia. Juventus, on the other hand, played Atalanta in the Italian Cup semifinals Wednesday and will travel to Wembley Stadium next week needing a win after having been held 2-2 by Tottenham in the last 16 of the Champions League in Turin.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich may be running away with the title in Germany, but only three points separate second and sixth place. The teams involved are a mix of traditional powers as well as up-and-coming clubs infused with new cash: Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig.
In the biggest match this weekend, fifth-place RB Leipzig host second-place Borussia Dortmund. A Leipzig victory could vault them into the top three, depending on other results, as six clubs fight for the top four and a spot in the Champions League.
Dortmund’s club record 41-match unbeaten streak came undone after Leipzig won 3-2 victory in the reverse fixture four months ago. It’s expected to be another big Bundesliga game in the heated race for second.
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