Messi adds polish to Barclona as they reclaim top spot

Barcelona reclaimed the leadership of the Liga in a match in which they gave a lesson in collective football. Maybe this version of Barcelona isn’t the exuberant side in which an out of this world Messi scores four in 40 minutes, or where they blow sides away in just 25 frenetic minutes, but it is a team where everyone knows what they need to do, and above all, they do it very well.

There’s not a single complaint to be levelled at Martino’s players tonight, apart from possibly a lack of marksmanship that prevented them putting the game to bed faster. But in strictly academic terms Barça were impeccable. The keeper was there for what needed to be stopped or anything else; the right and left backs to run up and down like they were men possessed; one central defender to bite, the other to create; midfielders to move the ball fluidly; forwards to score and Messi, who has decided to turn himself into a veritable orchestra of a man capable of generating moves, to hand out the goodies. Messi before would just give you the time of day, now he’ll fix your watch.
Barça, in summary, continue at their own pace, imitating on the pitch the normality that’s come back to the presidential box. Each player does his job and the harmony of Tata’s pieces makes for a capable team who appear to be cruising forward like a battleship. Logic would suggest they can only get better when Neymar returns and something works out just what on earth has happend to Iniesta and he can come back after the ‘knock’ he took in the Calderón, 20 days ago.
Facing this Barcelona side Málaga could do little; as their coach Bernd Schuster accepted in the press conference before the game their plan was to put men at the back, especially given the players they had missing. Málaga’s plan was to hold on and try to take advantage of Barcelona’s strategic failings. The plan got tougher to execute for the Andalusians when Roque Santa Cruz, their main attacking threat, had to go off injured after 23 minutes and also because Valdés is a lot of Valdés. Every time Málaga managed to get close to Barça’s area Victor shone with remarkable ability. At times it even appeared he was doing his utmost to shine, as if he wanted his memory to be burnt into the retinas of the fans during his final countdown.
It’s often said that Barça, in games where the rival sits back with a plan to hold on to the death like the defenders of Numantia, need a plan B, usually involving including a classic centre forward. But they’ve already got such a plan, and it’s called Gerard Piqué, who in these types of games cuts loose and becomes another striker. In his raids upfield the Barcelona defender was the best attacking argument his side had, especially in strategy, where he outwitted the Málaga defenders, especially Sergio Sánchez who had a nightmare of a night.
After Barça went 1-0 up they had an easy ride. With Valdés, Mascherano and Alba keeping the door tightly shut at the back, and Messi in the engine room, it was always likely that as time passed the gap between the sides on the scoreboard would widen. In the 55^th minute Pedro settled the Camp Nou’s nerves scoring the second and just after Alexis put the game to bed. Both goals were created on Messi’s boots, who has returned to tune up the piano.