Good performance and 3-0 away victory against Eibar yesterday. Didn't allow them any clear chances while being quite direct on the other end.
De Jong had a great performance and was applauded by the entire Ipurua stadium when he was subbed off. Pique was suspended for the game however Umtiti returned and played his first Barcelona game in five months. And honestly it didn't feel like he was out for that long. Did well together with Lenglet. Not the best opponent but you have to start gaining match time somewhere.
And the goals were so well worked. With just over ten minutes gone, Lenglet's long ball found Griezmann one on one with Dmitrovic, as the Frenchman scored his first away goal for Barcelona. He played an important part in the other two goals in the second half, as he smartly assisted Messi from short distance in penalty area, giving him an easy finish, and then splitting the entire defense open and leaving Leo one on one with the goalkeeper. Despite all the options, he decided to give Suarez the simplest finish into the empty net, which meant the Uruguayan tied Josep Samitier at 184 goals, the 4th highest tally in FC Barcelona colors.
More significantly as far as the present is concerned, yesterday was the first game in which each member of the club's new MSG trio scored. Like I said already, it's not the best opponent to test yourself against. But they have to start somewhere. If they can start clicking regularly, Barca will be in for much brighter days.
Other results yesterday, Atletico drew against Valencia 1-1 at home as Parejo's beautiful late free kick cancelled out Costa's first half penalty. Simeone's men's struggles in front of goal continue, only 8 in nine games, haven't scored from open play in their last three La Liga matches, each ending in draws, and their mega signing Joao Felix is out for a couple of weeks at least due to injury.
The better news were in the evening however, as Real Madrid lost their first La Liga game of the season. Mallorca got the better of them 1-0 thanks to Lago Junior's early goal. Don't know who did Rafa support on his wedding day between those two sides as Mallorca and Madrid are his two favorites, but I know the number one Nadal (Miguel Angel) is thrilled.
Clinical display from the side that just got back to highest level of Spanish football. And it becomes more and more clear how much more vulnerable Real have become. Their best midfielders are not as imposing and creative as they used to be. And the end product is lacking since Cristiano left. Benzema is still working hard, and Hazard is a good purchase, but they are simply not as powerful as last time Zidane managed them.
I miss the old Valencia and Deportivo, who were our and Real's equals a couple of decades back. But La Liga has become more even recently due to these big team struggles. Real are going through transition, Atletico are having the worst time since Simeone took over, and Barcelona can think of plenty better times during this decade than now. You can't write off the possibility of any result in any week these days.
Which brings me to this. Just four games after what was the club's worst ever start to La Liga season under the three points for a win system, Barcelona are now top of the table. This doesn't fix the problems but it's good to see the players recover from an awful start and early season injuries. A few of them complained about the pre-season so maybe that explains some things...
Feels good to be back to the spot that the club enjoyed for majority of the time during the last two seasons, hopefully the boys won't look back. Granada continue with their dream return in La Liga with another good display and win against Osasuna, and Sociedad entertained their fans again by beating a struggling Betis, sending them into the relegation zone alongside Espanyol
and Leganes.
El Clasico which was supposed to be played next Saturday has been postponed for mid December. All this mess happening, unlike anything I have seen before in Barcelona, it was just too risky hosting Real Madrid when everything is still fresh. Hopefully by then things here will be sorted out, and hopefully Barca can build some more momentum by then. After playing Slavia in Prague on Wednesday, the club will host Valladolid at Camp Nou on the next midweek, going for a fifth La Liga win in a row...