Against Atletico Madrid last Wednesday night Barcelona were completely outplayed, outfought and outthought, their Champions League hopes extinguished. This was not the case in Granada on Saturday night, but, still the result was the same. Their 1-0 defeat sees, in all likelihood, their chances for La Liga all but gone too.
Tata Martino felt the result was harsh. “Barca clearly should have won,” he lamented after the final whistle. Based on possession and chances they should have too. But with the one statistic that matters most, goals scored, they came up short again.
When a team has a forward line of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Pedro, it is quite remarkable that against a side like Granada they could not force a way through – especially given the stakes.
While Barca may have played much better than against Atletico, there was still something lacking in their display. Effort, attitude, hunger – it is hard to gauge what it is but something is not quite right with this team. Then there is Messi.
One Spanish sports daily went with the headline ‘Messing’. The Argentine was nowhere to be seen at Vicente Calderon, where, rather shamefully, he ran only a little more than his goalkeeper and friend, Jose Pinto.
At the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes, he ran a bit more and was more visible but still just a shadow of the Messi we all know.
It is not only the front men that need to shoulder the blame. Starting in goal, Pinto gave no confidence to his backline at all. He is not able to control the ball like Victor Valdes and his distribution was poor.
The backline was another problem. For a club of Barca’s stature and for all the money they have splashed on players in recent years, it is incredible that at this stage of the season they were forced to field a central defensive partnership of Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano, two midfielders.
In a matter of four days, Barcelona have gone from a club bidding for a treble to be left with just one title to play for – the Copa del Rey. The final takes place on Wednesday evening against Real Madrid and the pressure will be on Tata Martino and his side to deliver. Failure to win will mean that Barca, for the first time since 2007-08, will end the season without a trophy.
If Barca play like they have these last two games, they will finish the season without a title. But one suspects that against Madrid, their much-hated rivals, the real Barcelona will show up.
There’s nothing like a game against the capital side motivates them more and Messi, of course, simply loves to score against Los Blancos.
Madrid head into the final in much better shape. They are fresh from a comfortable 4-0 thrashing of Almeria with goals from Gareth Bale, Isco, Angel Di Maria and Alvaro Morata. It is hard to fault the performance of even one Madrid player as they put in a well-rounded and collective effort to go equal on points with Atletico Madrid, at least for a day.
That is because on Sunday night Diego Simeone’s men continued to march to their first League title since 1996. Getafe is seldom an easy place to go, even for the big teams, but Los Rojiblancos put in a trademark performance as they grinded out a win to go three points clear. With just five games remaining, Atletico are getting close.
