Barca steady not spectacular

Barcelona went into Tuesday night’s second leg of their Copa del Rey fourth round tie against Cartagena having surpassed the third-tier outfit 4-1 in their first-leg encounter in Murcia after going a goal behind. It is indicative of Barca’s season as a whole, however, that while Coach Tata Martino rested some of his star players, he was reluctant to take risks, even after his side’s partial rehabilitation through last week’s 6-1 demolition of Celtic.

Martino opted not to select any Barcelona B players for yesterday’s game at Camp Nou, not even those who had previously featured on the periphery of the squad. That meant no place for either 18-year-old Cameroon Under-20 international Jean-Marie Dongou, despite his debut goal in the first-leg against Cartagena, or defender Patricio Gabarron, a second-half replacement for Carles Puyol in the 2-1 Champions League defeat at Ajax.

The Barcelona machine has been efficient rather than ruthless in the current campaign, with average opponents dealt with in a workmanlike fashion instead of being subject to the annihilation suffered so frequently by visitors to Camp Nou during the Pep Guardiola era. Martino has been accused of attempting to alter Barca’s fundamental playing style, sacrificing the intensity of their high-tempo quick passing game in favour of a more direct approach.

The 3-0 win over Cartagena at Camp Nou continued in the same vein as Barca dominated possession against ultra-defensive opponents, enjoying 82 per cent in the first half. Pedro Rodriguez’s goal on the half hour, supplemented in the second half by an own goal from visiting defender Mariano Sanchez and Neymar’s strike two minutes from time, gave La Blaugrana a convincing 7-1 aggregate win, but somehow they disappointed, not for the first time this season unable to convert possession into goals.

Two defeats in succession, at Ajax and Athletic Bilbao, clearly sounded warning bells at Camp Nou, so much so that Martino’s primary concern appears to have been to avoid an upset at the hands of Segunda B minnows, despite their three-goal cushion. The Coach’s conservative selection on Tuesday night is unlikely to have endeared him to the Barca faithful, in spite of the ultimate ease with which Barca won the tie to set up a Last 16 encounter with Getafe.

For players like Cristian Tello and the up and coming Sergi Roberto, the game was a golden opportunity to impress the Coach and stake a claim for more permanent inclusion. Tello, in particular, has battled to make any impact on Barca’s starting XI, despite having made his debut in 2011. Similarly Dongou, with nine goals in 57 appearances for the B team, surely would have merited at least a seat on the bench against Cartagena.

Barca travel to Getafe on Sunday to play their last Primera game before the Christmas break. Their lead over Atletico Madrid has evaporated, with nothing now separating the two. Ahead of the second half of the season, and with a challenging Champions League tie with Manchester City looming in the New Year, the Catalans will need to dig deep and go again.

Follow Mike Barnes on Twitter: @MikeBarnes1960

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