3 Things We Learned: UD Las Palmas vs FC Barcelona

Barcelona beat Las Palmas 4-1 in an extremely open game at Estadio Gran Canaria.

Marlon Santos

The young Brazilian defender was thrust into this game at the last-minute due to Javier Mascherano’s injury, but this didn’t seem to affect him. If anything, he relished the opportunity to prove his worth for the next season. Defensively, he was solid when needed, but his ability with the ball was much more significant.

He looked completely at ease with the technical demands that Barcelona’s system requires from centre-backs. The composure he had on the ball signified maturity beyond his years. A positive sign for the team was his understanding with Samuel Umtiti, which could easily be the main partnership in the future considering they have an average age of 22.

There is plenty of rumours around the future of Javier Mascherano and Jérémy Mathieu at the club, and who should be bought to replace them. With this performance, Santos has proved that he deserves at least a back-up role behind Umtiti and Gerard Piqué. Therefore, his transfer is likely to be made permanent, which would be good business. He’s also had time to acclimatise to the environment because of his time with the B team, which was made obvious in this game, so he won’t have to adapt like new signings do.

Neymar

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This was another stunning performance from the talented playmaker. His finishing was excellent, and he was at his creative best. The first goal was more about the build-up play because Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta teamed up to dissect the Las Palmas team. Iniesta found Luis Suárez who unselfishly set up Neymar with an easy finish. Neymar then repaid the favour with a wonderful through ball through the opposition’s two defensive lines which left Suárez one-on-one, and he duly dispatched the chance.

For his second goal he managed to get on the end of an Ivan Rakitić cross with an opportunistic header into the corner. To top it off, Jordi Alba fed him in on the left-wing, and he delicately pushed the ball past the onrushing Javi Varas to get his hat-trick. His finishing has been inconsistent this season, but this match was a remainder of how deadly he can be.

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Strongest Eleven

The strong end to the season and Barça’s record against the top teams has proved that they are the strongest team in the league even with the issues affecting the squad. Squad depth has been the main issue for this team due to most of the summer signings taking a lot of time to adapt.

Just looking at their losses this season proves this. They lost away to Málaga, Celta Vigo, Deportivo, and at home to Alavés. None of the top six have managed to beat them in the league this season. Alavés are the highest out of the teams that have, and they are currently ninth. In each of the losses, there was heavy squad rotation, which isn’t a coincidence. Obviously, avoiding fatigue is important, but rotation has caused them to drop points.

Even with the lack of replacement for Dani Alves in the summer, Barcelona have proved that their strongest eleven can beat anyone in La Liga. Part of the reason for this is an unhealthy reliance on Lionel Messi for creativity and goals. He has scored 35 goals and nine assists in the league which is ridiculous, but even more so considering he was injured for part of the season.

The new manager certainly has a strong base to build from; the current favourite for the job is Ernesto Valverde. Whether it is him or someone else, they only need to make a few tweaks to this side to take it right back to the top. Prioritizing signing a right-back, central midfielder and a centre-back in the summer is key. The new manager also needs to re-establish the strong link with La Masia, and promote players such as Carles Aleñá.