Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has a lot of positive things to talk about including a nice performance from embattled defender Aleix Vidal.
Barcelona defeated Las Palmas 5-0 to try to keep pace with the top of the La Liga table. Barca boss Luis Enrique took a few risks with his lineup including leaving off some of the Barcelona stars so that they could rest. One player interested Barca fans when the starting 11 was announced. That would be defender Aleix Vidal. Vidal has been troubled over his stint at Barca. It’s been tough for him to break into the team despite Sergi Roberto playing out of position in defense. However, Vidal did turn a few heads against Las Palmas.
Vidal turned in a nice performance in his first league match in nearly four months. He scored the 5th of the five goals for the team. On defense, he was rock solid for the most part of the match. Vidal played the entire 90 minutes without being substituted for. In addition, the performance was so good that Luis Enrique admitted he was proven wrong about Vidal. He mentioned this another things in his post match conference.
“What I’m happiest is how we played without the ball,” Lucho said. “If you don’t press Las Palmas well, they create problems. But getting the ball back from them quickly we were able to generate chances and it’s a miracle the game was still alive at half time. The team’s work defensively was great, it was one of the best performances since I’ve been here.”
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The last time Vidal played, he struggled against Alaves and he paid for it. That result was a 2-1 shock defeat. However, Vidal has made his way back into Luis Enrique’s future plans. ‘ the result of working on your craft. Despite some of his mistakes, Vidal may get more playing time if he stays as consistent as this performance against Las Palmas.
Lucho added: “Based on the way he’s trained for the last few months, Aleix is ready to play. He’s proved his manager wrong and he’s ready to compete. He was excellent today. With the exception of Jordi Masip, he’s the player who’s had the least minutes this season. Physically he’s in great shape and that allows him to come in and play at such a high level.”
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Overall, Barca fans may get to see more of Aleix Vidal going forward. He is naturally a defender and with Sergi Roberto playing out of position, a normal right back could help the team. As long as Vidal keeps consistently turning in these performances, look out for his jersey number in the starting 11. Roberto is really good, but a player who actually plays the position is essential to keeping the defense solid. We will see if Vidal is ready to take the next step.