3 things we learned: FC Barcelona vs Málaga CF 2017/18 La Liga

Barcelona continued their impressive home form with a seventh consecutive victory at Camp Nou in all competitions.

Potential ‘banana skin’

This has been a fixture which the Catalans have struggled in over the past few seasons. A loss to the Andalusians, near the end of last season, gave Real Madrid the advantage in the title race. Barcelona had only won two of the last five fixtures between the two teams prior to this game. Getting back on track after the draw against Atlético Madrid was key, and they made a potentially tricky fixture look easy with a 2-0 victory.

Certain managers seem to have issues against specific teams with Luis Enrique’s record against Málaga suggesting that was the case for him. His inability to rotate the squad became more pronounced over time which led a poor record against the weaker sides, but a great record against the big teams. Málaga was one of the few teams that he consistently struggled to beat during his time as manager.

Ernesto Valverde doesn’t seem to have this issue as consistency has been a key theme of his time as manager. His deep understanding of the squad allows him to rotate efficiently and make subtle tactical tweaks. This was just one of a number of games this season in which Barça dominated and eased to a victory. The xG (expected goals) data supports this, as can be seen in the tweet above, because the Catalans were solid in both areas of the pitch.