Barcelona picked up their first silverware of the season as they defeated Sevilla in a closely contested match.
With this year’s Spanish Supercup being contested over one leg in Tangier, Morocco, it was Barcelona that emerged successful, despite a few scares from a determined and well-organised Sevilla side.
The Andalusians took the lead through Pablo Sarabia on ten minutes, before Gerard Piqué scrambled Lionel Messi’s free kick over the line just before half time. Just as both sets of players began to tire, a moment of brilliance from Ousmane Dembélé brought the title to the Catalan capital. Despite it not carrying any real significance, it will provide Barcelona with a minor boost heading in to the new league season.
Complacency creeping in?
In what is sure to worry Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona again, despite not completely having it all their own way, created numerous clear-cut chances, but failed to convert a large majority of them.
Jordi Alba tested the opposition goalkeeper in the first half, but it turned out to be a comfortable save, while right-back Nélson Semedo got in to two or three good over-lapping positions, but squandered all with poor and lazy crosses. Meanwhile the second half saw more good play go unrewarded with the misfiring Luis Suárez in particularly poor form.
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It is hard to recall a game last season where Barcelona threw points away as a result of their performances in front of goal, as they scored at least two goals in 32 of their 38 league games, but this goal scoring form has been a feature of pre-season, and needs rectifying on the training ground.
Despite all he has given since joining from Liverpool four years ago, benching Suárez in favour of a hungrier striker, such as Munir, or pushing Messi in to the middle, may be the best way to recover his form. He has played non-stop for club and country over the last year, and looked exhausted on the pitch tonight.
The Gamper trophy game on Wednesday evening against Boca Juniors should be an interesting watch, as it marks Barcelona’s first game at the Camp Nou this season, and the fans will be expecting goals.
Sluggish Suárez
Despite already being pointed out for his poor performance, words can not describe how badly Luis Suárez played against Sevilla.
His first touch was awful, his two or three clear-cut chances were not taken, and when the ball was played in to him in the second half, he unselfishly let it run through his legs for the player behind him. Uncharacteristic to say the least.
He has been playing constantly since the summer of 2017, and returned to the club early during that period despite not recovering fully from a back injury. The Uruguayan was also on World Cup duty this summer in Russia, so his fitness may partly be to blame for this.
For a top striker, he took way too long getting up to speed last season, not hitting full stride until around match week nine, and that simply can not happen this year; Barcelona face stern tests early and play the first Clásico of the season on match week ten in October.
He isn’t necessarily past his prime, as he is still only 31 and scored two goals and registered one assist at this year’s World Cup. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent, with each passing game, that he has lost a yard of pace, and will have to be on top from this season with Dembélé, Malcolm, Munir and Paco Alcácer all vying for a starting spot.
Dembelé must start
Despite being labelled a panic buy by some following his lacklustre first season, Ousmane Dembélé has got incredible potential and is already looking like an outstanding player.
Following Neymar’s departure last year, and Dembélé’s injury, Valverde was forced in to a 4-4-2 formation, with Iniesta on the left, and Paulinho on the right with Philippe Coutinho taking that spot when he joined in January. Now that Iniesta has departed, many expect Valverde to revert to the more natural Barcelona 4-3-3 with Coutinho taking up the slot on the left-wing. But that must not happen.
Coutinho is not a winger, he is a world-class creative midfielder, much akin to Iniesta, and would be better suited to the playing on the left hand side of the midfield three with licence to roam, allowing Dembélé that slot on the left, and giving him some competition with new signing Malcolm.
If Suárez can rekindle his world-class form, Dembélé could form a fearsome front three along with Lionel Messi, and that could be as close to the Messi-Suárez-Neymar combination as Barcelona can possibly get.