Barcelona won their first away game of the season, but they were made to work for it due to circumstances that were out of their control.
Both sides were dangerous in the early exchanges, but Barcelona grew into the match as the half went on, although they couldn’t find the goal to go in ahead at the half. They eventually got the crucial goal in the 57th minute when Sergi Roberto headed Luis Suarez’s deep cross down to Ousmane Dembele who fired it home. It was a case of holding on to the lead after that point and the Catalans were thankful for VAR after a late Valladolid goal was ruled out for being offside.
Abysmal quality pitch
This may seem like a poor result considering the quality of the opposition if someone saw the score without watching the game. However, the pitch was an absolute disgrace. It’s practically unheard of to see such poor quality in the Spanish top league or even in any of the top European leagues. Valladolid have had over two months to lay the pitch, so to do it a few days before the first home league game is highly questionable, especially when Barcelona’s style requires a high quality pitch.
The worst part is that could have caused severe injuries because of how the turf shifted when weight was planted on it. It was just as dangerous for the Valladolid players, though, so it could easily have had a negative impact on them as a team. Thankfully, none of the Barcelona players appear to have picked up injuries, so they got the optimum result from the game.
Barcelona’s possession-based patient style of play was nigh on impossible on this uneven pitch. It suited a team that played direct due to the randomness of the bounce of the ball as well as how careful defenders had to be when backpedalling on this pitch. There was little fluency to the play as Barca were willing to go more direct than usual as well as relying more on dribbling for ball progression. Building out from the back was tough especially if Valladolid pressed due to how passes could easily go astray.
They often went short on set pieces and shots were rarely took unless it was a clear opportunity due to how the ball bobbled because of the surface. Philippe Coutinho’s overhit corners early in the game were an example of this as well as Lionel Messi’s free kick that went over the bar.
There will be repercussions for this because it’s quite embarrassing for the league to have such a poor playing surface due to how it limits the quality of the match.