The 10 most earthly. There was a time when Messi scored on foot, driven by confidence and a team that accompanied him on all fronts. As a result of this infinite sense of smell, Barça have dominated the League with an iron fist in recent years. History has changed in recent months. The Argentine, who wanted to go to the Premier League in the summer, is going through an earthly stage. He is not fine in the face of goal, he insists on personal action and sweats the bacon without reward. For now, only penalty mark. We have already seen: if things do not work out for Messi, any goal will be much more difficult. Even adding three points against Alabès.
Same action, different criteria. Lately there has not been a league match in which the VAR has no negative weight in Barça’s plans. In the classic, Real Madrid received the push from Las Rozas in Lenglet’s penalty – with a previous foul by Ramos. In Getafe, Nyom attacked Messi and did not receive a yellow card. And in Mendizorroza, shortly after the 1-0, De Jong saw Navarro move him before making a goal kick to Pacheco. The Dutchman called for a penalty, but Iglesias Villanueva, from the VAR, did not even check the play. Would the same have happened with Benzema or Casemiro in the equation?
A huge mistake. Neto Murara’s 1-0 defeat is unbecoming of a professional player. The Brazilian goalkeeper had earned praise during his interim tenure for de Ter Stegen’s injury. So far he had resolved the matches soberly, bringing some interventions of merit especially to last Saturday’s classic, in which he avoided a wider score against. But in Vitoria he served a goal in the tray to the rival for not knowing how to calculate the predictable intentions of Piqué. Neto: playing for Barça, even if you wear gloves, requires a minimum of understanding of the game.
The mirage of Turin. That Dembélé is like a coin in the air we already knew. The French winger is a free soul, an indecipherable player for his own and strangers, a footballer without a job but full of talent. Some of us were excited about the good match – goal included – that he played in Turin against Juventus. Also Koeman, who kept him in the lineup against Alava. But the effect dissipated in just 45 minutes of erratic moves and bad decisions. Trincao, his replacement at halftime, greatly improved the contribution of the right wing. Oh, and you don’t even have to talk about Pedri anymore: he always has to play.
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