Higuain and Suarez's struggles are mirrored and other things learned from Barca's draw

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  • Barcelona advanced to the Champions League last 16 after clinching top spot in Group D following a 0-0 draw against Juventus in Turin.

    Last season’s finalists Juve remain second in the group, a point ahead of third-place Sporting Lisbon, and can secure their qualification with victory at Olympiakos on December 5.

    Here are three things learned from the Juventus Stadium.

    RAKITIC NEEDS TO BE DROPPED

    Pre-game Ivan Rakitic touchingly talked about giving up his World Cup spot for the heartbroken Gigi Buffon.

    Barca fans would probably wish the same sentiment was shared for his midfield position with the Blaugrana because he was the target of yet more vilification.

    Suffice to say a trend is appearing in which the Croatian has become a scapegoat but the agenda may have some justification.

    If ever a sequence summed up his struggle it was in the second half when Andres Iniesta made a clever interception, laid a one-two with a backheel pass to Busquets who shifts away from the attention of Miralem Pjanic with a roulette only for Rakitic to misplace the back pass.

    Everything from his touch, to his passing was way short of the standards expected at Barca and perhaps Ernesto Valverde would be wise to consider taking him out of the spotlight and giving him a rest.

    Gigi Buffon shares joke with midfielder Ivan Rakitic

    Gigi Buffon shares joke with midfielder Ivan Rakitic

    HIGUAIN AND SUAREZ’S TWIN STRUGGLES

    Two players way off top form and a duo who spent most of the clash looking for free-kicks rather than goals.

    The parallels between Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain were all to obvious in Turin and the irritation they caused each set of fans was palpable.

    Higuain looked utterly pedestrian with criticism predictably levelled at his lack of movement.

    Likewise, Suarez having broken his duck at the weekend looked out of ideas at the point of Barca’s attack.

    The closest he came to scoring was a deflected free-kick but that’s more than can be said of Higuain who mustered one shot and only five touches more than his goalkeeper Buffon.

    And delve deeper, Suarez managed only 34 touches – the least of any Barca player from the starting XI – just two more than the Argentine.

    Both struggled to make an impact and it’s very much been the narrative of their campaigns so far.

    Luis Suarez does down injured during the draw with Juve

    Luis Suarez does down injured during the draw with Juve

    VALVERDE DOES WHAT HE WANTS

    If one thing is clear from Valverde’s tactical and personnel decisions it’s that he will very much be his own man.

    A pragmatic approach in Turin was summed up by the almost unthinkable decision to drop Messi for Paulinho.

    The Brazilian operated as a false nine and if the decision to rest the Argentine genius left fans aghast then the formation deployed will have only added to their skepticism.

    Traditionally, Barca have almost exclusively stuck to a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3 but Valverde has used a variation of a 3-5-2 and against Juventus a 4-2-3-1.

    Granted, they only needed a point for progression and it was achieved with relatively little fuss in the end but the system left Suarez dreadfully isolated and Barca short of ideas even if they retained defensive rigidity.

    Valverde is clearly content to play for a draw in Europe for key games and given their unbeaten record is now 18 games with 13 clean sheets it’s hard to argue with his approach.

    This is Valverde’s team and so far the results have been nothing short of impressive.

    Ernesto Valverde looks on during the clash with Juve

    Ernesto Valverde looks on during the clash with Juve

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