Three things learned as Samuel Umtiti impresses for Barcelona in Copa del Rey win

Andy West 11:33 02/02/2018
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  • Barcelona ran out 1-0 winners on the night over Valencia.

    A Luis Suarez goal in the 67th minute gave Barcelona a slender 1-0 victory over Valencia in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final played at the Camp Nou.

    Here are the three things learned from the clash.

    ALL TO PLAY FOR?

    This is an outcome both teams can be pretty happy with: Barcelona earned themselves a narrow advantage and kept a clean sheet, while Valencia avoided the kind of drubbing which would have rendered the second leg irrelevant.

    So will there be everything to play for when the tie reconvenes at Mestalla next week? Of course, with just a one-goal disadvantage to overturn Valencia still have a perfectly realistic chance of advancing to the final. But the fact that Barca held them scoreless in this opening leg is a major advantage with the knowledge that just one away goal will need Valencia needing to score three.

    It’s hard to envisage Lionel Messi and co failing to score if they are given space to exploit while Valencia chase the game, so Marcelino’s team will ideally need an early goal in the second leg to allow them to play sensibly for the rest of the game.

    They will, however, certainly need to show more attacking intent than they did at Camp Nou, where home goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen marked a rare outing by being forced into just one save all night. And although the tie isn’t over, Barca are very much in control.

    Barce are very much in control despite the slender margin of victory.

    Barce are very much in control despite the slender margin of victory.

    BARCA’S GOALS DRYING UP?

    Although Barca will be happy enough with the outcome, they should also be somewhat frustrated that they only had one goal to show for all their possession and pressure – especially as visiting keeper Jaume Domenech wasn’t really forced to make many saves.

    It was the second consecutive game that Barca have struggled to break down a visiting team defending deep and with discipline, following Sunday’s hard-fought victory over lowly Alaves which required a rather scrambled strike from Luis Suarez and a set-piece special from Messi.

    The addition of Philippe Coutinho midway through the second half added plenty of nice footwork and ball trickery in midfield, and the former Liverpool man also showed some signs of a burgeoning understanding with Messi, but in the big European games that lie ahead over the next few weeks Barca will need to show more precision and creativity around the edge of the box to realise their dreams of another treble.

    Barca had only one goal to show for all their possession.

    Barca had only one goal to show for all their possession.

    UMTITI BOSSES IT

    The nature of the a cautious and relatively chanceless game was illustrated by the fact that the player whose name was chanted longest and loudest by the Camp Nou faithful was not Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez, but central defender Samuel Umtiti.

    The Frenchman, who recently returned to action after six weeks out with a thigh injury, was absolutely immense, treating Valencia forwards Luciano Vietto and Rodrigo with the kind of disdain you might expect to be shown towards 12-year-old schoolboys.

    The ease with which Umtiti won the ball and started yet another phase of possession was at times comical, giving the impression that nothing and nobody would ever be able to get past him. At the age of just 24 the former Lyon defender looks set to remain a lynchpin of the Barca team for several years to come, and on current form it’s hard to believe there are many better central defenders anywhere in the world.

    The Frenchman was absolutely immense once again.

    The Frenchman was absolutely immense once again.

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