Real Madrid and Barcelona have returned to the positions that suit them best – sharing top spot separated only by Madrid’s superior goal difference. The old one-two is back, unsurprisingly, but the fact that this season is so far proving to be the most level-playing field for some time is apparent as much in the manner of the matches themselves as it is in the statistics. Madrid and Barcelona both won 3-1, the former at Celta and the latter at home to Eibar, but in neither game were the two leaders either imperious or particularly confident-looking. In recent seasons, by this stage of the campaign (with almost a quarter of the games played) one of the big two has been scarily strutting their stuff. Barcelona’s first eight games last season saw no goals conceded, and only one point dropped. The first league goal they shipped was in the Bernabeu, on the parallel weekend last season to this one. Compare and contrast with this season, with twelve goals conceded in nine games, and the curious statistic of having gone behind in eight of the fifteen games they have played so far. Their game against modest Eibar followed this pattern, the visitors’ in-form forward Borja Baston scoring after nine minutes following a defensive mix-up of the type that has been plaguing the champion’s start to the season. Baston has now scored six goals in the last five consecutive games, but was finally overshadowed by Luis Suarez who scored a hat-trick to complete his team’s latest ‘remontada’ (comeback) and celebrate the anniversary of his debut at the Bernabeu by taking home the match ball. Despite the abyss between the two sides – Barcelona’s groundsman probably earns more than Baston – you could almost congratulate Barcelona on their win because it was the first game that Eibar have lost away from home this season.
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Real Madrid theoretically faced a tougher game, having experienced a more rigorous Champions League test at PSG in midweek, although Barcelona were forced to travel further, to Belarus. Their game up in Vigo looked like the event of the weekend, given that Celta were fresh from their excellent win at Villarreal last weekend and were aspiring to put themselves three points clear of their visitors and top the table, at least for the Saturday night. They were also on a run of thirteen games undefeated, straddling last season. Celta are making friends this campaign, adding more tactical nous to their previously attractive approach, and basing their play on either fast vertical counters or periods of sustained possession, offering a variety of short-pass options to the player with the ball. At their Balaidos home, with its enormous pitch watered by the Galician westerlies, visitors look distinctly uncomfortable – unsure of how to cope with a team whose every member insists on making vertical runs and taking on the nearest opponent. And of course they have Nolito, their slightly maverick offensive midfielder, who plays like a throwback to more innocent times, when wingers were wingers, the trains ran on time and pink football boots were the stuff of science fiction.
Nolito earned himself the distinction of being only the third player to beat Kaylor Navas this season in the league, and what a goal it was – blasted up into the roof of the net where only the spiders’ webs hang, as they say in Spain. Up to that point, with Real Madrid winning 2-0 and Celta reduced to ten men, things were looking bleak for the home side. After recovering from the visitors’ excellent opening half hour, Celta began to get their mojo working but were foiled time and again by Navas, who may soon be following in the footsteps of Iker Casillas, on his way to sainthood. Real Madrid had scored 30 by this stage last season (now they have 21) but had conceded nine and lost two games. Up to the Celta game, Madrid had only conceded two, which was a club record after nine games played. Navas would appear to be the difference, fitting in perfectly to the more solid (if slightly less attractive) Benitez style which encourages discipline and rigour at the expense of the more maverick actions that result in bucketfuls of goals scored. If the trophies arrive, few will complain, but Madrid collapsed alarmingly in the second half – tired perhaps, but unable to retain possession against ten-man opposition. Modric was suddenly ineffective, Casemiro exposed (although he was excellent in the first half) and Celta might easily have equalised, on a more fortunate day. Had they done so, the knives would have been out in the Madrid press, but Marcelo’s injury-time killer keep things on an even keel. Top of the league and still unbeaten, the visit of Las Palmas next week should not cause too many outbreaks of sweat at the Bernabeu. The last time they visited in 2002, I was there to witness a 7-0 rout, in which Fernando Morientes scored five and then missed a penalty. No doubt we will be reminded of this game by the Madrid press, in days to come.
But Las Palmas aside, teams seem to have sensed that Barcelona can be attacked and that Real Madrid can be tamed – if not scored against. Indeed, the Keylor Navas phenomenon requires some analysis. The Costa Rican came to Madrid’s attention in the 2013-14 season, after a series of remarkable performances for modest Levante. Making an ordinary side hard to beat, he was mooted as a possible successor to Iker Casillas, by then embroiled in a love-hate relationship with the club that had previously conferred quasi-sainthood upon him. Signing Navas on a six-year contract for the next season, he was only handed a total of fifteen games, with an improved Casillas being nevertheless unhappy with a certain section of the crowd. The subsequent August 31st farce, with Casillas departing under a cloud and David de Gea being one minute and a fax away from signing for Madrid (Navas meanwhile was in the departure lounge at Madrid airport, scanning the flights to Manchester) revealed a lot of what remains deeply dysfunctional at the Bernabeu. Taking too long to dispense with icons (Casillas being merely the latest example), rushing to buy the latest doggy in the window – the one with the waggly tail – they represent La Liga’s best example of the formula that too much money leads to a proportional lack of common sense. Real Madrid were prepared to let Navas go because De Gea looked a slightly more attractive option – and he’s from Madrid (albeit Atletico). Last Sunday morning, in an amusing article by Tomas Guasch, the journalist used the headline ‘Ese fax inglés, que mágico es!’ (That English fax, how magical it is!) mirroring a rude couplet sung by Spanish fans up and down the country about Cristiano Ronaldo, which I won’t repeat. But the point was a good one. Navas stoically accepted his fate, took the insult on the chin and just got down to proving that he was better than either De Gea or Casillas, which was presumably the reason for signing him in the first place.
Atletico Madrid beat Valencia 2-1 at home in the other attractive-looking clash of the weekend, a result which leaves them nestled comfortably in third place, two points behind the leaders. Talk of the collapse of Simeone’s empire might yet be premature, with Yannick Carrasco now emerging as the new star on the horizon. Jackson Martinez may yet prove to be a decent purchase (he scored the first goal) and if Antoine Greizmann can be persuaded to stay there seems no reason why Atletico cannot remain as challengers this season. The 2-1 score failed to reflect Atlético’s superiority, and next week’s visit to Deportivo looks like a reasonable opportunity to keep the run going.
The side immediately below them, the aforementioned Celta, are also away – to a Real Sociedad side whose 4-0 away win at struggling Levante relieved the pressure on manager David Moyes. I’ll be there next Saturday night to see Celta in the flesh, in what promises to be an attractive encounter. Until then.
