Lionel Messi’s 350th LaLiga goal proved elusive as he hit the woodwork three times in Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Real Betis on an emotional night in Catalonia.
The 30-year-old hit the post before the break and then twice afterwards with his latest landmark remaining frustratingly beyond his grasp.
However, an evening on which the club paid tribute to the victims of last week’s terrorist attack in the city before kick-off ended in satisfactory fashion for the Catalan giants with Alin Tosca’s own goal and a second from Sergi Roberto handing new manager Ernesto Valverde victory in his first league game at the helm.
Here, we take a look at three things we learned from the Camp Nou.
Barcelona came into the game enveloped by negativity after a very difficult summer which saw them struggle in the transfer market, lose convincingly to Real Madrid in the Super Cup and suffer the loss of key men Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique through injury.
But they never looked like a team in crisis in this game, taking full control from the opening whistle and maintaining their dominance more or less unbroken throughout the 90 minutes.
New coach Ernesto Valverde deserves credit for implementing a well structured team shape and his team looked comfortable and focussed throughout, with Betis never having a chance to impose their preferred passing approach.
There is still a long way to go and plenty of room for improvement, but Barca cannot be written off just yet.
After sending out his players in an unaccustomed 3-5-2 formation for the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid, new Barca boss Valverde changed his approach again by reverting to a 4-3-3 formation.
Most tellingly, that involved key man Lionel Messi taking up the ‘false nine’ position as a withdrawn centre forward – the spot he used to inhabit under Pep Guardiola but then dropped in favour of a right-sided role during Luis Enrique’s reign. And the Argentine was heavily involved, unlucky not to score after hitting the woodwork three times.
Whether or not Valverde is intending to persist with that system once injured striker Luis Suarez is back in action remains to be seen, but either way it demonstrates that the recently arrived coach is prepared to adopt a flexible tactical approach in his search for an effective playing system.
The future of versatile Sergi Roberto, who secured the victory with the second goal, is in considerable doubt as the new season gets away, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Juventus all reportedly keen to pay the 25 year-old’s 40 million Euros buyout clause with a promise of more regular first team football.
Quite simply, Barcelona must keep him. It’s extremely strange that Roberto, who etched his name in the club’s history books with the memorable tie-winner against Paris St Germain earlier this year, has not been given a new contract since he became a regular member of the team in the last couple of seasons.
That must be rectified soon, because although Roberto might not be among the team’s strongest eleven he is undoubtedly one of the squad’s most important players, looking a much better bet as Andres Iniesta’s understudy than Denis Suarez, Arda Turan or Andre Gomes. Allowing him to leave would be crazy.
