It was comfortable in the end. For the second weekend running in La Liga, Barcelona completed a 2-0 victory, this time at Alaves after beating Betis at Camp Nou last Sunday.
But, once again, there was the feeling that Lionel Messi needs more help in attack.
Soon, the Argentine attacker will have it, of course, after Barca paid an initial €105 million to bring in France forward Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund on Friday as a replacement for Neymar.
The trip to Mendizorrotza came too soon for Dembele to make his debut, but the pattern of the game did highlight the importance of bringing in a new forward to take some of the load off Messi.
With Neymar departed and Luis Suarez sidelined, Messi started alongside Gerard Deulofeu and Paco Alcacer, a front three that will leave most Barca fans somewhat cold after three spectacular seasons of the MSN trident.
Against an Alaves side with all 10 outfield players packed tightly within a 30-metre space in order to frustrate Barca's attacks, it took time for Ernesto Valverde's team to break through. And it was Messi, unsurprisingly, who made the difference.
The 30-year-old, who had hit the woodwork three times against Betis, saw a penalty saved late in the first half, but did open the scoring in the second with the aid of a slight deflection. He also added the second after a poor defensive error by Alexis.
Barca went on to have even more chances as the game opened up after that, but their difficulties in carving open a team defending deep and with many players behind the ball will be a slight concer
No comments:
Post a Comment