Andalucian sides give top three scare, upset leadership race
Beware the ardor of Andalucia. No club from that region will win the Liga title in the imminent future but the trio from the two major cities of Spain's deep south had a significant impact on the leadership of the table on the 21st matchday. First, Malaga inflicted on Barcelona the sort of stubborn resistance that is their habit against the champions. But if the ability to play poorly and still take maximum points really is the mark of true champions, as the saying goes, then Barcelona proved something this weekend.
They defeated Malaga 2-1, thanks ultimately to a moment of brilliance from Lionel Messi, whose acrobatic winning goal gave a decorative gloss to a performance of unusual slovenliness from Barca. By the end of the weekend, Messi’s virtuosity had secured first place in the table. For that, and the extending of their advantage over the second and third-placed clubs, Barcelona owed some thanks to both clubs from Seville, to Sevilla for holding the previous weekend’s Liga leaders Atletico Madrid to a 0-0 draw in the Spanish capital; and to Real Betis, who held out in front of a raucous home crowd to draw 1-1 with Real Madrid. Madrid now lag four points behind Barca and Atletico.
After two wins, and 10 goals from his first 180 minutes as Madrid’s head coach, Zinedine Zidane suffered his first setback in the job. Betis, via Alvaro Cejudo’s finely struck volley, went ahead early. Zidane then watched two strong claims for Madrid penalties dismissed by the referee and barely let a smile pass his lips all evening as a team missing the injured Gareth Bale failed to convert superior possession and a catalogue of opportunities into goals. Pepe directed wide the sort of header, from a corner, Bale has been scoring as if second-nature in recent weeks and when James Rodriguez, brought into the XI in place of the wounded Welshman, kicked at thin air at a cross inviting him to shoot from close distance, Zidane’s exasperation visibly grew.
James redeemed himself somewhat in providing the pass that led to Madrid’s second-half equalizer, scored by Karim Benzema. Both scorer and provider appeared offside when Toni Kroos's through-ball released James, but on this occasion the officials’ decisions went with the away team. Madrid had worked hard enough, at least, to deserve one goal, and their point, and Betis finished indebted to goalkeeper Adan, once a Madrid player, that they took a share of the spoils from an entertaining contest.
But Barcelona were the main beneficiaries of Madrid’s first loss of momentum in the Zidane era. Barca have become used to difficulties in their encounters with Malaga over the last two seasons, and regard any victory against Javi Gracia’s well-organized team as something of a bonus. In 2014-15, no team took more points from Barcelona than Malaga, beating them at Camp Nou and drawing in Andalucia. The six points Barcelona have gained, by a pair of single-goal margins, against Malaga in this campaign now look like they carry a special value towards the defense of Barca’s Liga title.
After 45 minutes of Saturday’s fixture, Barcelona barely felt like champions, let alone worth the 1-1 scoreline they took into the interval. They had gone ahead, thanks to a scrappy goal in the second minute, converted by Munir, and Juanpi had equalized half an hour later. “I am not sure I can remember a poorer first-half from us,” said Luis Enrique, the head coach during whose tenure Gracia has been such a tenacious managerial opponent. “His team always work very hard and have a clear idea what they are about.”
The fact that Barcelona had been so “imprecise” for much of the game had been, added the Barcelona coach “50 per cent because of Malaga’s efforts,” and the other 50 per cent for a lethargy he found hard to diagnose reasons for in his own team. “The players are not machines,” he shrugged, “and I’m at least happy they showed a desire to chase the win and took better control in the second half.” Messi’s goal six minutes after the break, proved enough, just.
Atletico remain on the same number of points, 48, as the new leaders, but have played one match more than Barcelona, who will recover their game in hand – an away fixture against Sporting Gijon – next month. But before that, there's the match which Luis Enrique certainly had in his mind when he selected his XI for the Malaga trip.
Atletico come to Camp Nou on Saturday, a collision whose stakes have grown higher since Atletico had to pull their flag from La Liga’s summit once they had not matched Barcelona’s three points by drawing at home to Sevilla. They will need to be more potent in attack to regain the top place. Barca, for their part, will need to be more like their vibrant best and they should be: Luis Enrqiue was without Neymar, Gerard Pique, Dani Alves and Jordi Alba in Malaga, and Ivan Rakitic was rested until the later stages of the game. He hopes most of those will look suitably refreshed for Atletico.
