Barcelona thumped Sporting Gijon 6-1 at Nou Camp to keep up the pressure on Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. Goals from Lionel Messi and an own goal from Juan Rodriguez gave Barcelona a 2-0 lead after just 10 minutes before Carlos Castro pegged one back for the visitors. Luis Suarez scored a brilliant volley right at the start of the second half to restore their two-goal advantage over Sporting.
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A free-flowing second half saw Paco Alcacer, Neymar and Ivan Rakitic get on the scoresheet as well for the Catalans as Barcelona ended up securing all three points with ease. The Catalans are now one point ahead of their closest rivals, Real Madrid and are all set to mount a serious title challenge which may go down the wire. Coming back to the game, let's take a look at the five talking points from Barcelona's spectacular victory over Sporting Gijon:
#1 The victory that lost all its sheen in the post-match press conference
Luis Enrique announced after the win over Sporting Gijon that he will leave Nou Camp at the end of the season. His future speculations had been discussed a lot recently after Barcelona's 4-0 loss at the hands of PSG but this was a sudden announcement from the quintuple winning manager. Enrique's contract was going to expire in the summer but the club hierarchy had made it clear that they wanted him to sign an extension.
The 46-year-old won eight trophies in his stint with Barcelona and has a chance to add at least two trophies in his last three months reign at the club.
The players had looked a bit lost at times this season due to the manager's tactics with the team's growth being stagnated under Enrique despite the manager spending big in the summer leading up to this season. Enrique's decision can be said to be in the best interest of both the parties as the club will now get ample time to search for his successor while the manager will not have the tension of getting sacked over his head.
#2 Another disappointing match for Sergio Busquets
In Barcelona's new formation, Sergio Busquets has to play in two different roles depending on the situation. He plays as a centre-back when his team loses the ball and shifts into a midfield role when they regain it. This hectic job might be getting the better of Spaniard as he is already struggling with form this season.
The defensive midfielder was arguably Barcelona's weakest link against Atletico Madrid and he repeated that feat against Sporting Gijon. He was at fault for Gijon's first half goal as he was beaten far too easily by Sergio Alvarez, who provided the assist for Castro. With the ball, Busquets lacked his usual creativity and failed to provide the link between the attack and the defence. This season is slowly turning out to be the Spaniard's worst ever campaign.
#3 A return to forget for Douglas
Douglas had signed for Barcelona three seasons ago but his poor performances meant that he had a disappointing time at the club. He had injury problems too as he managed only 41 minutes in the league his two seasons with the Catalans.
He was shipped to Sporting Gijon on loan at the start of this season where he has gone on to cement a starting berth for himself. The defender made a comeback to Nou Camp but provided glimpses of his faltering play as he could not offer much to the visitors, playing in a right wing role.
The Brazilian had hardly any contribution in the first half and was taken off at half-time. The 26-year-old has made 12 appearances this season for the Asturian club and has one league goal to his name but the La Liga side have not given any hint about wanting the player on a permanent deal next season.
#4 A sigh of relief for Neymar
The Brazilian was undoubtedly Barcelona's best player in recent games, impact wise. But he had failed to get on the score sheet as the flashy winger has lacked his usual composure in front of goal. This had attracted a lot of criticism in Neymar's way this season with the Brazilian bagging just 11 goals this season. Putting this into perspective, he had scored 31 and 39 goals in his last two seasons at the club.
Both the player and the manager had claimed before the game that they were not concerned about Neymar's goal drought but it was evident from the player's frustration at times on the field that certainly wasn’t the case.
A free-kick right into the top corner, however, was probably the best way to answer his critics as Neymar silenced his detractors with a well taken set piece against Gijon. This was his first home league goal of the season and would do a world of good for the Brazilian ahead of the showdown clash against PSG.
#5 Is the new formation used in recent games a drill for the second leg against PSG?
After the debacle in Paris, Luis Enrique had to do something to stop his side's downfall. His answer was to shift to a 3-4-3 formation against Atletico Madrid which yielded a win for the Catalans. Enrique feels that this formation might give his attackers more freedom going forward whilst also having enough numbers at the back to guarantee stability. The players took time to adjust to the new tactic in the previous games but it bore fruit against Sporting Gijon.
Barring Busquets, each player did his job brilliantly with the manager getting his players accustomed to the formation which might be used in the second leg against the Parisians. This move might also be a ploy to fool Unai Emery as Enrique might opt for a traditional 4-3-3 on Wednesday. Whatever may be the system, Barcelona need a better defensive performance if they are to overturn a huge first leg margin next week.
