La Liga 2017/18: Barcelona 2-0 Malaga, 5 talking points

#3. Barcelona lack quality on the flanks

Yes, this has to be said. True, Gerard Deulofeu scored from a Lucas Digne cross but who are we kidding? That was down to some incompetent refereeing more than anything.

Deulofeu is a hard worker but he is not yet at a level where he can bully defenders or run them ragged. Valverde's decision to move Messi to the centre has paid dividends- that's for sure- but taking him off the wings and losing Neymar to PSG has stripped Barcelona off their riches on the wings.

For large parts of the game, the Barca midfielders were passing the ball around trying to free up the wingers but the lack of quality was evident as nothing that proved to be really threatening emanated from the wings.

However, things took a turn for the better after Semedo was introduced for Deulofeu and Roberto took over the right winger's role. Sergi Roberto's acceleration is astounding at times and he created 2 really good chances- the first of which was botched by Luis Suarez.

Valverde has every reason to look forward to the return of Ousmane Dembele and Jordi Alba.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith