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FC Barcelona manage to eke out a narrow 1-0 victory against Valladolid to keep their title challenge alive on Saturday. Arturo Vidal's 15th-minute finish from a Lionel Messi assist kept Barcelona afloat against a spirited Valladolid who almost brought the house down on Barcelona in the dying minutes of the game.
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If it were not for some crucial saves from Marc Andre ter Stegen, Barcelona would have dropped points tonight, kissing their title hopes goodbye. The game was a testament to Barcelona's away form this season, who have just not been convincing enough as a unit to win games comfortably away from home.
On that note, here the 5 talking points from the game.
#5 Sergi Roberto is the heart of this Barcelona side
When Sergi Roberto started playing regularly for Barcelona from the 2015/16 season, fans and pundits were of the opinion that he is wasted at the right-back position, given his prowess on the ball.
Later he was pushed up to the right midfield or central midfield in the off chance, but he kept playing predominantly at right-back under Ernesto Valverde.
Since the arrival of Setien, Roberto has played as a right-back, centre-back, right midfielder, left midfielder, and if the squad is injury-ridden, at the left-back position. Sometimes, several of these positions in a single game.
Excelling in all of the roles mentioned above, Roberto who did not have a firm place in the starting XI even a year ago has become undroppable in Quique Setien's new Barcelona setup.
Starting out as part of the back three today, Roberto graduated to a defensive screen in the middle of the first half, and played in a midfield three in the second half along with Rakitic and Busquets.
Playing majorly as a ball carrier in the latter part of the game, he made several key passes to feed Jordi Alba on the left.
#4 Barcelona show glimpses of beautiful football
Considered to be a tough team to break, Valladolid have acquired quite a reputation over the past two seasons since graduating from the second division.
In the first season in Spanish top-flight football, they finished 16th, and this time around they are at the 14th position.
However, Barcelona, playing a 3-5-2 in the first half, carved up the Valladolid defence and were presented with a flurry of chances early on.
Griezmann failed to convert from two clear cut chances, one of which was a tap in where he had no pressure around him.
Youngster Riqui Puig, who has been showing that he is here to stay, had a wonderful game linking up with Lionel Messi and Arturo Vidal. He started Barcelona's proceedings with a sharp shot at goal within the first five minutes of the game.
The midfield five of Alba, Puig, Busquets, Vidal and Nelson Semedo created an abundance of space and ransacked the Valladolid flanks to create a lot of potential goalscoring opportunities for the away side.
#3 Griezmann does not capitalise on opportunity
After his performances against Villarreal and Espanyol, Setien trusted Antoine Griezmann ahead of Luis Suarez to start with Lionel Messi in a 3-5-2 formation against Valladolid.
The idea was clearly to attack the flanks to get the ball into the box, where Griezmann could finish from.
But unfortunately for Antoine Griezmann, he ended up having a horrid game where he let a low cross slip between his legs right outside the six-yard box.
It has been a case of two steps forward and one step back for Griezmann all season, and with Barcelona moving into the Champions League fixtures in a month, his confidence and attacking problems need to be sorted out by the team.
#2 Setien's substitutes destroy Barcelona's authority
With Griezmann not having the best of days, Setien swapped him for Luis Suarez at half time. Also, in the 57th minute the coach would take out Riqui Puig and Clement Lenglet to slot in Ivan Rakitic and Ronald Araujo in their places respectively.
This, destroyed Barcelona's fluidity in the game. With a slow midfield three of Vidal, Busquets and Rakitic, the game was brought down to a walking pace.
Worst of all, Luis Suarez kept losing the ball in key areas and failed to deliver despite being in an advantageous position against the Valladolid defence.
One would feel that fresh legs would have increased Barcelona's pace, movement and fluidity, but all that remains to be a distant dream with this midfield taking charge of the game.
#1 Valladolid outplay Barcelona in the second half
Starting with a lock block in a 4-5-1 formation Valladolid were outplayed by an electric Barcelona in the first half of the game.
The half time strategic change to go into a 4-4-2, worked out perfectly with Valladolid breaking at pace against the Barcelona defence.
Fresh legs of Enes Unal and Sandro Ramirez injected pace into their attack and they would have scored at least twice if not for the resilient ter Stegen.
Barcelona were at fault for losing an exceptional number of balls in the midfield and the attacking third, but credit should be given to Valladolid coach Sergio who orchestrated the whole comeback and almost took the game away from Barcelona.
With a narrow win at one of their toughest away games post lockdown, Barcelona have shown glimpses of their long lost brand of football.
Recent results have brought in much-needed innovation and imagination in their game, but they need to deliver in the midfield and in the attack if they wish to keep their European dreams alive.
It can mostly be guaranteed that Real Madrid would not be dropping points in the rest of their La Liga fixtures, which would mean that they will win the league with room to spare.
However, the Champions League is still alive and Barcelona might just have a shot at it if they were to play how they played against Villarreal.
