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The European nights were back for yet another enthralling two days of action. The matches were put that were put on paper as a big-game didn’t disappoint a bit. FC Barcelona visited Wembley again after previously winning the Champions League title there. And we witnessed an amazing game between Tottenham and Barcelona which finished 4-2, in favour of the visitors.
The visit of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to Napoli was ruined with 30 seconds remaining on the clock. Lorenzo Insigne passed the ball into the net from an infuriating counter-attack which left the Liverpool defence in tatters. Liverpool to their credit revealed the talent of Joe Gomez, who played wonderfully and even made a goal-line clearance.
German Champions Bayern Munich was held to a 1-1 draw by Ajax, and they should be glad they scraped away with the point. Their miserable run of form continues. Real Madrid didn’t have any better night either.
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In contrast to last season, where they looked invincible in Europe despite miserable performance in Spain, this season they are looking off colour as of late, both in Spain and in Europe. In-fact Real Madrid hasn’t scored in over 350 minutes.
On the contrary, German leaders Borussia Dortmund and Spanish dark horses Atletico Madrid both won their games, convincingly enough. The third team in the English contingent that is league leaders, Manchester City, had to fight hard to win against a spirited Hoffenheim side.
Amidst all these spectacular outcomes, some unforeseen, some overwhelmingly likely, there were certain players who looked sharp on the pitch and played a vital role in the team’s victory. Here are the top 5 performers in matchday 2.
Honourable Mentions
Paulo Dybala
With talismanic signing Cristiano Ronaldo missing out due to suspension, Juventus again looked to Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic to come up with the goods. While Mandzukic was good, Dybala was even better. So much better, that he scored all three of Juventus’ goals. Dybala released a total of 7 shots off his feet. His passing was around 87% successful.
Dybala’s first goal came in the 8th minute off Leonardo Bonucci’s assist which he drove into the right bottom corner of the post. Dybala found himself with the ball around the box at half-hour mark and hit the left side of the post this time. In the 47th minute, off a fast break, Dybala cracked one off the post. But Dybala did eventually hit his third goal off Cuadrado’s assist straight down the throat of the goal.
But his performance was against a team out of Europe’s Top 5 Leagues, thus he finds only an honourable mention here.
Neymar
PSG made a quick work of the little known Red Star Belgrade team at home. They had a ridiculous 34 attempts at goal. They forced a total of 11 saves from keeper Borjan. Neymar was in a different zone altogether, continuing on his great run of form against Nice. He scored a hattrick, made plays, completed dribbles, dished passes and what not. He bent in two freekicks from outside the box, one to the right of the keeper and other to the left.
Neymar is expected to come up with these performances against teams outside of the top 5 leagues, without any doubt. He hit a total 9 shots at goal and converted 3. He held almost 7% of possession of the team and completed 7 dribbles. It is to be seen whether he will recreate the magic against Napoli, the next match-day.
#5 Manuel Neuer
The sweeper keeper of Germany spent the most of last season injured. It was perhaps a bad choice by the German coach, Joachim Loew to start him ahead of the in-form Marc Andre Ter-Stegen in the World Cup. Neuer had a World Cup to forget, as he got beaten all ends up by Mexico, chipped by Sweden and broken apart by South Korea. Neuer’s poor performance was one of the reasons for the early exit of the Germans.
Manuel Neuer has decided to put the past aside and move on. His performance against Ajax was the only reason that the Bavarians escaped with a point. The midfield superiority of Ajax was too much for the Bavarians and their defence collapsed under pressure a lot.
The Munich outfit called their keeper into action a lot which explains him holding 4% of the team possession, which is too much for a keeper. His ball distribution was good and he succeeded in 87% of the pass attempts.
Neuer’s first piece of action was the save off Ziyech’s long-range effort, Neuer succeeded in parrying the ball away for a corner. He was into the pick of things a lot more in the second half. Dusan Tadic was raining in balls which were too troublesome.
On one occasion, Tadic’s close range was saved by the big body of Neuer and his reflexes were quick enough to hold on to the loose ball. Ziyech attempted again at goal in the second half a few minutes later, Neuer had to kick the shot away.
Next time, Van De Beek was straight in on goal and should have finished. Neuer just managed to put him off by closing in and making himself broad. Although a matter of luck as well.
Even after holding on till 90 minutes, Ajax didn’t have enough of the action. Schone had a free kick well out of range, but he curved it with an insane amount of pace in it. Neuer’s best and most important save of the night came at the very end, he just did enough to deflect it on to the post. Even after going down, he jumped up and caught the loose ball, making sure that it doesn’t fall for anyone feeding on scraps.
A goalkeeping perfection on display by Manuel Neuer.
#4 Kalidou Koulibaly
Liverpool would have thought they would come back with all three points or atleast one point from Napoli. Their attack that drowned PSG is as good as they come. Liverpool did hold on till, 30 seconds from time when Insigne scored off Jose Callejon’s assist. However, Liverpool didn’t see a sight of the ball in the final third.
Liverpool’s lead attacks, Firmino, Salah and Mane hardly had any exchanges near the box. Kalidou Koulibaly is the person to blame for it. His two tackles and one yellow card hardly show anything about his performance. His presence made it tough for Salah to position himself for the incoming ball. Koulibaly stood in front like a brick thus not giving any thoughts of a forward pass to opponents.
The ball was hardly passed between Firmino, Mane and Salah and that is owed to the ball pinching personality of Kalidou Koulibaly. He is definitely one of the best centre-backs in the whole world due to these traits. His presence can do wonders. There wasn’t much short range threatening attacks that Liverpool could create.
Koulibaly’s presence was not limited to defence. He drove forward through the left wing looking to cross. One of his crosses was right into Jose Callejon but it was cleared off the goal by Joe Gomez. Koulibaly also had a wild shot at goal. He completely destroyed the front three of Liverpool and if he empties his pocket, Salah might be in it.
Koulibaly’s all-round performance is our 4th best performance of the week.
#3 Jordi Alba
Jordi Alba was not a vital part of the team during Luis Enrique’s tenure as a coach. With Neymar operating in the wing and demanding the ball time and again, Alba had very little to do and was often benched.
But since Neymar’s departure, Jordi Alba has been a very important link in the team. His partnership with Leo Messi has been among the best strike partnerships in Europe last season. Alba assisted almost 9 or 10 goals to Messi and Alba himself scored 2 goals of Messi’s assists.
The game against Tottenham was another stunning display by the Spanish full-back. Luis Enrique decided to not call Jordi Alba up for the international break, but Alba capitalising on the rest is pulling up brilliant performances. He made several runs down the left flank and linked well with Messi and Coutinho.
The first goal of the match came of Alba’s boisterous run which he superbly cut back towards Coutinho, while it was very tempting to go for goal. Even while defending he was quick to backtrack with the Spurs coming forward. Alba found Suarez lurking with a brilliant lobbed through ball which if controlled should have given Alba another assist.
Alba backtracked well even when Spurs hit their first goal on the counter, he had Lamela covered if Kane decided to pass inwards. But minutes after the goal from Spurs, Alba went straight through the left wing again, got Messi’s pass, moved forward and simply pulled the ball back for Messi to finish, like he’s done quite often. Alba’s final vital contribution in the game was yet another assist, to Lionel Messi. A pass inwards, beating everyone and dummied by Suarez fell straight to Messi, who finished with ease.
A hattrick of assists, a humongous amount of pace and the brilliant backtracking by Alba, earns him a top 3 place for the best performers. On the contrary, it is really about time that Antonella Roccuzzo began worrying about the Messi-Alba relationship.
#3 Arthur Melo
One word, elegant. Arthur Melo was signed by Barcelona from Gremio last season. He was to arrive in December this year but Eric Abidal wanted him in the summer itself. Arthur displayed some brilliant performances in the pre-season tour but was until the Spurs game, a bench player. Arthur, who is completely unproven, even in the league, felt at home in Wembley. His sleek moves, his sideway passes, his build-up plays, everything reminds of certain former Barcelona player. While his skills represent those of Barcelona’s former no 6, he is doing complete justice to the number on his back, that he inherited from Andres Iniesta.
Arthur’s brilliance cannot be displayed by numbers and neither some moments. Arthur displayed incredible game awareness, that a controlling midfielder needs, and it felt like he has been at Barcelona for years. Arthur is so resistant to pressing, something that people relate with Busquets. Son and Wanyama tried to press him together, to no good effect. He passed and moved back right for the return pass, sleek adjustment.
He was so good at moving away from players and finding the open man. Lucas Moura on one occasion tried to bring him down, but he succeeded only in fouling him. No matter how much pressure, the ball won’t come out of Arthur’s feet. He resisted went in one direction, turned to other and turned again to the first direction. Wanyama pressed him, he turned right into Son, but pulled the ball towards his back and turned away from both.
It was Arthur’s pass to Messi and his forward move which allowed the split second defensive lapse, during which Messi passed to Alba. Whoever tried, Winks, Moura, Lamela, Son, Wanyama, even Harry Kane, no one got the ball clean off Arthur. It is just amazing for a 22-year-old, to perform in Europe like this during the debut start. Arthur has to be trusted with more starts, he is brilliant. Barcelona invested in the right man, even though unproven.
If you just watched Melo’s feet and his moves without watching the face, you would mistake him for a legend. Arthur is just a young version of Xavi Hernandez. It was tough to separate Arthur and Alba, both share the third place among the match day’s best players.
#2 David Silva
David Silva was at his elegant best in the game against Hoffenheim. It was expected to be a cakewalk for Pep Guardiola’s men even though they lost in the first match day. But Manchester City got off to the worst possible starts, conceding in the second minute.
David Silva had to come into action very early in the game, he threaded a magnificent ball through the midfield to Sane, which was finished off by Sergio Aguero. Silva came up with the next counter-attack, this time with a ball to Raheem Sterling, who nearly took the lead.
Silva was in the zone, into the middle of the field and made terrific exchanges and one-two passes in between. Silva succeeded in staying away from defenders with his apt positioning and awareness.
He played a crucial role even in pressurising opposition defenders. With a freekick, Silva delivered the perfect ball to attack but was put wide, agonizingly by Nicolas Otamendi. Raheem Sterling found a good ball for Silva but he failed to finish the job.
Silva’s positioning was the better part of his game. He positioned himself at a spot, to receive passes easily, he passed and slid back way expecting return passes. With the terrific positioning, he even got in the perfect place to score but the ball slid behind him to Sterling, at the brink of halftime. Silva was all over the place, firing his teammates up and going in through the attacking midfield to the centre-forward position.
In the second half, Laporte found a ball for Silva but he failed to finish off his big stretch. Silva’s terrific work rate throughout the game was eventually the deciding moment. With the Hoffenheim defence taking its sly time before clearing, Silva caught them sleeping and moved to the defender and got the ball away. Silva turned right towards goal and put the ball to the back of the net.
Silva pulled off a sheer moment of brilliance to go with his utterly dominant midfield performance. Thus David Silva is our second best player from matchday 2.
#1 Lionel Messi
Who is the best player in the world? How good is he? The best in the world bar none. These statements are just a few from the giant encyclopaedia of Lionel Messi quotes by great commentators and great players. Messi was in terrific touch in his game vs PSV on matchday 1 and he was even better against Tottenham. The English media went completely berserk on witnessing Lionel Messi’s masterclass while the Spanish media and Barcelona fans witness it week in week out.
Lionel Messi was visiting Wembley, a place where he has been before on the ultimate stage of the Champions League. While it was a young 24-year-old Messi, who put in a masterclass against Manchester United then, it was just a 31-year-old Messi against Tottenham this time. Messi was off and running from minute one of the game, being involved in all aspects of the game, even tackling. The Tottenham defence had no answers to Messi’s through balls.
Messi’s first through ball came with a terrific vision, right into Jordi Alba who pulled back for Coutinho to finish. Messi tried to turn in several passes straight into attacks. He just turned away from the defenders with ease but was tackled down. During the second goal also, Messi put in a crucial lobbed through pass straight to Suarez, who failed to control but eventually, Coutinho assisted to Rakitic. Messi’s ball caught the defence off guard.
In the second half as well, Messi was in his utmost genius mode. With Tottenham pressing high, Messi broke the defence apart along with Suarez. Messi went straight on goal from the wings with three defenders around. He tried to pass it sleekly past Lloris but the ball came back off the post. Messi got another chance, this time there were four defenders around and Messi had to pull the trigger from outside.
His shot, this time with more power, came off the face off the goal and out. With so much luck going against him, Messi the next time decided to trust his best on-pitch partner. Messi provided a brilliant ball to Jordi Alba beating everyone in the midfield and moved into the box. Alba found him with ease and with a sleek touch Messi froze Lloris on spot to get his first goal.
Leo weaved a neat through ball for Luis Suarez but it was hit straight at Lloris. Messi got another chance towards the end of the game, from Alba’s assist and this time he had a much easier finish past Lloris into the bottom right corner.
Messi displayed everything that he could on the day. Pace, dribble, turns, passes, shots, through balls, goals and whatnot. A terrific performance by Messi, which amplifies the degree of toughness for the Ballon D Or jury. Messi proved once again, that despite the award snub by FIFA, he is bigger than the award. The best performer for two consecutive matchdays, against two quality oppositions. Lionel Messi just celebrated a day of footballing genius.
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