Cordoba 0-8 Barcelona: Five talking points

Barcelona continue to stay atop La Liga with 87 points after a scintillating performance against Cordoba at the El Arcangel stadium. Barcelona found the back of the net on eight occasions with five different goal scorers – Luis Suarez (3), Lionel Messi (2), Ivan Rakitic, Gerard Pique and Neymar.The result of the game didn’t seem a no-brainer right from the first minute as Luis Enrique’s men had to do quite a lot before opening the scoring in the 42nd minute. With Messi, Neymar and Suarez all adding goals to their tally, Messi allowing the Brazilian to take the penalty, Suarez netting his first La Liga hat-trick, much had happened in the 8-0 decimation.We take a look at the major talking points from the game.

#1 Tweaks to Barca\'s approach worked perfectly

Enrique’s men were made to work hard almost until the end of the first half to be able to break the deadlock but they finally succeeded in doing so after a sublime diagonal ball from Messi to Rakitic over the top of Cordoba’s defensive line. Cordoba had ensured that the final third was always crowded with 8-9 players forming two defensive lines of four in each line.

This denied Barca any space to be able to create chances through the centre. Despite creating half chances at regular intervals, Barcelona were only able to score through Rakitic after an excellent aerial ball over the defensive lines from Messi. Enrique’s pragmatic approach was evident yet again as the Blaugranas tweaked their plans accordingly and the first five goals out of the eight had come from such exquisite aerial balls which left Cordoba’s defense clueless.

From what had looked like a frustrating draw in the first half, the tables turned to the extent that it became the biggest victory of the season for Barcelona.

#2 Is Messi becoming the most complete player ever?

Messi’s heatmap vs Cordoba: He positioned himself centrally to unlock the defence

The Argentine maestro achieved a feat in a department that hasn’t been necessarily his own as he provided his 20th assist of the Liga season. Messi became the first player to do so in the last 25 years while in the same game, Iniesta provided his first assist of the season.

Well, who would have thought of a scenario wherein the four-time Ballon D’or winner reaches 20 assists when Iniesta barely opens his account? Such has been the role Messi has played in this campaign under Enrique. When the middle third becomes way too crowded for Barca to unlock, Messi has drifted towards the centre to slice the defence with his creative master-class.

Against Cordoba, it was no exception as the Catalan midfield did all they can until the 42nd minute trying to break the deadlock but it was Messi who cut into the centre and provided an exquisite diagonal ball to Rakitic, who opened the scoring. With the addition of Suarez in the centre, the onus of poaching has been lifted off Messi’s shoulders and the former takes care of being at the right place at the right time, while Messi has occasionally dropped a bit deeper in midfield to spray sublime through balls and pick out his teammates.

This was evident with the introduction of Pedro into the game as Enrique removed Rakitic to bring in the Spaniard, the front three had become Neymar, Suarez and Pedro with the midfield of Xavi, Busquets and Messi. The introduction of Pedro pushing Messi into midfield has happened over the last couple of games and it will be interesting to see if it makes Messi control the game more than be a deadly striker.

#3 End of the road for Cordoba

Cordoba remain at the bottom of the league with three games to go and have no mathematical chance of surviving relegation even if they win all the remaining fixtures. They have scored just 21 goals in 35 games – the least scoring team in the Liga. Even the top four players competing for the Pichichi Trophy have scored more or as many goals as Cordoba by themselves.

Of course, when you have a trio with the likes of Messi, Neymar and Suarez coming straight at you, we can only feel sorry for them. But in truth, Cordoba contained Barca’s attack decently well in the first half. They also broke away on the counter on several occasions during the game, but none of those attacks were clinical enough and they could test Claudio Bravo only once during the 90 minutes.

They would have to go back to the Liga Adelante, rework things on the departments which have let them down and hope to be back to La Liga sooner than later.

#4 Messi-Suarez-Neymar: A special relationship

Messi, Suarez and Neymar have led Barcelona to a commanding position this season

The South American trio have made the headlines on yet another occasion but there were quite a few instances during the game which showed why the three remain to be more special than any other attacking unit in the world today. Despite the fact that each one of the trio is a superstar by himself, the three seem to put each other ahead of themselves in an attempt to produce the best possible outcome for the team.

The sixth goal of the night could have been a direct tap-in for Neymar but Messi got to the ball a fraction of a second before the Brazilian and caressed the ball into the back of the net. However, the Argentine returned the favour by allowing Neymar to take the penalty and thereby giving up the chance to clinch his sixth hat-trick of the season.

The kind of unity that the trio seem to have makes them all the more dangerous as for any club, merely slotting star players into the team would not necessarily mean success and it requires quite a lot of humility from the stars, for the team to be able to deliver the results. The three have become the most destructive attacking unit in the world today and despite Suarez missing first-team action for around hundred days, the trio has taken its tally to 108 goals in all competitions this season.

#5 Pressure prevails on La Liga title contenders

We can expect a nerve-racking end to the title race between Luis Enrique and Carlo Ancelotti

With both Barcelona & Real Madrid getting 3 points this weekend, the race for La Liga is still pretty much alive with both Spanish giants needing to win all the remaining fixtures to win the title. Carlo Ancelotti’s men would be banking on his neighbours Atletico Madrid to stop the Blaugranas from getting the three points at the Calderon as even a draw between Barca and Atletico would mean Real would clinch their 33rd La Liga if they win all the remaining fixtures.

In such a scenario both Barca and Real Madrid would end up with 94 points; but Real would have the upper hand on the basis of this season’s head-to-head record.