Andres Iniesta hails the importance of Messi and Suarez

Barcelona’s victory over Alaves last weekend only served to highlight the importance of Messi and Suarez, as the old pair dragged their side across the finish line.

The plucky Alaves side took the lead in the first half and held on bravely up until the last fifteen minutes. Just when Barcelona seemed to run out of ideas, their number nine got a sniff and scored the equalizer for the Catalan side.

Then it was left to Lionel Messi to save Barcelona’s skin, as the legendary number ten scored a brilliant free-kick to wrap up the three points for his side.

This is what Iniesta had to say about his team’s magical duo.

“The importance of Messi and Suarez for us is fundamental,” Iniesta said.

“It has been one of the most difficult matches.”

“Football has these things, the rivals are very well prepared. In the end we have taken it out.”

“Football is not mathematics, sometimes you are not so lucky.”

The match was note worth as Philippe Coutinho made his La Liga debut for Barcelona. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, he did not have a great outing and was replaced midway through the second half to a smattering of applause.

After the game, Suarez defended his old Liverpool team mate and asked everyone to have a little bit of patience with Coutinho.

“It’s difficult to debut in the Camp Nou in the league,” Suarez said.

“Philippe did very well trying in the game and the team are happy with his contribution.”

“We are achieving our objectives as a team and at an individual level I am very happy,” he added.

“In the second half we knew what we had to do and we got three points.”

Barcelona regained their nine-point league at the top of the table, as they will now slowly turn their attention towards their big round of 16 clash against Chelsea in the Champions league.

Barcelona will need Coutinho to get up to speed pretty quickly, as the Brazilian’s contribution will be extremely crucial in Europe.

Coutinho will return to England and will be expected to be a huge influence on that tie in particular. Let’s hope he does well for Barcelona’s sake!