The Major Talking Points from Barcelona vs Leganes !

Barcelona struggle to get past the Leganes defence, although the score line 5-1 suggests else wise. Barcelona opened the scoring through Lionel Messi in the 15^th minute after a neat work from Luis Suarez on the right wing. Messi, took advantage of a back pass from the Leganes defender to cross the ball to Suarez who had to roll the ball into the empty net to make the score 2-0. (Talking Points from Barcelona vs Leganes)

Suarez assisted Neymar in the 43^rd minute to make the score 3-0 and in the second game running, MSN had scored. Rafinha completed the rout with a curling finish past the Leganes’ custodian.

 5) Barcelona’s 3-4-3 formation

Luis Enrique’s decision to change the formation from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 was looking to haunt his side for most parts of the entire game. Mascherano, Umtiti and Pique were part of the 3 man defence for the Catalans.

Mascherano, in particular suffered wide in the right side of defence contrast to his natural position of Central defence. Umtiti, too started out wide on the left of the defence and the results were similar.

Rafinha started the match in front of the new signings Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez. Sergio Busquets was rested ahead of the crucial meeting against Atletico Madrid. Jordi Alba, started the match in an unusual left midfield position starkly in contrast with his left back role at the club.

 4) Lionel “MESSI”

Luis Enrique, last week in an interview praised the Argentinian striker Lionel Messi for his performance against the Scottish side Celtic. Luis Enrique was once again thankful to the striker for saving Barcelona from further blushes.

Lionel Messi, scored twice and set up Suarez in the crucial 5-1 win against the newcomers Leganes. (Talking Points from Barcelona vs Leganes)

The Argentinian was one of the brightest player on the pitch in the win against the newcomers. This was also the first start for “MSN” in the league and in the first appearance, the trident had scored and were crucial in influencing the game.

 3) Absence of Sergio Busquets

Barcelona missed their defensive lynchpin more than any other player off pitch. The defensive midfielder is one of the key players in the current Barcelona set-up, not only because of his defensive ability but also for his array of passes for the front three.

The absence of Busquets in the middle of the park was felt by the side and Andres Iniesta had to compensate his attacking prowess to help the team defensively on more than one occasion.

Controversy regarding the starting line-up would have sparked if Barcelona had failed to win this tie away from Camp Nou. (Talking Points from Barcelona vs Leganes)

 2) Leganes’ failure to control Barcelona

Leganes’ for the most part of the first quarter had managed to get the better off Barcelona. The five man defence had its say in the early part of the game, annoying and irritating the Barcelona team who did not see much of the ball early in the game.

The way Leganes’ defence collapsed was disappointing to see. The defence was responsible for the first two goals of the match.

The first goal was a result of the failure to track Suarez’s run on the right wing and the second due to a sloppy back pass from the Leganes’ defender.

 1) Mascherano’s performance

Luis Enrique decided to give the Argentinian a start in the 3-4-3 formation against Leganes’ and the Argentinian gave the Asturian coach a shock of his life. Mascherano, played as a right back the entire game and was exposed regularly during the game due to his pace which put the entire backline under threat.

The backline suffered in the presence of the Argentinian as he was responsible for not stopping the Leganes’ attack on the right side of the pitch. It was a very disappointing performance from the experienced player. (Talking Points from Barcelona vs Leganes)

Umtiti looked much more composed than the Argentinian in the league thus far and is also likely to replace the Argentinian in the starting line-up.

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• Barcelona
• la liga
• Messi
• Neymar
• suarez