Barcelona 0 Malaga 0
Thirty minutes before Barcelona kicked off against Malaga, the club released a statement stating that Lionel Messi had been vomiting and would be unable to play. The Argentine’s absence was a blow for a side already without fellow first team players Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Jordi Alba and Ivan Rakitic. It was the first time since Suarez made his Barcelona debut over two years ago that neither he or Messi were in Barca’s starting XI.
Without two of three stellar forwards, the Catalans struggled to break down a 10th placed Malaga side and went into the half-time break goalless.
Barca’s first XI was good enough to win the league last season, but there were concerns about the strength of their overall squad and the number of games their stars were playing.
When Atletico Madrid knocked them out of the Uefa Champions League last season at the quarter-final stage, Barca’s players looked fatigued. It was to their credit that they recovered from a slump in form to win the Primera Liga title.
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The club’s close season transfer policy was aimed at boosting the squad so that they weren’t so reliant on the sacred few. Paco Alcacer, Lucas Digne, Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes, Samuel Umtiti all arrived with proven top level pedigree, albeit not for sides as good as Barca.
Luis Enrique has rotated his squad with his new signings, but the policy isn’t convincing. Barca made significant changes at home to Alaves and lost. The same happened at Celta Vigo away where they rested Iniesta in addition to the injured Messi. Barca were 3-0 down after 33 minutes before bringing Iniesta on and getting the score back to 3-3 before a late defeat.
With the 2016/17 season three months old, none of Barca’s new signings have scored. Rakitic still started on the bench against Malaga despite Barca’s list of injured and suspended.
The Catalans still had the quality to limit the Andalusians to counter attacks, with their forward Sandro, who made 17 appearances for Barca between 2014/16, charging forward and testing Marc-Andrei Ter Stegen in the 23rd minute. Sandro would later be applauded off by the home crowd, despite their frustrations.
Barca are also poorer after international weeks when so many of their players head to South America to play in the tough South American World Cup group, but they still had far more chances against Malaga.
Gerard Pique had an 11th minute shot pushed onto the bar by former Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. A minute later, Pique also headed an effort which saw Javier Mascherano hit the post. Rafinha’s low shot after 31 minutes tested goalkeeper Kameni.
Malaga are the only team in the top 15 without an away so far this season. Their home form is a strength, but they held Barca with their 4-5-1 formation and excellent goalkeeping from Kamenia.
In truth, the Catalans laboured, even when Malaga went to 10 men after Diego Llorente was sent off for a lunge on Neymar after 69 minutes.
Striker Alcacer looks short of games and of confidence, barely touching the ball. Substitute Andre Gomes headed against the bar in the 83rd minute and Pique thought he had scored with the rebound, but was offside.
Pique had also had a penalty appeal turned down when his shirt was pulled in the area by Mikel Villanueva. Kameni made a superb save from Neymar in injury time, while Juankar was shown a red for protesting in time added on to reduce Malaga to nine
Barca have a tough couple of weeks ahead. They travel to Celtic on Wednesday for an important Champions League match, then play their bogey team Real Sociedad away the following week. Their next home game? Real Madrid. They need their main men back as soon as possible.
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