FC Barcelona 5 – 0 Atletico Madrid: The Hum of a Well Oiled Machine

By: kelsey | September 25th, 2011

The FC Barcelona passing machine notched another manita at home dispatching Atletico Madrid with ease in a memorable night at the Camp Nou in which Leo Messi scored a brilliant three goals to reach 150 goals under Pep Guardiola.

FC Barcelona 5 – 0 Atletico Madrid: All Goals

Match Recap:

Barcelona fans could be forgiven if they had some misgivings heading into tonight’s match. After a mediocre mid-week performance against Valencia (if you missed that match I wouldn’t recommend watching it, rather just read our review here) and some lingering question marks on a Barca defense that would need to contain a very in form goal hungry striker in the Columbian Falcao, there was some unease going into this match. Pep, wily as he is, did little to relieve those concerns with his starting back line, which did not feature either Puyol or Pique (who was given medical clearance on Friday to the delight of cules everywhere). Instead Pep chose to use a 3-1-3-3 formation with Valdes in goal, Alves and Abidal positioned on back flanks, Mascherano as center back, Busquets protecting the back line, then Xavi controlling the center midfield with Cesc and Thiago on either side of him, and last season’s preferred front line of Messi, Villa, and Pedro. The rest of the match squad consisted of almost all defenders with Puyol, Pique, Maxwell, Fontas, Adriano, Keita and Pinto available to sub in from the bench.

Reservations about Barca’s defensive line appeared founded within the first few minutes of the game. Atletico made a few nice passes outside the Barca box and found Tiago open in the corner of the box. Again it seemed as though our back line would be Barca’s Achilles heel this match as the sound of Tiago’s shot hit the crossbar.

Those fears were quickly laid to rest by Pep’s men. Barcelona regained possession and rarely lost it again throughout the rest of the match. Less than 5 minutes later after a spell of pinpoint Barca passing, Xavi sent a lovely diagonal ball across the field over the top of Perea to David Villa. Villa, who did well creating separation with the defender, trapped the ball on his chest, took one more touch to get around another defender and sent the ball low in the far corner of the net. Cheers rang out through the Camp Nou.

Fans did not have to wait long to celebrate again. Less than 10 minutes of mesmerizing Barcelona passing in the Atletico end later, Atletico lose possession and Pedro sends the ball to Xavi in the center of the field. Xavi plays a nice ball back to the corner of the box. Messi, who was offside at the time, dummies it to avoid the flag, and Pedro and a defender fight to gain control of the ball. It falls in the path of Messi, who takes a hard shot at Courtois. While able to stop the shot, the Atletico keeper could do nothing but watch on as the blocked shot took a bounce off the back of Miranda, and headed into the net for an own goal. 2-0 Barca 15 minutes in.

Messi: I see your two penalty kick hat-trick match, C-Ron, and raise you my three brilliant goals for a hat-trick evening. Wink wink.

Atletico, appearing as little more than bystanders at this point in the match sitting back and watching the intricacy of Barcelona passing and teamwork, were then confronted with the individual brilliance of Leo Messi. Little more than halfway into the first half during which Barcelona thoroughly dominated possession, Leo sent a short throw-in to Pedro, who fed it right back. The rest was all Messi as he dribbles into the box at two defenders, gets around both with one brilliant move, and sends the ball into the low far corner of the net. Amazing display of skill from the best player in the world and scoreline already reads 3-0 Barcelona.

Given the football on display by the homeside in the first half, few were concerned that Atletico had any chance, aside from Pep of course who stood at his sideline post staring intently at the field, directing his players, while getting soaked in the pouring rain. The second half began much as the first ended with Barcelona immediately assuming control of the ball and the game. Pep subbed Pique in for Busquets adjusting the formation to a 4 man back line. Pique received a resounding cheer from the crowd for his first appearance back from injury since late August though no one was more pleased than Dani Alves as he could now freely roam up and back the sideline on the attack. And attack Barcelona did, though with a bit less intensity than in the first half.

Pique doing what no opposing defender can: trapping Lionel Messi

While Atletico did see slightly more of the ball in the second half and create a few chances on offense, they had no answer for Leo Messi and the Barcelona passing machine. After another spell of Barcelona possession, Leo took the ball outside the center of the box. Facing a defender, Leo makes a move to get around him and into the box. Accelerating forward, Leo keeps the ball seemingly on top of his shoelaces, breaks around the outside of two defenders and sent his shot through a narrow opening between the defenders and the keeper into the far corner of the net. Unbelievable display of skill, utterly demoralizing for any defense.

Leo wasn’t done quite yet though. In the lingering seconds of the game, he again takes the ball, this time from Thiago, and sends it to Villa right outside the left center of the box. Messi continues his run into the box and Villa sends a lovely one touch lob over the defense back to Messi. At an acute angle on the far left side of the goal Messi sends a hard shot through the keeper’s legs and into the far corner of the net.

Thoroughly enjoyable evening for Barcelona fans as Leo bags a brilliant hat-trick and Barcelona gets a manita at the Camp Nou.

Oh when the saints go marching in / Lord, how I want to be in that number

Thoughts:

The Good: Vintage performance from FC Barcelona and their superstar Leo Messi, and like the individual awards doled out, a very deserved honorable mention to Xavi. Barcelona’s style, based on passing and maintaining possession, was on fine display last night at the Camp Nou. Atletico, at times, seemed little more than spectators. Both the 3-1-3-3 formation in the first half as well as the 4-3-3 in the second functioned well as both Abidal and Alves stayed back in the first to ward off attacks on the wings, then gained more freedom to move forward and spread out the field in the second. Xavi, as usual, pulled all the strings from the center, and the other Barca players seemed to circle around him like spokes on a wheel. And of course, there are not enough superlatives to describe Leo Messi as he was simply unstoppable on the attack last night.

The Bad: The team left very little to find fault though there did seem to be a downshift in gears during the second half and less of a push on goal. And on the rare occasions Atletico did manage to mount a counterattack the defense did allow them a bit more space in the final Barca third than they should have. To mention either is nitpicking though given Barca utterly dominated the game and it would’ve taken Atletico an act of God to wrench the 3 points away from the home team.

Player Ratings:

(1) Valdes – 7.5: could have been picking daisies throughout much of the game and no one would’ve noticed given how little he saw the ball last night, but performed well when needed rushing out to prevent a one on one with Gabi and giving the back line guidance on the rare occasions Atletico made it within the final Barca third.

(2) Alves – 8: good performance by Dani last night; good positioning protected the back flank during the first half when Pep used a 3 man back line then made nice forays forward providing Messi, Xavi, and the others a far outlet for the ball and good crosses in when Barca switched to a 4 man back line in the second half.

(3) Mascherano – 7: far and away Barcelona’s best makeshift CB making timely tactics and interceptions, appeared tired toward the end of the match and level of play dropped a bit, but overall very solid performance.

(4) Abidal – 7: strong performance from King Abi covering the back and passing forward, less sure of his footwork on the attack, but positioned himself well throughout the game to help his teammates and ward off counterattacks.

(5) Busquets – 7.5: showed how well he can play in his preferred role roaming in front of the back three preventing Atletico attempts at midfield possession and counterattack and making clean smart passes to push the ball forward and open the field.

(6) Thiago – 8.5: shone last night justifying the pre-season hype, dribbled through defenders, good through balls, passing, and a few very nice shots on goal, Thiago did it all last night.

(7) Xavi – 9.5: like a fine wine, Xavi doesn’t age, he just gets better with time. The maestro pulled all the strings last night, setting tempo, and was seemingly everywhere at once, always the outlet pass should his teammates want it. With unparalleled vision on the field, Xavi set up for the first goal with a lovely assist to Villa, had a hand in the own goal, and facilitated many other Barca chances.

(8) Cesc - 7: relatively quiet evening for Cesc, made a few uncharacteristic loose passes, but also set up a few good Barca chances in the first half, and saw a beautiful lob from 30 yards out hit the cross bar at the beginning of the second.

(9) Pedro – 6: not Pedro’s best night, made good runs, but first touch wasn’t on and he wasn’t positioned well to score.

(10)Villa – 8.5: pretty performance from the striker, great first touch and finished off neatly to notch the first goal of the evening, involved on offense throughout, and assisted Messi on the last goal with a very nice give and go over the top of a defender.

(11)Messi – 10: Superb. A hat-trick of brilliant goals, intricately involved in all Barca’s playmaking, Messi was in a league of his own last night.

Subs:

(1) Pique – 7: a welcome sight back on the pitch, Pique provided the solid presence Barca needs in the back line. What Pique currently lacks in touch and timing due to lack of match play, he makes up for in proper positioning, pace and presence.

(2) Keita – 6.5: fit in well when subbed in and helped keep up Barcelona’s high level of play though did not do much to stand out.

(3) Maxwell – 6: did not make much an impact one way or the other in the short time he was on the field last night.

Some Related Barcelona Posts:

Category: Barcelona, Highlights, La Liga, Lineups, Messi, Players, Review, Team News, Thoughts

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Helge

Nice review, kelsey.

I hadn't noticed that our bench consisted of 5 defenders, one DM and a goalkeeper. That's quite unique and tells a lot about how Pep Guardiola approaches the game this season. There has always been a lot of criticism during (and after) the summer transfer windows on Barcelona, i.e. on Zubizareta and Pep, for not buying a new defender. But when you look at the bench this time, is there really a lack of defenders?
Plus, Pep Guardiola obviously wants to play with as few defenders as possible. As long as Dani Alves and Abidal hold their line, it works out, even against offensively talented sides (maybe not against the likes of Real Madrid and ManUtd, but it's enough to keep the Atleti's of this world away from our goal). I could even imagine that Pep was not that concerned about Puyol and / or Piqué missing, because that allowed him to play the 3-man-defense without having to justify his decision. It'll be interesting to see how he will line-up the team when Piqué and Puyol are fully match-fit. You cannot play both of them in a 3-4-3 / 3-1-3-3...
Anyway, I for one also had my concerns about a lack of defenders, but now I think we are fine with the players at hand. As soon as Alexis Sanchez returns, the 3-x-y(-z) might be even stronger, because his defensive awareness, work-rate and contribution is even ahead of Pedro's or Villa's, imo.

By the way, how long until Sanchez returns?
kelsey

Hi Helge, interesting point you made; likely wouldn't need another seasoned CB on the squad if Pep regularly does a 3-4-3/3-1-3-3. Pep could move Puyol to a back flank and I'd be curious to see how Pique would do as a DM if he wanted to play one as a CB and one in another position and still use a 3-4-3/3-1-3-3 formation in a match. Agree though that we'll be more exposed on defense against the likes of a Man U or Real Madrid if both Puyol and Pique aren't match fit (see AC Milan's first goal) as we need Puyol's intensity and leadership and Pique's pace and positioning.

Believe Sanchez should be back in approximately 4 weeks if his recovery is on schedule. Jury's still out for me on how much Sanchez will adapt and contribute to the team since we haven't gotten to see him play much with Barca yet, but looking forward to his return!
BarcaFan2011

As a HUGE Barcelona FC fan, I have to differ with your assessment on the Valencia match. Even though it resulted in a draw, it felt like a win to me given Valencia's aggressiveness. All in all, IMHO, it was akin to watching two heavyweights go toe to toe for 12 rounds of non-stop back and forth action.
kageglantz

Hey, that's a good analogy. Did you ever see the Ali-Foreman fight, the Rumble in the Jungle? In that one Foreman beat up on Ali and beat up on Ali and he didn't go down. By the end Foreman was so tired he almost fell down by himself. That was Valencia in the Barca match. They were out on their feet in the last 30 minutes, and though they were far and away the best team for the first half, they were quite lucky not to be knocked out at the end. In fact, had Messi been given a clear penalty....
Pkj

after watching this game i had no doubt that Xavi is the best player of the world!!
MikeM

When Messi, Xavi, and Inesta were up for player of the year, some stupid ESPN commentator wrote that a problem with Xavi winning was that he doesn't play defense. It is hard to believe that someone could watch Xavi and come to that conclusion. It is even harder to believe that he got paid for writing it. Xavi is having a masterful season.
Pkj

the only problem with xavi is he goes unnoticed! like a great composer of a symphony who lets his musicians have all the credit....no one can fill his spot when he calls it a day and that's what worries me.
kelsey

Yes, Xavi is amazing and his contributions can be overlooked sometimes. That ESPN commentator must not observe Xavi very closely because the second one of his teammates lose the ball (Xavi himself never loses it) he is pressuring the opposing side to get it back. He's even pressured opposing keepers and defenders when they're in possession if the Barca forwards aren't pressing (Xavi did so multiple times in the Valencia games, not sure really where our front line was there). Iniesta or Cesc can play Xavi's position as we saw in the BATE game, but Cesc plays it differently delegating playmaking more to other midfielders so he can make runs and attack more than Xavi typically does. Of course I'm not sure if there is another player who can pull all of the strings the way Xavi does, probably not.
MikeM

Nice post Kelsey. But give Cesc some credit. He moved to a more defensive position and played well there. Barca owned the midfield and the results followed. As you noted Alves played as asked and had a great defensive game. Villa continues to impress me by working into the Barca style and his efforts are starting to lead to better chances. Great game!
kelsey

Hey Mike, thanks, and yes, I don't think Cesc had a poor performance, I just don't think he had a stellar game either. His "anarchy" as Pep calls it, just didn't seem to work quite as well as in past games as his positioning sometimes seemed a bit off. As Cesc has said before, he still needs some time to get accustomed to Barca style defending and I think it showed in this game. Agree with you that Alves was very disciplined on defense and Villa seems to be grasping the Barca style better and melding more with the team at the start of this season than he appeared to at times last season. Overall, a pleasure to watch the team this game!
MikeM

Hi Kelsey, all true, especially the "pleasure to watch."