Barcelona key talking points: Valverde responsible for more away day blues and De Jong's night to forget

Barca faltered on the road once again on Saturday.
AFP via Getty Images
Ben Hayward5 January 2020

Barcelona fell behind, then went in front and ultimately had to settle for a 2-2 draw away to city rivals Espanyol in the derby on Saturday night.

David Lopez headed the home side in front after 23 minutes, before Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal turned the game on its head in a stirring second-half comeback, only for Wu Lei to grab a later leveller in an entertaining clash at the RCDE Stadium.

The point means Barca remain top of LaLiga with half of the competition contested, but their lead over fierce rivals Real Madrid is now on a narrow goal difference alone after Los Blancos beat Getafe 3-0 earlier on Saturday.

With 19 matches played, Barca are two goals better off than Madrid, having also scored more than Zinedine Zidane's side, although the league would be decided by their respective head-to-head records in the games between the two if they were to finish level on points in May.

More away-day blues for Valverde

Valverde's away form still questionable.
AFP via Getty Images

The champions have lost three LaLiga games on the road already this term (to Athletic, Granada and Levante) and Saturday's 2-2 draw at Espanyol saw his side produce another below-par performance away from Camp Nou.

With Arthur Melo out, Valverde picked Ivan Rakitic in midfield against an Espanyol side fired up under new coach Abelardo. The Croatian was a big disappointment and ended up going off at the break, while Sergio Busquets also struggled and Frenkie de Jong had a poor game by his standards.

Valverde decision to send on Arturo Vidal at the break ended up changing the game, but overall Barca's play was sub-standard and subbing off Luis Suarez instead of Antoine Griezmann after De Jong's red card (instead of bringing on Nelson Semedo for the French forward) might have helped Barca see out the final few minutes.

De Jong's night to forget

De Jong was sent off on Saturday.
REUTERS

De Jong will not look back fondly at this match. The Dutch midfielder gave away the free-kick which led to the opening goal, lost his man David Lopez at the set piece and was sent off 15 minutes from time for a needless foul.

The 22-year-old is probably the most exciting midfielder in the world right now and he was by no means Barca's worst player on Saturday, but the dismissal ended up costing his side and this will be a learning experience for the former Ajax player.

"We ended up with 10 men and that conditioned us," Valverde said. "At 2-1, they were obliged to take risks and we would have had more spaces, but with a man less teams can always push you back and score."

Suarez sparked comeback, but should have been subbed

Suarez should have been withdrawn.
AP

Luis Suarez is in a rich vein of form at the moment and has participated in each of Barcelona's last 10 goals, scoring four himself and assisting the other six.

On Saturday, he was the inspiration behind the comeback, netting the leveller virtually out of nothing with a fine finish from a Jordi Alba cross, and then setting up Vidal for the second eight minutes later.

However, he also missed two great chances to kill off the game at 2-1 and did not offer the kind of defensive contribution needed late in the game when the more combative Antoine Griezmann was taken off to make way for Nelson Semedo.

The Uruguayan is hardly ever substituted, but with Messi also not tracking back and Barca vulnerable with De Jong dismissed, leaving Griezmann on and taking Suarez off would have kept Barca more solid for the final 15 minutes and may even have avoided the Espanyol equaliser.

Vidal still committed, despite club dispute

Vidal key coming off the bench for Barca.
Getty Images

Arturo Vidal's lawyer's have filed a complaint against Barcelona over €2.4m in unpaid bonuses, but the case does not seem to have affected the Chilean's commitment on the pitch.

The former Bayern Munich and Juventus midfielder came off the bench at the interval and transformed the game, proving his worth to the Catalan club in certain types of games, even if he does little to help the overall control of possession in midfield.

"We use Arturo Vidal a lot from the bench, but he can be useful as a starter as well," Valverde said after the game. "He is perhaps not so academic in his positional play. He is more disorganised, but in many moments that is a virtue when we need to get into the area."

Meanwhile, the club's director of institutional relations, Guillermo Amor, said: "He revolutionised the match." And on the complaint, he added: "It will be resolved internally."

Supercopa will provide stern test

Messi scored a winner against Atletico in December.
AFP via Getty Images

Up next for Barcelona is the revamped Supercopa de España, which will take place in Saudi Arabia next week and sees the Catalans meet Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, with a possible final against Valencia or Real Madrid to follow.

Given their indifferent form away from Camp Nou this term, the competition will provide a stern test for Barca, although Valverde's side did beat Atleti at the Wanda Metropolitano on December 1.

"We are four very strong teams and we will see what happens," said Valverde, who will be looking to win his fifth trophy as Barcelona coach.

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