Compared to the previous Pep Guardiola or Tito Vilanova era, Barcelona under Luis Enrique can no longer perform the magical tiqui-taca football like before. Since Xavi’s form has declined and he can no longer maintain his strength in the midfield, Barcelona’s playing style relies heavily on brilliance in attack.
Lionel Messi is still the most important catalyst in attack as he not only scores goals, but also plays the role of creating the ball for his teammates. Iniesta is no longer often explosive in the middle of the field, Messi has to shoulder more roles, he is even the fulcrum in all offensive passes.
The clearest evidence of Messi’s influence was in the match against Atletico last night, in which Barca did not dominate the game compared to their opponent. Messi had two passes for Neymar, then Suarez scored, and then he, with his superior technique, sealed a 3-1 victory for Barcelona.
When Barca still played tiqui-taca, Messi was the pinnacle of the attack and was responsible for scoring goals. But over time, the Argentine star became more comprehensive in his role as a playmaker. It can be said that Messi is reaching the perfection of the world’s top star today.
But Barca’s rise does not lie with Messi alone as they have other stars who know how to share the burden of scoring goals for M10. After a long suspension, Luis Suarez did not take too long to integrate into the new team, while Neymar still maintained his regular scoring form when returning from injury.
Neymar is maintaining his regular scoring form at the Nou Camp
In two wins against Elche 5-0 and Atletico 3-1, the trio Messi-Neymar-Suarez contributed 7 goals. In La Liga alone, these three strikers have a total of 19 goals (Messi 16, Neymar 12, Suarez 1), although lower than C. Ronaldo (20 goals), but Barca’s attack is ineffective.
The most outstanding feature of these three stars is that they coordinate quite well together, as all the goals come from the perfect coordination of this trio. Lionel Messi often plays the role of initiator of the attack and takes advantage of Suarez and Neymar’s momentum and ability to seize opportunities to threaten the opponent’s goal.
According to the 4-3-3 diagram arranged by coach Enrique, Busquets plays the lowest position in midfield while Iniesta and Rakitic only take on the role of controlling the midfield area. When there is no longer a midfielder who is inclined to attack completely, the approach to the opponent’s goal is completely assigned to the striker trio.
In this style of play, Luis Suarez plays the spearhead role and almost only moves in the penalty area. Neymar sticks completely to the left wing and his quick turns and shots are Barcelona’s powerful weapons.
Lionel Messi still plays the most important role, he moves widely in the forward line and with the mobility of the Suarez-Neymar pair, this trio always has good coordination in a narrow range. With Messi, Neymar and Suarez all having good basic techniques, defenders are always disoriented in face-to-face situations.
Barcelona always has sharp trios, like Ronaldinho-Eto’o, Giuly in 2006, Messi-Eto’o-Henry in 2009, or Messi-Villa-Pedro in 2011. It is the chemistry of the attacking stars and Regular scoring performance is the factor that helps Barcelona reach the top of the Champions League.
This year, Barcelona may not have outstanding midfielders like Marquez, Deco, Xavi or Iniesta (in their prime), but with the devil triangle trio Messi-Neymar-Suarez, the chance to win a great treble is not. is impossible under Guardiola.
