Search The Blog

Oct 25, 2018


A Brilliant display of controlled and balanced football saw a Messi less Barcelona emerging winner in their Home Match against Inter Milan at the Camp Nou.


FC Barcelona Overcome Inter Challenge with a Powerful Display #Barca

FC Barcelona - 2 | Inter Milan - 0


Barcelona Football Team produced one of the most balanced and controlled performances of this season to see off a spirited Inter Milan side in the third match of this season's Group stages. Now with this victory, Barcelona have secured nine points from their three matches and that should literally guarantee them a place in next round.


Unless we screw up things dramatically we should be able to top the group from now on. On a tricky night, when everyone was questioning how Barca will handle the absence of Messi; goals from Rafinha and Alba settled the matters. The defeat has not foiled Inter's chances of qualification as the other match in the group ended with a 2-2 draw.



In my preview of the match, I described 2 Reasons why this is a Must-Win Match for Barca? Strangely before the start of kick-off, one of the reason simply vanished out of the picture. With the earlier match in the group ending in 2-2 between PSV and Tottenham, it was clear that Inter and Barca will qualify. But still, there was a matter of the top spot.


But as I mentioned in my preview, this result had repercussion beyond this Group. This result has already set up the team in the right spirit for Sunday's 'El Clasico', where Barcelona will be looking to hold on to the top spot and also increase Real Madrid's current misery. It also makes life easier for the coach on Sunday.


Valverde made all the Right Moves for a Change in the Match


It is so heartening to write this, that our coach made almost all the right move throughout the match. I may not agree with the line-up and the formation, but it worked, and the substitutions came at exactly the right time to get the control back. He was aided by a host of players who were keen to prove themselves.


Rafinha, who may have secured a starting spot for himself on Sunday was impressive may not be sensational. It was fun to watch Vidal coming in to shore up the midfield and then making runs after runs at the opposition defense. He had it in an urge to fight for the spot which is available. Dembele may feel unlucky but for now, he may have to wait.


As expected Valverde went with the usual 4-3-3, but the biggest surprise was the presence of Rafinha instead of the expected Dembele. That decision, in the end, proved to be a correct one, as he was more or less moving into midfield and Roberto who started as Right back was having a free run on the right. But who made this formation work against Inter was Arthur Melo, who clearly showed that we may have found the replacement of Xavi.


Rafinha's Opener settled Barca's Nerves


Barca dominated possession from the start, something that was expected of them. But there were no clear-cut chances created until the 18th minute. And that too came from a corner where the Inter keeper did well to block Lenglet's header. It's strange how this guy gets on the end of most of the corners. He could be a great asset in the future from corners for Barca.


Barcelona despite the dominance was struggling to break the Inter defense. In the 28th minute, Rafinha had a great chance when he fluffed his shot after Saurez brilliantly set him up. But in 4 minutes time, he made amends for that miss by opening the scoring, in a move he himself started. It was once again the Saurez-Rafinha combination, which created the opener. That goal settled whatever nerves Barcelona had and they were in the driver's seat.


With midfield controlling the possession, the defense was put in little danger and whenever there was any hind of one, they shut it down quickly.


Inter Started Brightly in Second Half


As expected Inter came out in the second half pressing more and creating a bit of trouble for our players. Unlike other matches, this time the team coped well with it. We needed a leader and Saurez emerged as one, his runs were pushing Inter back and both him and Lenglet had chances to put u 2-0 ahead.


With just a 1-0 lead there were nerves settling in as we knew how Inter responds late in the match. But Valverde this time around brought in the reinforcements at the correct time. the decision to bring in Semedo instead of Rafinha was perfect. that allowed to open another channel on the right. Then once Vidal came in for Arthur, we had fresh legs for the end.


In the 83rtd minute then Alba put the match to bed when he used his skill, ability and sheer presence of mind to score the second goal of the night. That simply put to rest any chance of Inter come back and we had a pretty rest of the time. In a tough match, the players responded brilliantly. Notable performances came from Alba, Arthur, Saurez Rafinha, Lenglet etc. But for me the pick of them has to be Arthur and Saurez, the latter even though struggling to score goals; is proving how big a player is he for Barca.

All About FC Barcelona


AllAboutFCBarcelona.com is a Blog dedicated to the Most prestigous Club in the world, FC Barcelona by an ardent fan. Here I discuss about the Latest happening surrounding our Club and present my Views about the same.

Let's Get Connected: Twitter | Facebook

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Random Post Script