In a balmy night in Maryland, M-S-N put on a first-half show to help Barcelona beat Manchester United 1-0.
The first half was dominated by the Blaugrana, in particular their attacking trio, and while the second half was a more prosaic affair (except for United’s late rally to try and snatch an equaliser) that first period told us much. What did we learn?
1. Neymar and Barcelona are purring under Valverde
There was something so fitting about Neymar, under a whirlwind of media attention and criticism due to the “will he won’t he?” nature of his potential transfer to PSG, being the player to score Barcelona’s first three goals of the pre-season. His double against Juve won that game and he scored the first last night.
In truth it wasn’t just the goal, but his overall play. He looked several seconds faster than every other player on the field. Like Usain Bolt racing against a group of toddlers. His position was fluid but never egregiously so; it was always in-sync with Messi and Suárez.
Neymar was just perfectly tuned into what Ernesto Valverde wants from him. The persistence and confidence in front of goal (displayed when he notched the night’s only strike) already put him light-years ahead of last season. And whenever he picked the ball up and ran at United, good things happened.
In fact that was true of Barcelona as a whole. They only went into half-time 1-0 ahead, but that was down to the excellence of David De Gea. In the first half when their starters were out, Barça were cutting through the Red Devils with ease and creating chances almost at will.
If Neymar still wants to leave Barcelona despite dovetailing so perfectly with the team behind him and the two forwards alongside him then he should be checked for fever because only a sick mind would walk away from the kind of fabulous football we saw in the first half.
2. David De Gea is Man Utd signing of the season.
This is huge for the Red Devils. Last season De Gea very much looked like a player going through the motions. A sulking mop of hair and a fluffy beard. It was reminiscent of Cristiano Ronaldo during 2008/09, another player who was pining for (and awaiting) a move to Real Madrid.
But when Los Blancos formally ended their interest in De Gea this summer, and when United secured Champions League football, a cloud must have been lifted. Suddenly De Gea had a purpose at Old Trafford once more, and he really played like it against Barça. The Spaniard flew around his goal, repeatedly thwarting the Blaugrana – he made six saves in the 45 minutes he played.
It was old-school stuff from Spain’s no. 1. Ultimately, David De Gea was firmly back in the saddle as sheriff of United’s goal. He looks like he finally cares again. And when he cares, those “miracle” performances come rather regularly. Couple that with a functional United defence and, well, it could be very very difficult to beat Manchester United this coming season.
3. Paul Pogba is a bargain for Man Utd
Holy moly! Remember when Barcelona and Real Madrid balked at paying €105m for Paul Pogba a year ago? I bet they feel stupid now, especially Barça who only won the Copa del Rey. Pogba is a phenom. A little rough around the edges in places, sure, but the talent is undeniable.
Last night he played against Barcelona next to 36 year-old Michael Carrick and despite having absolutely no help from the United captain, was spectacularly dominant. By far the best United player on the park and better than most Barça ones too.
Pogba tackled with authority, passed with accuracy, and when he had to run with the ball no one in Barça’s lovely cyan away kit could stop him. He rampaged through Barcelona lines like a one-man cavalry charge, but found little in the way of support besides the isolated Romelu Lukaku.
4. Carles Aleña continues to shine
Amongst all the bluster about M-S-N the last few years it’s almost easy to forget that one of Barcelona’s biggest calling cards is that their youth team graduates are not only very talented, but they get chances to play in the first team.
That procession kind of stopped under Luis Enrique, with only Munir El Haddaddi and Sergi Roberto playing significant roles. This has forced the Blaugrana into the transfer market to sign back-ups that would otherwise be provided by La Masia.
Carles Aleña looks to get Barça back on-track with regards to young talent, however. Long considered one of the more special talents in the Barcelona youth system, he’s played in both pre-season games and looked good in both. Last night against United the attacking midfielder got his chance with a majority first-choice XI and he did not disappoint.
Whether it was keeping the passing carousel spinning, threading important passes between defenders, tracking back and tackling, pressing high, or perfectly understanding the weight of pass needed to feed the ball back to Neymar or Messi for those lightning quick one-twos; this young Catalan never faltered.
Aleña may yet provide a home-grown alternative to the rumoured €100m deal for Liverpool’s Countinho. If he continues to handle playing for Barcelona with such confidence and ability the Blaugrana may be able to replace Andrés Iniesta from within, and how beautiful would that be?
5. United’s crossing is a near fatal flaw
This is fairly simple but United absolutely must get it together when it comes to crossing the ball. Romelu Lukaku is a powerful force in the air but if all you can do is send inaccurate crosses then we’re all set to watch a season where this brilliant Belgian flails hopelessly at flying balls like Novak Djokovic has been doing this summer.
To this end, you can see why Mourinho wants Ivan Perisic. The tall Croatian is excellent at crossing and loves to whip in deadly balls. If Daley Blind had the same enthusiasm and ability for the cross maybe it wouldn’t have been 1-0 at the half.
Antonio Valencia’s forward runs were understandably restricted by the presence of Neymar, but even when he did get forward the delivery was poor. On the other flank, Blind often found himself in space but neglected to put in any sort of quality ball. Given Lukaku’s strengths and his reliance on good service to score goals, quality crossing has to be one of United’s main avenues of attack this coming season. Mourinho has some work to do.
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