Ajax vs. Barcelona: Lessons Learned from Champions League Game
Lionel Messi now shares the accolade of being the greatest goalscorer in Champions League history with Raul after his double gave Barcelona a fairly comfortable 2-0 win over Ajax in Amsterdam.
The result ensures that Barca qualify for the last 16 with two games to spare alongside Paris Saint-Germain, who beat APOEL 1-0 in the French capital thanks to an early Edinson Cavani goal.
Messi’s name ended up written large all over the evening, but what else did we learn from the clash in the Amsterdam ArenA?
Lionel Messi Has Rewritten History Again
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Many expected Cristiano Ronaldo—who was a goal ahead of Messi going into this round of fixtures—to race ahead of both Messi and Raul when he lined up against a makeshift Liverpool at the Bernabeu on Tuesday. But the performance of Kolo Toure and Company opened up an opportunity for the Argentinean, and he usually takes those.
He was given a helping hand here, though.
Jasper Cillessen had been having a good game right up until the moment he decided to try and wander out of his goal after saving Messi’s free-kick, but the Dutch international goalkeeper was left helpless once Marc Bartra had beaten him to the ball and hooked it back for Messi, whose header into the net was superb.
Similarly, for his second and record-equalling goal, Messi was helped out by the dynamism of Pedro, who succeeded where Neymar and Luis Suarez had failed for most of the night and linked up well with the deadly No. 10.
It’s 71 and counting, but there will be many more.
Luis Suarez Accepts He’s No Longer the Main Man, but That's a Bad Thing
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This was a curious performance from Luis Suarez, who looked somewhat emotional when he walked out to play at the Amsterdam ArenA for the first time in a competitive fixture since he left the Dutch giants for Liverpool in January 2011.
This was only his third competitive Barcelona appearance—and of course only his third since a certain event at the World Cup—but he looks to be obsessed with not putting team-mates' noses out of joint at the moment.
Whereas last season he was often seen bellowing at Liverpool team-mate Daniel Sturridge when a pass went astray or a shot was taken on from a tight angle, here he seemed desperate to please Messi, Neymar and the rest of his team-mates, so much so that he wasn’t being himself.
He isn’t helped by being stationed on the right of a front three, and whilst he will obviously get better in a Barca shirt, he’ll only do that when he allows himself to.
Ajax Are Still Developing Good Players
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This was very much a contest for the opening half hour, during which Ajax passed the ball around brilliantly and caused problems for a Barca side who were coming into the game off the back of two straight defeats.
In the Dane Lucas Andersen—a player who appears to be taking the same career path as Christian Eriksen—and the recent Dutch international Davy Klaassen, they appear to have two young players who will lead the next generation of talent to emerge from one of Europe’s iconic clubs. Both had good chances to score in the first period, with the latter denied by a fine save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The Champions League may be closed to it again this season, but you can bet that the Dutch club will go on developing players like few others can.
Marc Bartra Deserved His Start and Should Stay in the Team
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Gerard Pique has the profile and the superstar partner, but there is a feeling among Barca fans that Marc Bartra is where the defensive future of the club lies.
The centre-back will gain some praise for the work he did in assisting Messi’s opening goal, but it was his defensive display which really caught the eye.
Playing at centre-back alongside Javier Mascherano for the first time, Bartra was strong, composed and a leader as he came up against the fairly lively Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.
If he keeps this up, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Pique began getting linked with a move away.
Joel Veltman Had His Personal Groundhog Day
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The early bookings dished out by referee Pedro Proenca to Mascherano and Anwar El Ghazi always suggested that we were going to see a red card Wednesday night, and in the end we got a pretty needless one.
Joel Veltman was sent off against Barca last season in a group match, and his own personal Groundhog Day was complete when he picked up his second booking in the 71st minute.
It killed the game as a contest and ensured that if Veltman has a DVD collection, he’s likely to remove a certain Bill Murray film from it tonight.
