Why Barcelona Will Not Let Malaga Defeat Disrupt Champions League Challenge

When Barcelona were beaten by Real Sociedad at Anoeta, it felt disastrous. Even though this, a 1-0 home defeat by Malaga, is on paper a worse result, the sensations around the club are significantly better.

In fact, it would be no surprise if Luis Enrique's side travel to England to face Manchester City and return to El Prat airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning with a precious away win under their belt.

The Barcelona we saw take to the field against Malaga was not the same side that's been on an 11-game winning rampage.

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Of course, all good things must come to an end; even Pep Guardiola's legendary Barcelona team only ever achieved a winning streak of the same length.

Barcelona went into the game against Javi Gracia's men knowing that they could sleep as leaders of La Liga, should they come away with a win.

But perhaps they were also worried by the idea that if they individually ran themselves into the ground, they would not be at their peak against Manchester City in the Champions League. Perhaps they might even be rested by Enrique. 

The latter issue wasn't a concern for the forward line, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, who will each have known that they would be lining up at the Etihad on Tuesday come rain or shine.

So why couldn't they break down Malaga's defence?

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The simple answer is that Gracia's team defended extremely well, rarely letting any of Barcelona's strikers get one-on-one with any of their players.

Of course, it would be easy to make cynical accusations. This was the worst game Messi has played since that Sociedad defeat, where he was upset after being left on the bench and rowing with Enrique.

It coincided with Enrique's rejection of his claims that the team had changed in attitude since that defeat.

As previously discussed on Bleacher Report, Enrique doesn't make things easy for himself.

There was no reason for the coach to rally against Messi's words and take on the press once again in his Friday conference, but he did.

When asked about Messi's words, Enrique had replied, per Sport's JM Diaz:

"

I have no reason to change my mind. The situation of the team is the process, the normal evolution of the season. Neither more nor less. I do not (give value to what Messi said), I don't care about controversy. Throughout the season this is the normal process. You can believe who you want. I give my opinion and you can believe it or not. I don't try to deceive. If someone believes something different, fantastic. I'm interested in something else - preparing for the Malaga game - and the rest I leave up to you.

"

Messi won't have liked hearing the coach disagree with him, but it's far too mean-spirited a theory to suggest his heart wasn't in this game because of that.

These pictures of Messi punching the ground in frustration during the game cast further doubt on that theory.

No, the credit for Barcelona's slip-up belongs to Malaga's resilience. And a Dani Alves mistake. That was important, too.

Part of the reason Malaga's game plan was so successful was because they got an early goal when Carlos Idriss Kameni tried to catch the defence out, booting the ball downfield.

It worked, when Alves tried to hook it back to Claudio Bravo, but he only succeeded in playing in Juanmi, who rounded the goalkeeper and tucked home.

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From there, they could continue trying to wind the game down and hit Barcelona on the counter-attack when the opportunity presented itself.

Without that early goal, you feel Barcelona might have been able to find the right combination for the lock.

And Manchester City can't copy Malaga for two reasons. One, they are playing at home and need a positive result. Two, they are a far bigger side than the Andalusians and have invested millions into their team.

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To play like Malaga did would be a philosophy that Manuel Pellegini, who coached that side before heading to England, will be extremely unwilling to countenance.

Instead, you can expect City to go looking for goals; with Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Samir Nasri in fine form, that's a reasonable enough plan.

But it may also play into Barcelona's hands, with Neymar, Suarez and Messi released.

Unlike the other defeats that Enrique's side have suffered this season, this one should not be allowed to settle in and disrupt the mood at the club. They have to take it as a blip, not a crash.