Granada vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from La Liga Game
Barcelona had to bide their time and ride their luck a little before running out 3-1 winners over Granada in La Liga on Saturday.
Ivan Rakitic sprung an even first half into life, finishing from close range after Luis Suarez worked an opening and saw a shot blocked. Suarez doubled the lead in the second half, before Fran Rico netted a penalty for 2-1, only for Suarez to set up Lionel Messi—fractionally offside—for the killer third.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match in Andalucia.
Winner: Marc Bartra
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Spanish central defender Marc Bartra is arguably Barcelona's fourth choice at the position, but in the past few games he started, he has been nothing short of exceptional.
Against Granada, he was again imposing and proactive in his defensive work, making a number of quality tackles. He also read the game well, stepping out of the back line and intercepting through-passes before they ever turned into danger.
Bartra conceded the penalty in the second half, but he really had no choice but to attempt a challenge after Dani Alves' lacklustre attempt at defending allowed Lass into the area. Overall, he was by far Barcelona's most commanding defender.
Loser: Jeremy Mathieu
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While Bartra impressed, Jeremy Mathieu showed signs of struggle in an infrequent start for the Frenchman.
He looked lacking in sharpness and agility as Jhon Cordoba and Javi Marquez made the most of space around him. They ran quickly into the box from deep and forced him into a few ungainly challenges, while exposing his apparent lack of pace on the day.
Luis Enrique subbed Mathieu in the second half, and this game won't have put him in the manager's thoughts to start more regularly in the coming weeks.
Winner: Ivan Rakitic
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Ivan Rakitic's debut season with Barcelona hasn't been consistently spectacular, but he does offer the team something the other central midfielders don't: a willingness to run beyond the forwards and get into the penalty area, looking to score goals.
It was the case in the first half as he twice got beyond the strikers, once to nearly provide a scoring chance and once to finish off the opening goal himself. Creativity and ball retention might be the midfielders' main role at Barca, but Rakitic's breaking from the second line is imperative in these tight games where the defence is closing out Barca's front men.
Writing for ESPN FC, Dermot Corrigan noted the following about Rakitic's performance:
"Rakitic's goal demonstrated everything about why he is so highly valued by the blaugrana coach. The goal came when left-back Jordi Alba lifted a ball over the top of the home defence for Suarez to chase. Granada keeper Oier might have come off his line, and covering defender Cala should probably have cleared, but the first player on the spot to slam the ball to the empty net was the Croatia international.
The goal was emblematic of Luis Enrique's more vertical Barca, even down to it being Rakitic who was in the right place at the right time.
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The second half saw Rakitic in a more usual playmaker capacity as Barcelona started to dominate. He set up Suarez's goal with a fine returned pass over the defence, while he also played the defence-splitting pass to put Suarez in during the buildup for the last goal. A fine all-round display.
Loser: Neymar
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Neymar had next to no impact on the game until the final five minutes or so, making it a second league match in succession where he has been disappointingly sidelined.
The Brazilian picked up a booking which sees him suspended for the match against Rayo Vallecano next week, and he has now only scored once in his last five matches.
With Messi the obvious king of the attack and Suarez in much better form of late, Neymar's dip is ill-timed if he wants to be seen as a consistent component of this all-star front line.
Winner: Luis Suarez
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One of Suarez's most effective performances of late, the Uruguayan was involved in all three goals, like Rakitic, and was unfortunate and unhappy to be subbed late on.
His goal was well-taken and showed composure as well as aggression to get into the box, just what Barca needed at the time as Granada started the second half as the brighter side. His unselfish play also saw him set up Messi for an easy third—although having rounded the goalkeeper, Messi was actually offside when Suarez played him the ball.
An impressive work rate as ever and some clever runs behind the defence made Suarez tough to stop for Granada. It must have come as a relief to them when he departed 12 minutes from time.
"Maybe (Suarez) is standing out more as he is scoring goals," Luis Enrique said, per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan. "But since he started playing with us he has been doing very well. He brings a lot of things to the team, not just the goals. He does very special work for us."
Loser: Granada's Relegation Battle
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Granada have struggled vastly to get wins this season, managing just one now in their last 15 in all competitions. Even so, in the league, they hadn't suffered defeat at home since the beginning of November, picking up a host of draws along the way.
Right now, though, they badly need to pick up three points each time.
Sitting four points from safety and with most of the other teams at the bottom still to play this weekend, it could get very ugly, very quickly for the Andalucian side if they don't manage to take a couple of wins from somewhere, anywhere, in the next few weeks.
They might have been expecting to lose to Barcelona in the normal course of events anyway, but games against Malaga and Rayo—neither straightforward—now take on more importance than ever.
