Luis Enrique's Grown-Up Barcelona Show Against Man City They Know How to Suffer

CAMP NOU, Barcelona — Don't let the result fool you. Barcelona 4-0 Manchester City. It looks savage, glowing cruelly on the electronic scoreboard while Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique danced on the touchline before it. It looks like a rout.

In the end, of course, it was, but this doesn't tell the story of the game.

For 53 minutes, City were the better team, even if Barcelona were a goal ahead.

Barcelona weren't playing especially badly, they just weren't able to play much.

City were leading the way, and only good goalkeeping from Marc-Andre ter Stegen preserved the hosts' lead, gifted to them by a combination of bad luck and bad defending.

The German stopper was out of his goal quickly to pounce on the ball when Kevin De Bruyne snuck in behind Javier Mascherano, taking advantage of the Argentinian's unfamiliarity with his position as right-back.

After Lionel Messi opened the scoring, Ter Stegen made a standard save from Nolito at his near post and then a brilliant one from Ilkay Gundogan that forced him to stretch full-length the other way to tip the ball to safety.

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Messi's goal came out of nothing, really. The Argentinian shifted forward and sent a probing pass into Andres Iniesta's path, although the captain was beaten to the ball and City won it back. Kind of.

Fernandinho was unfortunate and slipped up on the shiny Camp Nou surface, leaving the ball lonely, unattended, in the City area. Time stood still, confusion was king. And then Messi appeared to take the crown.

At the moment Fernandinho slipped, Nicolas Otamendi was standing with his Argentinian compatriot. At the moment Messi reached the ball, he was nowhere in sight. Fernandinho's slip-up was a physical one, Otamendi's a mental one, and Messi was sharp enough to take advantage.

This was the Barcelona’s No. 10 first start for a month, but he doesn’t need much time to get going. He showed that on Saturday with a goal within three minutes of coming on as a substitute against Deportivo de La Coruna.

"If you can expect anything from Messi, this is it," said Luis Enrique in his post-match press conference. "It doesn’t matter how long he’s been out, it doesn't matter how many games he’s missed."

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The coach praised Messi highly for his work rate in the game. At times, he was seen almost in the right-back slot, with Mascherano playing ahead of him. Enrique said, per Sport:

"

Those that are lucky enough to see him train each day continue to be surprised, not only for his goals but how he plays pressing game, helps the team. He’s a reference, no doubt about that.

It’s clear that he is the best player in the world.

He is the complete interpretation of everything football is. It would be naive to doubt Leo.

He’s once again been decisive. He was present in all the game’s important moments. And he even made them nervous when they gifted him the first goal! It’s what happens when you give a centimetre to our most dangerous player.

"

This is a big symbol of how both Messi and Barcelona have matured. Enrique doesn’t need to tell his star forward that he must help out defensively. He knows it.

Few understand the game as well as Messi, and now he acts on it in various ways, including coming deeper to seek the ball if Barcelona are having trouble finding him, changing his game to suit the match. Helping out defensively is just another nod towards how complete a player he is.

Barcelona lost both Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique to injury in the first half, with hamstring and ankle problems, respectively; they will be out for two and three weeks.

"Tests realised this morning have confirmed that Pique has a sprained ankle and will be out for around three weeks," read a statement from Barcelona. "Tests realised this morning have confirmed that Alba has a hamstring strain. He will be out for approximately two weeks."

But while in seasons past Barcelona would have panicked at losing half of their best defence, while Mascherano was already playing out of position, they took it coolly here.

Lucas Digne came on and put in another good, solid display that adds to the evidence suggesting Barcelona could start him on a regular basis without problems.

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Jeremy Mathieu replaced Pique, and although Mathieu's poor tackling led to his dismissal in the second half, Samuel Umtiti showed experience beyond his years to marshal the back line.

Playing his first game in a month too, the centre-back switched from left centre-back to right centre-back to fill Pique’s spot and was imperious.

He will be essential for Barcelona in helping to fill the gap left by Pique’s injury—and likely for the weeks, months and years after that, too.

City began the second half much as they ended the first, in the ascendancy. Guardiola controversially opted to drop striker Sergio Aguero to play an extra midfielder. That was part of what allowed his team to control the game, but they were undone by their own mistakes.

Without the cutting edge Aguero provides, Barcelona were content to allow City to take control—as Everton boss and former Barcelona star Ronald Koeman told Sport before the game, one team was likely to do that and the other had to cede—and then capitalise on errors from Guardiola’s team. And there were plenty of those.

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Koeman said: "Obviously it will be a battle to dominate the other side, because these teams don't know how to play differently. One will have to yield and that will be important for the balance."

He was right in a way, except as Luis Enrique’s Barcelona have shown on occasion before, they don’t mind sitting a little deeper and playing their way out of tight spots to take advantage of the counter-attack.

Claudio Bravo’s sending-off was the moment that ripped City’s game plan to shreds. It was a moment of madness from the former Barcelona man, foolishly passing straight to Luis Suarez outside the area and then handling the Uruguayan’s shot to earn his dismissal.

Ter Stegen made another fine stop from De Bruyne in the second half as City tried in vain to push, but shorn of a man, when Barcelona hit them on the break in the second period, they were much more dangerous.

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Messi got the second, with a fine, drilled strike that beat Willy Caballero at his near post, then the third after Gundogan gave the ball away to Suarez. The Argentinian won Neymar a penalty, which he missed, and then fed the Brazilian for goal No. 4.

It’s easy, too, to write this up as another night on which Messi’s brilliance earned Barcelona the victory. And of course, it played a part.

But what was particularly important was Barcelona’s maturity and patience, waiting for mistakes from City to take advantage of, not panicking after Pique and Alba went off, nor after Mathieu received his marching orders.

The weeks ahead without Pique, the best centre-back in the world, will be challenging. But it seems like this Barcelona side are strong enough to stand up to it.

Rik Sharma is Bleacher Report's lead Barcelona correspondent. All information and quotes obtained firsthand unless specified. Follow him on Twitter here: @riksharma_.