Andres Iniesta's Clasico Return Shows Barcelona Are Heading the Right Way
CAMP NOU, Barcelona — First, there was a tremor, and then there was an earthquake.
The more eagle-eyed Barcelona fans spotted the man in pink rise from the bench to start warming up and began to cheer.
That caught the attention, and others joined in, delighted to see Andres Iniesta jogging up and down the touchline, preparing to come on.
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That was the tremor. And then came the 'quake, with his introduction in the 60th minute waking up a stadium that had been fairly subdued for such an important game.
They roared. The Camp Nou was loud, louder than it had been for Luis Suarez's opening goal seven minutes earlier.
But instead of knocking buildings down, Iniesta's return helped Barcelona start to build.
Although he came on at 1-0 and the Clasico finished 1-1 thanks to Sergio Ramos' late equaliser, Iniesta's appearance made Barcelona recognisable again and helped cut through Real Madrid barriers that had been too tall and too strong for his team-mates to break down.
With their captain back on the pitch, Barcelona looked like Barcelona. They began to create chances, with Neymar and Lionel Messi both missing opportunities they should have taken to put the game out of Madrid's reach.
The latter came from a sublime pass by Iniesta, an offering laced with gold, but Messi spurned the opportunity by taking a bad touch and then dragging his shot well wide of the far post.
There are a handful of reasons why Barcelona did not win, failing to eat into Real Madrid’s six-point lead at the top of the table, even though it seemed like the points were in the bag.
Madrid were behind but not creating any dangerous opportunities, and even their equaliser did not come from a particularly good set piece.
Luka Modric swung the ball into a good area, but it was not an undefendable ball, as Neymar’s free-kick was for Barcelona’s opener.
The Brazilian's flat, driven free-kick zipped across the box at head height, and Suarez stuck his noggin in the way to power it past Keylor Navas.
In no particular order, the reasons Barcelona did not win this game are:
1. Neymar and Messi's aforementioned profligacy.
2. Arda Turan gave away a silly free-kick in the 90th minute for Madrid's goal.
3. Javier Mascherano did not mark Ramos properly.
4. Luis Enrique took off Ivan Rakitic for Iniesta instead of Andre Gomes and brought on Turan.
5. Iniesta did not start the match.
6. Luis Suarez continued his lamentable form despite his goal.
Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are individual errors, Nos. 4 and 5 are coaching issues—although not starting Iniesta should not be used to criticise Luis Enrique, who was looking out for the midfielder’s best interests.
No. 6 is a recurring problem for Barcelona but one you anticipate will soon change. Sergio Busquets was another player who was going through a malaise, but his performance in the Clasico was superb, the best he has put in this season by some distance.
With Busquets back on form and Iniesta returning from the injury he suffered back on October 22, Barcelona started playing well. They can consider this a glimpse into the future, with Iniesta turning 33 in May and unlikely to play on for more than three seasons at the most.
That is why Gomes and Denis Suarez are in the squad, although Luis Enrique's selection of the former over the latter is problematic.
He does it for two reasons. One is because he asked for Gomes to be signed, like Turan, so he wants to stand by his man. The second is because Gomes offers a better aerial presence in defence than the alternatives, which is important when you consider that beyond Gerard Pique, Barcelona don’t have much height and strength.
If the recent Real Sociedad game was a draw that tasted like a defeat for Barcelona, then this game had a similar flavour despite their huge improvement.
However, there are green shoots. Pique preferred to focus on those. The defender said after the game, per Sport:
"Everything is going right for Real Madrid and the goal in the 90th minute keeps their unbeaten run going, but experience tells me that this [the season] is very long.
The first year of Luis Enrique, in 2014/15, we were in a similar situation. They were on a great run of form and had a four point lead.
It all depends on ourselves and how we play football. If we recover our style, which we in part recovered today, we’re unstoppable and we can turn things around.
"
What he meant by that was that Iniesta returned. The Manchegan is the guardian of what is left of Barcelona’s style. No other player in the world can offer the same maintained calm ingenuity.
He is an old book, majestically fashioned and full of beautiful, flowing prose while other players are streams of tweets, lively here and there but inconsistent and unfocused. Iniesta is the patient master working on his canvas, the next generation is strung out and suffering from ever-shortening attention spans.
Pique went on to add as much, saying: "We recover our way of playing. He gives us more [patience on the ball] and more control to create chances, and you noticed when he played."
Iniesta also spoke after the game, saying that the Catalans deserved to win the game, per Sport.
"Normally, you’re left with what you see last, which is the Madrid equaliser, but I think that it’s a shame we didn’t add to the 1-0," he explained. "The sensation is that two points have got away, but we have to continue moving forward, win games and hope Madrid slip up."
That is certainly possible, with Barcelona likely hoping Real's trip to Japan to feature in the Club World Cup before Christmas takes the same toll on them as it did on Barca last season, with the Blaugrana’s accumulated tiredness taking effect at a crucial stage of the campaign.
But in the meantime, they must focus on themselves and try to find solutions to their own problems. Iniesta's return has solved the largest of them—the lack of identity when he is not present.
Rik Sharma is Bleacher Report's lead Barcelona correspondent. All information and quotes obtained firsthand unless specified. Follow him on Twitter here: @riksharma_.
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