Barca are having all the good feels today after a thrilling 4-2 win at home over Atleti to put the Blaugrana into 4th place. The match got off to an ominous start with Pique falling asleep leading to a cross down Alba's flank that ended with a goal. Pique looked like he was man marking Suarez yesterday, but when El Pistolero drifted out wide past Alba, Pique neither followed him over nor dropped back into the defensive line to pickup Carrasco. Alba got caught between the 2 attackers, Araujo couldn't get over in time, and MATS once again got beaten to his right--something that article I posted upthread has identified as a big issue.
What felt like a minute later, Barca equalized when Adama, Pedri, and Alves pressed Atleti in the corner, leading to a turnover that Alves crossed to Alba, who hit a sublime volley to the back post that was beautiful. Koke went down in a heap after Adama grazed him, and while Adama is a friggin' tank, that was a risky move from Koke (likely gets called half the time) that certainly contributed to the goal. Shithousery giveth, and shithousery taketh away.
From there, Adama continued to torture Hermoso down the right, and put a cross on a dime that Gavi (!) finished with a header to the far post. I think every football fan is fascinated by Traore, because it's always fun to think about what someone who looks like Darren Sproles or [INSERT FAVORITE SHORT MUSCULAR NFL RB HERE] might be able to do on a football pitch. Well, at Wolves everyone rightfully bemoaned his lack of end product, yet within 30 minutes of his Barca debut he looks like he's ready to be an absolute steal. I don't know if Hermoso is above or below par defensively (paging
@bosox4283 if he's willing), but Traore put some fear into him early and often.
To that point, the match had followed some kind of script, but just before half Atleti absolutely fell asleep on a set piece, that Barca had all day to rebound, with the final strike delivered by Araujo. I mean, the service from Alves was good, and so was Pique's initial header that went off the cross bar, but after that, half of the Atleti D doesn't move. The 2 nearest players go to stand in front of the net, which is fine, but all the far side defenders are just watching. I have no idea what the hell is going on over there, but I think most La Liga fans expected Atleti to challenge for the title this year. They haven't.
Just after half, Gavi combined well with FDJ and gets a cross in that gets dummied and ultimately cracked by Alves. Again, just poor defense from any side, let alone from one as established as Atleti. The goal is interesting because for large parts of the match (especially in the first half), Alba would push up to winger, Alves would tuck into a CMF role, and FDJ was the fulcrum by covering LCB for Alba. Here, Alba stays in defensive position and FDJ pushes into the half space to combine with Gavi. Alves is in a good starting position to take advantage of the dummy by Pedri (Ferran gets taken out hilariously on the play as well).
Barca conceded poorly on a set piece before the final big event of the match. Atleti had a strong 10 minutes after the Suarez goal, during which time Auba replaced Traore, and Nico came in for Pedri. Shortly after those subs, Atleti had an offside blown dead, and Alves for some reason stomped on the back of Carrasco's leg. Idiot move that rightfully earned him a red. Xavi reacted by subbing off Gavi in favor of Dest. I didn't watch the rest of the match as closely, but Barca mostly shut down Atleti after that. Not sure if Auba played out left, or if he was deployed centrally. Anyone know where I can find a heat map?