Barcelona dropped a 1-0 decision against Villarreal on Saturday. When Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid won their respective matches this weekend, the defending Spanish Champions found themselves in third place and four points out of first place.
Devoted Barcelona fans obviously still feel there is a chance, but even they cannot deny that something is off with their team. Barcelona has attempted to adopt a more direct attacking approach, but that has backfired and continually exposed an increasingly weak defense.
But the major issue with Barcelona is not that the passing game is becoming more predictable than ever before; the main problem with the team is a rather expensive one that was not expected.
When Barcelona decided to bring Neymar into the fold, the hope was that he would become the Robin to Lionel Messi's Batman. That plan seemed to work early on (while Madrid's own similar plan of teaming with Gareth Bale with Cristiano Ronaldo languished), but now the tandem is struggling to find chemistry. What is worse; both players are seemingly dragging each other down.
Messi has been scoring routinely since his return to the lineup in January. He has scored 12 goals and four assists in 15 games for Barcelona since the start of the year. And yet, one might contest that when at his peak, he would have a few more goals. On Saturday, la Pulga looked upset and become more and more invisible as the match wore on. He does not seem to have as much space as he is accustomed to; that is not what one was expecting from the arrival of Neymar.
Neymar has been horrid for Barcelona in 2014. He has just one goal and one assist in eight games; he had three goals for Brazil in one game this entire year.
And that comparison between Neymar's Barcelona form and Brazil form is the main point of comparison. On Brazil, Neymar is the pulse of the team. The team plays around and to him. He is allowed to roam freely in the offensive zone, making him able to make more creative plays and score more goals. It was not coincidence that he scored three goals against South Africa this past week; he looked more comfortable than he has in a long time.
On Barcelona he is stuck on one side. He looks tentative to make runs down the wing and take on defenders. He almost seems like he is afraid to take a risk lest he might upset his teammates, especially the main man Messi. Neymar constantly looks to find the Argentine with his passes and when he is not he is backtracking with his passes. He just does not look comfortable being the backup; he was born to be the go-to guy.
It is becoming clear that coach Gerardo Martino has yet to figure out how to make these two co-exist and it is bringing down the entire team. Barcelona has relied on Messi's scoring touch over the last few years and his presence on the pitch seems to quell most of the other players' creative energies. That is not to say that Messi is the source of Barcelona's problems. Far from it. But the lack of chemistry with Neymar is making the Brazilian look like a spare part, instead of a major piece. When compared with the synergy between Real Madrid's BBC (Bale, Karim Benzema and Ronaldo) trio of scorers, it could be the difference between a title and being second best.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
