Barca Stay Composed

            Despite a relatively hard struggle for the top of the Spanish league table between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the latter seems to have no thoughts of giving that place up. In a Catalan derby today against Espanyol, there seemed to be some doubt going into the game today, at least for us viewers. Espanyol has been having a fairly good run recently and Barcelona surely has other matches on their minds, so most saw some chance at an upset. The Barcelona squad apparently had no notion of this, and their focus never strayed from the game at hand. In just the opening minutes, the Barcelona attacking end had already tested the keeper, and took just 17 minutes for them to open the game with a goal. The game was not all lopsided, but the team had few difficulties pulling off the 2-0 victory. Let’s take a second to look at Barcelona’s three up top. They have been nothing short of phenomenal lately, and it seems no defense can withstand their power. When Neymar came in last season, him and Messi definitely had a disconnect for a while, but this season the pair has been inseparable. I can’t tell you how many goals a scored between these two, and it seems like it’s assist after assist for either of them. Then, when Suarez came in this season, it took some time before he was well integrated with the two. Now, there is no question of their group performance, let alone their individual.

            Also, it is quite reassuring to see that the team was able to keep their focus at such an important time. Luis Enrique must have been able to convince the team to forget about anything besides this game, and it definitely worked. When fans and analysts alike doubted their ability to bring their top performance to this game, Barcelona just played their game as always. Barcelona has never lost away to Espanyol, and they were not able to continue this, but to further reinforce their table standings. It is nice to see at least one team keep their cool as the season approaches a close, and this type of composure is one that wins leagues.