5 Things we learned from Barcelona’s thrashing of Feyenoord
This is quite simply the best team in the world at the minute. There’s no other team that is playing football like Barcelona at the minute and Feyenoord stood no chance at the Camp Nou this evening, Hansi Flick’s side got off to the perfect start just three minutes in as Raphinha nipped the ball ahead of the Feyenoord defence before dropping two defenders with a brilliant dummy before finishing past Ernst. Barca were completely dominant and in the 22nd minute doubled their lead as Adeyemi drove towards the edge of the box before curling a beauty past Ernst with his weak-foot, a brilliant way to grab his second goal in a Barcelona shirt. By half-time Barcelona were comfortably leading 2-0 but Feyenoord did look tidy on the ball and did offer some threat going forward forcing a good save by Joan Garcia towards the end of the half, it took until the 57th minute for Barca to add a third as Pedri played a defence-splitting through ball to Raphinha who held off the defender before slotting past Ernst to wrap up the three points for Flick’s side. Feyenoord thought they got one back just two minutes later through Nacho Ferri but an offside in the build-up meant the goal was ruled out, Lamine Yamal got in on the action in the 77th minute scoring a free-kick that went right through a gap in the middle of the wall. A poor goal to concede from Feyenoord’s point-of-view but Yamal won’t care, Feyenoord did eventually get there goal five minutes later as two substitutes linked up with Goncalo Borges playing a superb ball to the back-post where Sem Steijn was waiting to get a consolation for the Dutch side. A Barcelona substitute then got his name on the scoresheet as Gabriel Jesus glanced in a lovely header from Yamal’s cross to add some gloss on the score-line for Barcelona, you can’t ask for much more in your first Champions League game of the season.
This Barcelona team is an absolute joy to watch. They’ve been the most entertaining team over the last three years but Flick’s side has somehow managed to become even more ruthless in front of goal, in my Barcelona preview before the season I was almost completely sure that they would add a starting striker to the team with the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres but putting Raphinha in that position has been yet another stroke of genius from Hansi Flick with the Brazilian looking unstoppable in front of goal getting his 7th and 8th goals of the season already tonight. Flick gave Karim Adeyemi a start this evening and that’s looking like a really shrewd piece of business from Barcelona for about £25 million if all the add-ons are achieved, his goal tonight was absolutely brilliant and showed that he can bring much more than just pace on that left-hand-side. In midfield it was a walk in the park this evening for Rodri and Pedri who controlled the game masterfully before being taken off by Hansi Flick who had one eye on the weekend, Rodri has been in the headlines this week after words he spoke on the bench about the Valencia players were caught on camera but if you watched the game I’m sure you were saying the same if not worse considering the way Valencia played on Sunday. Defensively there were times when Feyenoord broke forward and looked dangerous but that’s the price you pay when you score three or more goals a game, Kounde did look shaky at times but he’s not played much football so far this season so you can understand that. Overall Hansi Flick couldn’t really ask for much more from his team this evening to kick-off their Champions League campaign and they move on to Levante on the weekend.
Feyenoord simply outclassed this evening at the Camp Nou. It was always going to be an uphill battle for the Dutch side having to play Barcelona away who won every home game they played last season in La Liga and you could see why tonight, I though Feyenoord looked okay going forward as you’d expect from a Dutch side but they just couldn’t knit it all together in the first half before Barca blew them away in the second half. The standout player for Feyenoord tonight was undoubtedly Gjivai Zechiel who I thought looked Pedri-like in his movement and close-control in midfield and has been Feyenoord’s best player so far this season which you could see pretty clearly tonight, at only 22 years of age I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a big move in the next year or so, another player who I thought played quite well was Anis Hadj Moussa who was rumoured to be moving to the Saudi League during the summer but was cancelled at the last minute. The Algerian looked a real threat on the right-wing but just lacked that end product that could have got him a goal or assist, defensively I wouldn’t look too much into the Feyenoord performance as every team is conceding a bucket load of goals to Barcelona at the minute but some of the goals were quite soft. Overall there’s obviously a lot of work for Giovanni Van Bronckhorst to do with this team but at least they’ve got their hardest game out of the way in the Champions League, it can only get better from here.
Lamine Yamal is back to his best for Barcelona. At the start of the season there were a few murmurings that the Spaniard wasn’t in the right headspace to start the season but that’s all been put to bed in the last couple of weeks with some outstanding performances on the right-wing, I think it’s easy to forget that he’s just 19 years of age and will go through spells were he isn’t performing to the levels we know he can hit but that’s completely expected as a teenager. Some of the showboating at the end of the first half was Ronaldinho-esque and that’s what we want to see from Yamal which gets the fans off their feet at the Camp Nou, there’s very few players in world football that can do that at the minute and I’m glad Hansi Flick gives Yamal the platform to feel free on the pitch. He’s always had a great partnership with Raphinha but that’s seems to have gone up a level at the start of the season with the Brazilian’s new position and they combined brilliantly for the opener just three minutes in, Yamal’s free-kick towards the end of the game probably was a tiny bit lucky because of the diabolical Feyenoord wall but I ‘d imagine it will keep the Spaniard on set-pieces for the time being. Overall two assists and a goal in your first night back in the Champions League isn’t a bad way to put some the doubters in their place, could we see a Ballon d’Or worthy season from Yamal this year? I don’t see why not.
What’s up next for these two teams? Up next for Barcelona they take a trip to Levante on Sunday in the league before taking on Racing Santander at the Camp Nou next Wednesday, in the Champions League their next game is a pretty spooky game away at Galatasaray after the international break in October. For Feyenoord they take a trip to PEC Zwolle on Sunday in the Eredivisie whilst their next Champions League game is at home to Como in October in a game they probably have to get something out of, that should be a good game in Rotterdam. It’s been a good midweek of football so far so lets hope that continues with Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid up next.