Barca was having a hard time on Saturday, trailing in the game against Athletic de Bilbao until almost the 80th minute. They were better than the vascos, but couldn't manage to beat Athletic's goalkeeper Unai Simon and showed (once again) that its defense struggles by being overexposed by a midfield that does not make it to support them.
Lost in all the hullabaloo surrounding the defeats that Barcelona and Real Madrid suffered yesterday was the fact that Villarreal’s Pablo Fornals put on one of the most exquisite 15-minute displays of football the game has ever seen.
It’s not 15 minutes of consecutive footballing brilliance, but once you see the highlights you’ll understand.
Barcelona players are not used to losing, especially in LaLiga. Last season, the Blaugrana lost just once in league play. Barcelona lost 19 games in the last five seasons combined — the same number Leganés lost last season alone.
So when Leganés scored a stunning 2-1 victory over Barcelona on Wednesday, maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised the Barça stars didn’t know how to handle defeat.
It looked to be business as usual in LaLiga on Wednesday after leader Barcelona took a 12th minute lead against bottom-of-the-table Leganes thanks to a wonder goal orchestrated by Lionel Messi and finished by Philippe Coutinho.
What a run by Leo Messi leading to a beautiful Coutinho goal!
Lionel Messi is only the fifth best player in the world, according to FIFA. At least one LaLiga club would probably beg to differ after the Argentine set up this Philippe Coutinho goal vs Leganes on Wednesday.
As captains of their respective national teams, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were given votes in deciding The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018. It’s an award that the two have dominated — in it’s various guises — ever since Kaka was named FIFA World Player of the Year back in 2007 (Messi finished second and Ronaldo third that year).