Valladolid 1-0 Barcelona: League title gets compromised

Posted by: neydmin Posted date: March 08, 2014 In: Neymar news | comment : 0

Full-time: Valladolid 1-0 Barcelona
Goals:
Match date: March 8, 2014
Stadium: José Zorilla
Competition: La Liga
Barcelona line-up: Valdés, Adriano, Mascherano, Piqué, Daniel Alves, Busquets, Xavi, Fabregas, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Pedro.

Barcelona slipped again in La Liga, and this time the Blaugranas dropped the 3 points far from home, against Valladolid. Tato Martino couldn’t count with Andrés Iniesta for this fixture, due the miscarriage his wife was forced to go through and the resulting loss of their baby. Nevertheless, it was a strong line-up that the Spanish champions presented in the José Zorilla stadium and nothing could have previewed the outcome we ended up getting this Saturday evening…

Valladolid reached the winning early in the first half, after a very confusing play where they’ve managed to win several consecutive loose balls. We were playing the 16th minute of the first half, when after a couple rebounds the ball ended up falling into Fausto Rossi‘s feet. The Italy forward had no one else in front to beat except Valdés and had no difficulties and striking the ball into the back of the net, to put grant the hosts the first and only lead of the game.

Barça tried to react, but the truth is that the Spanish champions have always looked quite uncharacteristic and never managed to showcase what they can do best. Tato Martino tried to change his team’s dynamics in the second-half, but not even the replacements he brought in helped the Blaugrana scoring the equalizer. Neymar was probably one of the players that got closer to score, but after his hat-trick with Brazil in mid-week and similarly to the rest of his teammates, he also ended up having a bad game in La Liga.

With this loss, Barcelona have dropped to 3rd place in the Spanish League standings and are now 3 points below Atletico Madrid (2nd) and 4 points short of Real Madrid (1st). Neymar and Messi will return to the Camp Nou right this Wednesday though, for the Barcelona vs Manchester City clash at the UEFA Champions League second leg. Roughly three weeks ago, Barça pulled off what could end up being a crucial 0-2 win at the Etihad stadium, which will grant them a precious cushion for this return leg. You can watch Barça vs Man City live at Ronaldo7.net.