A fellow Barca stan sent me this vid of Alba & Alves putting in work yesterday.
It was good to see Xavi play like he did yesterday looking like his old masterful self. His understudy Sergi Roberto bounced back from a sub par performance last outing & looked great again.
I loved how Messi dropped back again & helped orchestrate things from the midfield.
Glad to see Alexis still working hard. Ditto for Tello. He didn't score yesterday but his runs on the left side were still great.
Good to see the Dutch kid Ibrahim Afellay make it back on the pitch...
Despite the score, that Malaga goal keeper Caballero was putting in work.
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Why'd you rate Roberto's game as great? He played around ten mins and made ten passes or so. I wouldn't consider Roberto to be Xavi's understudy. For one thing, he's of a different profile - more box to box than controlling playmaker. IMO, Rafinha is better, esp in that role. I'm not sure Roberto will be more than a squad player as he doesn't stand out in any respect in terms of talent. Same goes for Tello, whose decision making has somehow failed to improve in all the years I've watched him. His touch lets him down entirely too much as well. I think he'll rightly be sold this summer, considering a forward may be brought in and Deulofeu may return.
Agreed about Messi, he's been great as the 10. Tata suggested he'd see more playing time behind three forwards.
Don't understand why Caballero doesn't get national team consideration. Quality keeper.