Five talking points of Real Valladolid 0-3 Barcelona

After losing points to Valencia last time, Barcelona at least made it a Merry Christmas with an impressive win at Real Valladolid.

There was also a lot that I liked about Barça’s performance. The team scored three good goals, took a clean sheet and the smile reappeared on Lionel Messi’s face.

Of course, much tougher tests await him than Real Valladolid, but this was an important victory that keeps Barça in fifth place, but just two points behind Real Sociedad after having played two fewer games.

It’s also a rare road win for Barca on the road in 2020-21. The Catalan giants had only beaten Celta de Vigo on their travels this season, but they did score a second away win in Valladolid.

Another highlight of the match was Messi’s 644 goal at Barcelona, ​​which saw him break Pele’s record and become the player who has scored the most goals for a single club.

In true Messi’s style, it was also a good goal. Pedri sent his captain to the goal with a good assist and the 33-year-old made no mistake in the shot.

Messi also got his first assist of the season in the match, crossing for Clement Lenglet to open the scoring and was once again involved in just about everything.

The captain’s last goal also puts him back in the race for Pichichi in the week he collected the trophy for the seventh time. It’s been a slow start to the season for Messi and Barça, but the captain is now just one behind Gerard Moreno on the top scorers’ charts.

Photo by David S. Bustamante / Soccrates / Getty Images

Koeman’s team sheet was an interesting read before the game with Oscar Mingueza, Clement Lenglet and Ronald Araujo all starting in the last three. Meanwhile, the big acquisitions Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann stayed on the bench along with Sergio Busquets.

It was a bold move by the Dutch manager, but it paid off, as Barca improved a lot and were a convincing winner. The new system allowed players like Frenkie de Jong and Sergino Dest to flourish, while Martin Braithwaite scored his fifth goal of the season and could have scored a couple more.

It’s the kind of performance that will give Koeman a lot to think about before Barca’s next game against Eibar. Are you sticking to your new training? And what does he do with Coutinho and Griezmann?

It was also a good night for Miralem Pjanic, who has just made his second La Liga start since his summer signing from Juventus. The midfielder has made his frustration at the lack of playing time quite clear and offered a reminder of his talent.

Koeman’s reluctance to use Pjanic much so far has come as a surprise, but it may have convinced the Dutchman of his qualities. The 30-year-old brought calm to the Barça midfielder and topped a series of statistics.

The Barça manager also praised Pjanic little by little after the game: “Pjanic had to wait for his chance, but he had a great game. He was good with the ball, but also on defense ”. Will he now keep his place against Eibar?

Photo by David S. Bustamante / Soccrates / Getty Images

There’s been a lot of talk about Messi’s future again this week with a new interview with the captain airing on Sunday, but if the captain is looking for reasons to stay, he has found an important one in Pedri.

The connection between the two players was visible to all against Real Valladolid and, despite being just 18 years old, it seems that the young Pedri is already on the same wavelength as his captain.

In fact, his first assist with the Barcelona jersey came when he kicked the ball back to Messi to score the goal that broke Pelé’s all-time record. What’s exciting is that these two will only get better together as the season progresses.