Barcelona 4-2 Eibar: 5 Talking Points as Luis Enrique's side lose La Liga title to Real Madrid
Barcelona came back from the dead to record a 4-2 win over Eibar at Camp Nou but it wasn’t enough to prevent Real Madrid from winning their first La Liga title since 2011/12, after Zinedine Zidane’s side beat Malaga 2-0.
Takashi Inui struck twice for the away side who, against all odds, took a 2-0 lead against the team that finished 2nd in the league. An own goal benefitted the home side before a tap in from Luis Suarez and a brace from Lionel Messi helped Luis Enrique’s side end the league campaign on a high.
Here are the talking points from the game:
Where is the Luis Suarez of 2015/16
Luis Suarez during the 2015/16 season was without doubt the most lethal striker on the planet. However, the Uruguayan striker who lined up for Barcelona against Eibar, and for most of this season, is a shadow of the phenomenon who scored 59 goals across all competitions last season.
Yes, he still as managed to score 37 goals this season, 29 of them in the league also, still unbelievable numbers for any striker but it is the manner in which they have come that raise the biggest question – where is the Luis Suarez of last season.
A closer look at his goalscoring record and you will see that apart from his goals against Sevilla and Real Madrid – in the first half of the season – and against Real Betis, Deportivo La Coruna and Espanyol, in the second, most of his goals have come in routs, or in games that the Catalan giants were winning comfortably.
He did tap the ball home to equalise for the Catalan giants but he missed as many as three one-on-one chances against Yoel – highlighting the lack of confidence that he currently has in his goalscoring abilities. On more occasions than one, especially the big games, Suarez has missed countless chances, which has proved costly for the team and was one of the main reasons why Barcelona couldn’t get their hands on the La Liga title.
The only reason why there was a title race and that Barcelona were still in it going into the last game of the season was the brilliance of Lionel Messi, who on numerous occasions this season proved that he is on different level altogether compared to his teammates.
His heroics might not have been enough to help his team win a straight consecutive league title but he did end the league campaign in style as he scored a magical solo goal in the added time of the game, to silence his critics after he had missed a chance from a few yards out and saw one of his penalties being saved by Yoel.
Messi’s moments of magic!