La Liga 2019/20: Barcelona 5-2 Valencia, three reasons why the Catalan giants won
Barcelona are now just two points behind La Liga leaders Atlético Madrid, courtesy a five-star display on Saturday night at Camp Nou. A slick Barcelona side were rampant at home against a well drilled Valencia and looked at ease in putting five past Albert Celades’s men.
Blaugrana starlet Ansu Fati scored just after two minutes before setting up Frenkie de Jong in the 7th minute to make it 2-0 inside ten minutes. Valencia hit one back before halftime through Kevin Gameiro, who finished off a nice team move to bring the away side back into the tie.
Barcelona wasted no time in restoring their two-goal advantage in the second half as Gerard Piqué scored the third goal for the Catalans after a well-hit Griezmann shot was not properly controlled by Valencia goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen. Then, Luis Suárez scored twice off the bench for the Catalans and put the tie to bed. However, Maximiliano Gómez scored a late consolation goal for the visitors to reach the final scoreline of 5-2.
With this important three points, Barcelona have now slowly crept into the top four with seven points in their kitty, one less than their arch-rivals Real Madrid, who are currently sitting in the 2nd position.
So, without further ado, let’s have a look at the three main reasons behind Barcelona’s emphatic victory.
#3 Barcelona were quick off the starting blocks
Ansu Fati celebrates his goal.
If there was any manual written for an away side on how to take away a positive result from any Camp Nou fixture, the first paragraph will be dedicated to the importance of preventing Barcelona from scoring an early goal.
Barcelona were too hot to handle for Valencia in the early minutes of the game. It took Barcelona only two minutes to break the deadlock and within just seven minutes into the tie, Barcelona were 2-0 ahead. And from there, it became an uphill task for the away side to script a comeback.
If Barcelona didn’t manage to find a way to score early, it could have been a very tricky fixture for the Catalan giants, given that Valencia had the firepower to catch Barcelona on counter if they kept things tight at the back. Not to forget, Barcelona were also missing the services of their talismanic captain Lionel Messi.