Messi fails to score, Barca easily overcomes Malaga

Although superstar Lionel Messi failed to score, two goals from Iniesta and Deulofeu still helped Barca have an easy victory over bottom team Malaga to consolidate their top position.

Returning from a hard-fought victory in the Champions League, Barca players were expected to "make mincemeat" of Malaga, the team at the bottom of La Liga with only 1 point after 8 rounds. However, fatigue made the home players' legs heavy. In 90 minutes at Nou Camp, despite having more ball control (65%), Barca could not create an advantage. On the contrary, it was Malaga, the team in a desperate situation, who played with more determination and had twice as many shots as Barca (8 compared to 4).

Although they had more shots, Malaga were less effective than Barca, who were both good and lucky. In the second minute, when the fans had not yet settled down, the home team scored. What was more remarkable was that it was a product of the referee's imagination. Accordingly, Lucas Digne made a cross while the ball was already out of bounds. At that time, the entire Malaga defense stood still, but strangely, there was no movement from the referee team and Deulofeu easily finished close to the goal, scoring against the away team.

Deulofeu opened the scoring with a mistake from the referee.

With a lucky early goal, Barca played like they were taking a stroll at the Nou Camp, but did not create many really good chances in the rest of the first half. As for Malaga, despite their great efforts, they could not impose themselves on the game and mainly took advantage of quick counter-attacks. One of the clearest chances was Chory Castro's missed ball at the end of the first half.

The second half of the match was not much different. Barca was still the dominant team on the field and quickly doubled the gap. In the 56th minute, Messi passed the ball smoothly for captain Iniesta to shoot through the legs of a visiting defender, leaving goalkeeper Andres Prieto helpless.

Captain Iniesta sealed the victory.

Messi played very hard but could not score.

The Argentine player only contributed with an assist for Iniesta to score.

In the following minutes, Barca had consecutive opportunities to increase the gap, but unfortunately, Luis Suarez, Messi, and the substitute player, Paulinho, all missed them regrettably. Barca won 2-0 against Malaga, thereby firmly consolidating their position at the top of the table with 25 points.

Also in the early match yesterday, Valencia continued to show their brilliant performance, destroying Sevilla 4-0 with a double goal from Goncalo Guedes and goals from Simone Zaza and Santi Mina. The 3 points earned in this match helped the "Bats" follow Barca closely on the rankings with 21 points, 4 points more than the defending champion Real Madrid, but having played one more match.

Match results

Levante 1-1 Getafe

Real Betis 2-0 Alaves

Valencia 4-0 Sevilla

Barca 2-0 Malaga

Ranking

Line-up

Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Mascherano, Umtiti, Digne; Rakitic, Busquets (Paulinho 76'), Iniesta; Messi, Suarez (Alcacer 83'), Deulofeu (Semedo 72').

Malaga (4-2-3-1): Prieto; Rosales, Hernandez, Baysse, Perez; Rolon (Cecchini 68'), Gonzalez; Keko, Castro, Rolan (Juanpi 46'); Penaranda (Bojra Baston 72').

According to Bongdaplus