Barcelona haunted by former La Masia products in Celta loss
Losing 4-1 to Celta Vigo will have been bad enough for Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, but the result must have stung even more knowing that it was one made in Barca -- his Barca.
Eduardo Berizzo's side produced a great team display, but within it were the requisite outstanding individual performances, and two of those had a distinctBlaugrana tinge. La Masia shone on Wednesday night. It just happened to shine for the wrong team.
With a goal, two assists, and enough terrifying dribbles to haunt Dani Alves and Gerard Pique for the rest of the year, Nolito's class was clear for all to see. Praise for the forward is inevitable, but before rushing to that, it is worth giving some attention to the lesser admired species of footballer, the defender.
The best of that bunch in Vigo was a Catalan, and he wasn't playing for the away team. From the kick-off it was clear that Sergi Gomez was in a confident mood, his first noteworthy action being to show Luis Suarez down a blind alley after an attempt from the striker to drag him out of position. His second? Stepping up as the Uruguayan moved deep, then snapping the ball away before he had time to turn. It sent a message: "You won't outsmart me, I know how this team moves."
Celta Vigo
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That set the tone for how the centre-back's night would go. "In the 38th minute, Sergi Gomez sends the ball out for a corner", "Sergi Gomez wins another individual duel with Suarez in the 41st minute", "Suarez drops deep but Sergi Gomez is out quick to rob the ball before it makes it to the striker's feet." If you made notes on the defender's performance, chances are it would have read along similar lines.
Anticipation, accurate distribution and assertiveness in the air were the standout qualities the 23-year-old displayed. Qualities Luis Enrique will see as absolutely fundamental for his own defenders, and ones Gomez fine-tuned in Barcelona's academy under that very manager's tutelage. No coincidence.
The Arenys de Mar native's first taste of professional football was with Luis Enrique's Barca B, where he participated in their astonishing run to a La Liga playoff spot finish in the 2010-11 Segunda Division. The season prior, at just 17, he was handed his B team debut by the same coach, going on to start every one of the side's successful playoff matches for promotion to the second tier.
When Luis Enrique left Barca B for Roma in 2011, he would have considered Sergi Gomez as someone with a chance of making it to the club's first team, but rather, his path was blocked. As ex-Barcelona academy director Albert Benaiges wrote when the player signed for Celta in 2014: "When Barcelona had major injury problems at centre-back, Sergi could have been the solution, but to do that you have to be brave. You have to be a Pep Guardiola or a Luis Enrique."
In the end, Luis Enrique wasn't yet in the right job to give his old pupil a chance to prove himself with the Barca first team. He was however around on Wednesday to watch him play Suarez into submission, and that won't leave the manager's memory anytime soon.
Nor will the image of another of his former students from the same Barca B generation deciding the game at the other end of the pitch. Relentlessly attacking every defender in his path over the course of the 90 minutes in Vigo,Lucho must have wished that Nolito was still doing so while wearing the Blaugrana shirt, rather than against them.
His opening goal was pure inspiration -- a case of searching for a spot, finding it, then putting the ball exactly in that place -- but where the Barca influence on Nolito's game was really clear was in his actions for Celta's second. Spotting a chance to effectively press Gerard Pique, his running forced the defender to control hurriedly. Crucially, when the ball broke, he then had the presence of mind to head it instantly into the path of the onrushing Iago Aspas, who was left free to attack the goal. It was a perfect example of how a forward can use smart defending to create an instant attacking situation. An assist straight out the Barcelona academy handbook on pressing from the front.
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If there were still any doubts over whether Nolito is good enough for a fresh chance to play for the Blaugrana's seniors, they were put to bed in Galicia. The real question is how much Barca are now willing to pay, after failing to make a tempting enough offer last summer. Someone who not only knows the system inside out, but has proven to be consistently decisive in La Liga, and has a track record of working effectively with the coach, it's as close to a no-brainer as you get in the transfer market.
Questions will be raised over whether Barcelona could have done more to prevent results like Wednesday's by stopping talents like Nolito or Sergi Gomez from leaving and strengthening opponents. The reality, however, is that first team places are not infinite, and in the case of the 2011 class of Barca B stars in particular, there was simply too much depth in quality for all to make the cut. Whether the decisions over which players should have been held onto and which should have been let go were made correctly is a different question. In any case, Celta will be glad some slipped through the cracks. Luis Enrique, perhaps less so.
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