LaLiga: Griezmann on fire for FC Barcelona; Luis Suarez leads Atletico by example; another Hazard injury blow

LaLigaTV pundit and Evening Standard columnist Andrea Orlandi previews the weekend’s action in Spain
Andrea Orlandi5 February 2021

Form is temporary, class is permanent, and in 2021 there aren’t many players in better form than Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann. The Frenchman has seven goals and five assists already this year – and is playing like a leader alongside Lionel Messi in their recent revival of form.

It took Griezmann time to settle at Barca but now the system suits him perfectly. He’s getting in the box more and more, and has developed a good connection with Messi which is always important at Barcelona. It may sound small but he changed shirt number to No7, from No17 last year, and that would’ve been a huge boost to his confidence.

Barcelona look like a team with heart and soul, all fighting together and it’s the first time we’ve seen that in years – which is stark contrast to the situation off the pitch right now.

Their togetherness is shown in the way they celebrate and how they’ve dug deep to pull off unlikely comebacks – the most recent in the Copa Del Rey against Granada in midweek – and Ronald Koeman deserves great credit for the bond in the team, and it’s why they’ve turned results around.

They’ve got the right balance between the youth prospects like Pedri and Ronald Araújo and the experience of Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi to be challenging for silverware – maybe not the title this season – but if they win the Copa Del Rey, that will be a success for a team in transition.

Antoine Griezmann, Barcelona
Griezmann is in fine form
LaLiga

Barcelona travel to Real Betis in LaLiga this Saturday and the Verdiblancos are the other in-form team of the calendar year, and their midfielder Sergio Canales is the other form player recently with six goals in 2021.

Manuel Pellegrini has done a great job for them so far: he has implemented a process and even when results weren’t going their way earlier in the season, you could tell through his discourse in press conferences that a structure was in place, that the team was working towards something and you’ve seen the benefits of that recently.

They look solid at the back with Aïssa Mandi and Victor Ruiz paired at centre-back. The way they’re playing now they could definitely qualify for Europe this season – especially if they’re able to get Nabil Fekir firing.

Strangely, I think they’ve benefitted from not having fans in the stadium, as when it’s not going well for them their passionate fans can get on the players’ backs - but in this match, they’ll miss the fans greatly.

It should be an interesting tactical battle between two experienced managers: both managers like 4-2-3-1 but Koeman has changed to a 4-3-3 which is getting the best out of the Barcelona side, and I can see Manuel Pellegrini adapting to this and playing two up front with Borja Iglesias supported by Nabil Fekir.

LaLiga table as it stands
LaLiga

While Barcelona look like a team going in the right direction, Real Madrid don’t seem to have a clear plan for the future.

They have lots of young talent but Vinícius Jr and Federico Valverde haven’t played many games recently, Rodrygo has been injured and now Martin Ødegaard has joined Arsenal on loan, and he was their main difference for this season.

You can never write Real Madrid off but now Eden Hazard is out again. That’s a huge blow for them and they can only hope he can get over his injury troubles soon as I had high hopes for him in LaLiga.

Zinedine Zidane will be hoping they’ll have enough to beat bottom of the table SD Huesca, but they have given themselves a chance of survival with their 3-1 victory over Valladolid last week. Juan Jose Pacheta said in his first press conference not to write them off, and in this unpredictable season, I won’t be. It’s hard to trust Real Madrid, so anything could happen in this game.

After Real Madrid’s loss, the title race looks like it could be wrapped up as Atletico Madrid keep winning tight games and have a lot of luck on their side at the minute with VAR decisions going their way.

However, I don’t think it will be plain sailing and I don’t think they’ll win the league by a big margin – they’ve got injuries to contend with for their match versus Celta Vigo on Monday night, but they have the squad depth to deal with any injuries thrown their way.

Luis Suarez’s character has been a big boost for Diego Simeone’s side this season, and the other players in the dressing room stepped up by being around him. They soon realised he is here to win and it clicked immediately, as soon as he made his debut, and he hasn’t looked back.

LaLiga

On Friday night, live on FreeSports and LaLigaTV is another six-pointer at the bottom of the table between Alavés and Real Valladolid, and both will be treating this like a cup final with a win vital to their chances of survival.

Valladolid’s boss Sergio has been backed by the board, they’ve said he’ll be there to the end of the season no matter what. They backed him in the transfer market, signing Lucas Olaza at left-back which is a shrewd move, but they lack firepower up front and I’m not convinced the arrival of Kenan Kodro will be able to keep them up.

Since Abelardo Fernández took over at Alavés there hasn’t been the reaction you often get with a new manager and they have really struggled. They went back to basics against Getafe but couldn’t break them down in a 0-0 draw.

Like Valladolid, Alavés have also made some interesting signings in the January transfer window and Facundo Pellistri has arrived on loan from Manchester United. He’s highly rated and if United scouted him he’s probably top-class, so I’m intrigued to see how quickly he can adapt and fit in to this team.

LaLiga fixtures, matchday 22
LaLigaTV

Watch all of LaLiga, all in one place on LaLigaTV. Sign up today: https://bit.ly/ESLaLigaTV

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in