It appears we will continue to enjoy the sublime displays of Messi and Ronaldo longer than we thought. For more than a decade now, these two guys have remained at the top of scene and it seems they won't be taking a bow any time soon. While many are expecting the duo to dwindle in performance due to age, they're still hungry for more success, and even though they may not be at their peak, they are still ahead of the herd. And you continue to wonder when they will kiss the stage goodbye for younger players to be seen and noticed. Well, I think if the fans could make them live forever, they will prefer them to stay a century more. On Sunday, Christiano Ronaldo netted a brace to help Juventus secure a 2-1 win against a Parma side that were determined to ruffle few feathers. The Portuguese has now scored seven consecutive times for Juventus in the Seria A, and it seems he will be gunning for the Ballon d'or. However, I will restrict this blog to Barcelonar and Messi, we will discuss Ronaldo or Juventus some other time. Yesterday witnessed another enticing fixture for the Spanish champions Barcelona, as they welcomed Granada to the Camp Nou. However, what was more important about the game was the fact that it was Barcelona's newly appointed Coach's debut game and all eyes were on him. Quique Setien who was preferred over other possible managers to take over from the embattled Ernesto Valverde had so much to prove in his first match, and though the catalan giants didn't find scoring easy against the resilient visitors, many are delighted about the entire team situation, especially as regards Barca build up and possession, a feature which seem to have been dwindling in recent times.
The Blaugrana put up an intimidating display against their visitors and dominated the entire game with a mouthwatering 82% ball possession. It's really been a while we saw some raw tiki taka with such pass accuracy, not even under Luis Enrique or Ernesto Valverde. It all goes down to the impact of the new coach and there is no doubt that Setien has got some good packages for Barcelona. It is worthy of mention that despite Barcelona's dominance of the game, finding the back of the net was appearing a more herculean task than we predicted, as Granada were a bit aggressive in their markings, making it a bit difficult for Setien's side to break through the walls. But just like any other Barcelona coach, the newly appointed catalan Manager was shown how lucky he is to have the Argentine talisman in his squad. In moments like this where it seems hard to pull through the walls, it always takes a magical foot to give the team a nudge, and of Course Messi made sure the new manager crowned his awesome first game with all 3 points in the bag. After Granada were shown a red card, Messi didn't take long to put the catalan side on the lead and that was all they needed to grab the day. It was Messi's 14th Goa of the season and the Captain is now two goals ahead of Benzema. The game ended 1-0 in Favour of Barca, but the impact of Setien was noticeable throughout the game. With his debut game bringing back memories of Barcelona's golden era, we may be about to see a rejuvenated Squad that can go all the way in Europe.
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