FC Barcelona, led by an impressive brace from Dani Olmo and a goal from captain Raphinha managed to beat bitter local rivals Espanyol 3-1 in the Catalan derby in La Liga at the Montjuic. It was an incredible first-half display from Hansi Flick’s men.
Barcelona opened the scoring through Olmo, who made the perfect run to be found by an incredible trivela cross from Lamine Yamal. The 26-year-old had no hesitation in blasting the ball into the back of the net.
For the second goal on the night scored by Raphinha, it was yet another perfect run by the Brazilian but if the pass by Lamine for the first goal was outstanding, Marc Casado’s vision to find the Barcelona captain was even better.
Casado is not someone people associate with being an excellent passer. Yet, in recent weeks, he has shown that within him is a player who can not only conduct the tempo of a game but can also thread a pass through the eye of a needle.
By providing the assist against Espanyol, Casado has become the first Spanish player at Barcelona to provide three consecutive assists in three games since the 2014/15 season. This is as per a report by SPORT who have mentioned his immense impact in the team so far this season.
For a team that had midfielders like Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta and more recently Pedri and Gavi, this is an incredible stat. It shows just how good of a passer Marc Casado is, as confirmed by eye-test in recent weeks.
Barcelona’s gameplay drastically changed once Casado was taken off the pitch against Espanyol last night. In such a short span of time, he has gone on to become an indispensable asset for Hansi Flick and deserves to retain his starting berth.
It speaks volumes that despite the return of Frenkie de Jong, the €15m-rated Spaniard continues to be a starter for Hansi Flick and looks set to retain that status for the time being. He is important to how this team plays and let’s wait and see how the dynamics pan out.