Barcelona’s battling victory over Real Betis offers hope Quique Setien’s team have turned a corner

The rollercoaster drama of Quique Setien’s early days as Barcelona coach continued through Sunday evening’s La Liga visit to Real Betis – with some signs, maybe, that his players are taking his ideas successfully on board.

Many at Barcelona thought that things were just getting too boring under previous coach Ernesto Valverde. But the 90 minutes of Setien’s team’s latest lesson learning experience had five goals, two sendings off, delicious attacking play, atrocious defending, inexplicable refereeing and – once more – a decisive performance from blaugrana talisman Lionel Messi.

A defeat would have realistically left Barca with a mountain to climb in the title race, given Real Madrid’s gritty 4-1 victory at Osasuna earlier in the day had seen Zinedine Zidane’s side momentarily move six points ahead at the top of the table.

But Barca twice came from behind and showed character to get the victory which kept their title chances in their own hands, as Setien told his postgame news conference back at his former club.

“This is a hugely significant win for us because Betis are a good team and were being roared on by their fans,” Setien said. “It’s not easy to keep coming back and turn a game around. There are things we can do better, but I’m happy with the attitude of the team. It’s a very important victory because it keeps us near the top of the table, and it will give us a huge psychological boost.”

The already under pressure blaugrana coach was correct in that his reworking of the team’s playing style remains a work in progress. But sticking in there and getting the victory did seem important, especially as it ended a run of five away games against top flight opposition without a win, stretching all the way back to early December when Valverde was still coach.

Which seems extra significant given that Barca’s next two road games are away at Napoli in the Champions League last 16 first leg on February 25, and then at Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga on March 1.

Setien was whistled back at Betis, where in his previous coaching job he had enhanced his reputation for playing attractive football, but also had left under a cloud after falling out pretty badly with a large part of the verdiblanco home support.

The Estadio Benito Villamarin crowd were also mad at referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez – who they felt had a case to send off each of visiting players Clement Lenglet, Sergi Roberto and Arturo Vidal through what was a very feisty first half.

Setien’s replacement Rubi was also booked himself for protesting a possible push by Lenglet before Sergio Busquets equalised at a free kick just on half-time, in what was probably the game’s most important turning point.

“Barcelona should have been down to 10 men in the 38th minute, there should not even be any debate,” Rubi said before acknowledging that Sanchez Martinez had annoyed everyone with an erratic performance which included overlooking a clear push on Messi in the Betis area with time almost up. “Although I accept there are some moments they may argue about, too. But it hurts a lot. If they go down to 10, it’s a different game.”

Adding to what was a quite surreal 90 minutes was Messi being regularly denied by former Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles. The Argentine has now gone three La Liga games without scoring, his longest run in two years. There have been 22 shots at goal across games against Valencia, Levante and now Betis – without finding the net even once.

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The gap has been filled by assists for all five of Barca’s goals across those games, for Frenkie De Jong, Busquets and Lenglet at Betis, and Ansu Fati’s double against Levante last weekend. Snatching at chances to score himself is not a good sign though, especially considering both his public calling out of the blaugrana board’s decision making, and sources claiming that he is currently playing through a painful thigh injury.

“What happens is that we are used to [Messi] always scoring,” said Barca director Guillermo Amor on Movistar TV after the game. “But without scoring, he can play very well. He played a great game, was very involved. If he does not score, he assists.”

Amor was also asked whether Messi remained ‘angry’ after his public take-down of the club’s technical secretary Eric Abidal last week.

“You’d have to ask him,” former blaugrana midfielder Amor replied [which sounded like a ‘yes’]. “Messi is a ‘cule’, he feels this club. That is why he gets involved in the club’s problems, as he wants Barca to win.”

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Among the bright spots on Sunday evening for Barca and Setien was maybe the best performance of De Jong’s time as a blaugrana player. The former Ajax playmaker’s stand-out moment was the excellent run, chest control and volley to equalise at 1-1 during a helter-skelter opening period.

De Jong was also much more productively involved in the play than in his first games under Setien, when he seemed to be unclear of where he should be and what he should be doing. Instead the 22 year old did look a €75 million player here, linking the play cleverly despite Betis incessant pressing, and regularly getting forward to look to do damage in the opposition box.

With Barca still apparently working out whether they can get an ‘exemption’ to sign a new striker outside the transfer window, Setien experimented again by playing midfielder Arturo Vidal as a roaming central attacker / false nine.

That did work at times, with the Chilean’s movement off the ball opening spaces for teammates and energetic pressing unsettling the Betis back-line. But he could easily have been sent off for a shocker of a challenge on Nabil Fekir’s ankle. And was withdrawn early in the second half with the score at 2-2, and this does not look like any sort of long term solution.

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With Gerard Pique suspended and Jordi Alba rested, the Barca defence of Nelson Semedo, Samuel Umtiti, Lenglet and Junior Firpo had a very difficult evening, especially in the first half. Betis understandably pressed this novel back four into regularly coughing up possession.

Neither Semedo nor Umtiti were able to deal at all with an in the mood Fekir running straight at them before provoking a penalty for the opening goal or just shooting unhindered to the net for his team’s second. Setien tweaked things in the second half however, and the game settled down a lot, with Fekir’s frustration mounting to the point where he got himself sent off.

Amid all the drama, Barca kept their heads better and Messi found them a way to win, mostly due to his precise deliveries from free kicks. Last week’s Copa del Rey exit at Athletic Bilbao does now at least give Setien some more time to work on getting more of his ideas across, with defensive shape and creating more chances in open play both big priorities.

“We have had more games now [under Setien], more weeks of training,” Barca utility man Sergi Roberto said on Sunday. “At the start you need some time to adapt, but when you win it is easier to work. This is the path to follow, they had basically zero chances in the second half.”

Home games in La Liga against Getafe and Eibar should in theory allow for more practice, before the crunch tests against Napoli and Madrid. Time is running out but Sunday’s win at Betis could be significant for Setien.