Quique Setién, the new coach for Barcelona had to thank Lionel Messi for giving him a winning start in the Spanish League.
The all-time leading scorer for Barcelona was able to score the goal by breaking the stubborn defense of Granada in their Spanish League game to secure for the team a 1-0 victory at Camp Nou.
Granada kept their opponents in check and was close to scoring a goal but the ball struck the post on the side only minutes before Germán Sánchez got sent off the field after playing for 20 minutes. He was sent out for getting a 2nd yellow card after he fouled Messi.
This was the hole that Messi was looking in the defense of the visitors which he exploited well by making a pass to Antoine Griezmann inside Granada’s area. Griezmann quickly passed the ball to Arturo Vidal who then with a strike of his heel passed it back to Lionel Messi who then made it go inside the net from the corner during the 76th and proved to be a game-winner.
Setién, who was previously the coach for Real Betis, was hired as the head coach for Barcelona this Monday after the club fired the previous coach Ernesto Valverde after Barcelona got defeated in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup against Atlético Madrid.
Setién said, “I am happy as we did many things well tonight. I hope to go forward with the team by improving little by little.”
Talking about Messi, he said, “Messi did the same exact thing that he had been doing for his entire life. There are going to be games where you seem to lose your finishing touch or you do not feel inspired for attacking and then Messi always appears. We all know that as soon as the ball reaches Messi’s feet, there is going to be a high probability that it will go inside the net.”
Granada, which had been promoted in the last season, defeated Barcelona in their September match for Spanish League by 2-0.
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