Barcelona continued their unbeaten run on Saturday as they comfortably beat Malaga 2-0 to maintain their four-point lead over Valencia at the top of La Liga.
There was an element of controversy in the result though, as the ball had gone out of play before Lucas Digne’s cross that was converted by Gerard Deulofeu. But, the second goal was in no doubt as Lionel Messi set Andres Iniesta up to score his first goal in over a year.
While the problems deepened for the visitors, Barcelona consolidated their place atop the La Liga table, maintaining their four-point lead over Valencia. Fans were full of praise for Iniesta though, who scored his first league goal in nearly two years.
Messi, incredible touch, passes it to Iniesta and goal.
They make it look so simple pic.twitter.com/nq0DC9RwTh
— infosmessi (@INFOSMESSl) October 21, 2017
“Iniesta sings with his feet”.
Arabic commentators sometimes hit the perfect notes— Ali Khaled (@AliKhaled_) October 21, 2017
Goal Iniesta
but Mr. Butt said he was done
— IBES (@IBES16) October 21, 2017
Remember that same Iniesta shot in the 4-3 El Clasico
— Ahmad (@ahmadf_o) October 21, 2017
Iniesta has scored his first La Liga goal since netting against Real Madrid on 21/11/15 #fcblive [laliga] pic.twitter.com/e50rhHlD5h
— Barcastuff (@barcastuff__) October 21, 2017
Iniesta’s goal vs. Madrid 2014 // Iniesta’s goal vs. Malaga 2017. Both assisted by Messi
Uncanny similarity. pic.twitter.com/gqGcn5eoVm
— R¹⁰ (@FutboIMessi_) October 21, 2017
INIESTA IS NOT DONE.
— Darryl (@LordMoloch) October 21, 2017
Gerard Deulofeu was also lauded after he scored his first ever goal in Barcelona colours.
Deulofeu scores for Barca. The same Gerard Deulofeu who Koeman judged not good enough for Everton. Words fail me ??? #EFC
— David Leatham (@davidleatham) October 21, 2017
If Dembele did what Deulofeu just did we’d see a million clips of it.
— S. Jakobsen (@S_Jakobsen) October 18, 2017
Welcome officially now, Deulofeu. pic.twitter.com/zpwKbysreF
— FC Barcelona (@BarcaUniversal) October 21, 2017
Gerard Deulofeu gives Barcelona the lead.
Worth remembering that Koeman didn’t deem him good enough for Everton. pic.twitter.com/ONb2PDQqhQ
— Coral (@Coral) October 18, 2017
Great to see Deulofeu off the mark since returning!
— FCB News (@FCBNewsRoom) October 21, 2017
But, concerns are mounting over the form of Luis Suarez, who produced another underwhelming performance on the night.
when our attack goes through Rakitic without being ruined then Suarez gets the ball pic.twitter.com/Sbu9x4BA9o
— Rashad Jr. (@Raashaad) October 21, 2017
Suarez is just getting worst… The decline is too much ?
— Osas Cruz (@OsasCruz) October 21, 2017
Barcelona are actually having to play around Luis Suarez now.
— Seb Stafford-Bloor (@SebSB) October 21, 2017
Leaving the pitch is the only thing Suarez was able to do correctly today
— barcastuff (@barcasstuff) October 21, 2017
Suarez is very lucky results are going our way so he gets applauded instead of getting booed. He should fix up immediately.
— Josip (@jperkovic93) October 21, 2017
Suarez is in a worst decline I’ve ever seen in football. So sad.
— Josip (@jperkovic93) October 21, 2017
Rakitic & Suarez constantly make 2 mistakes
1) They make wrong decisions
2) They dont even do them right— Muy de Laportismo (@MoRosement) October 21, 2017