Going into an away fixture at Almeria, it would be fair to say that Barcelona were the heavily fancied side, given their attacking power and defensive record so far this season. Luis Enrique and his team were eagerly anticipating a good performance, given the fact that they had lost back-to-back matches in the league against Real Madrid and Celta Vigo respectively.
The last time Almeria had grabbed a result from Barca was back in 2010, and that was a draw. In their past 6 meetings in all competitions, Barcelona had won all of them - but with that being said, this was the best time to face the league runners-up from last campaign. Looking vulnerable at the back at times, new signings gelling together and a manager who is unsure of his strongest side/formation as of yet. In truth, the underdogs well and truly took the game to the Catalan giants.
And although they did their best to thwart Barca in their tracks, the visitors were unlucky not to score on a numerous number of occasions, just like last week where they hit the woodwork and post an eye-watering four times. Early on, an excellent cross into the area from wonderkid Munir fell to the path of Rakitic, who adapted quickly to flick towards Messi from close range, but the Argentine's header cannoned off the crossbar as Almeria cleared the danger away.
Then, just minutes later, Congolese striker Thievy Bifouma broke the deadlock after beating centre-back Marc Bartra for pace before cooly slotting the ball beyond the reach of Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo into the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0 to the hosts in the 37th minute. The move just summed up Barca's luck, or distinct lack of it.
Half-time and 1-0 down, Barcelona must have been both confused and worried. Meanwhile, Almeria could not believe their luck! Absorbing all of the Barca pressure in the first 45 minutes, before taking their chance with a clinical nature courtesy of the 22-year-old striker Thievy, scoring his first goal of the season.
In the second-half, the whole complexity of the game was turned on its head thanks to two substitutions made at the interval. Suárez and Neymar both came on, in place of Munir and Pedro to add another dimension of attacking play in an attempt to get back into the game.
And get back into the game they certainly did. A neat through ball pass inside the area from Suárez after he span past his marker found the movement of new team-mate Neymar, who slotted the ball beyond the 'keeper to equalise in the 73rd minute, despite the last defender frantically trying to clear the ball off the line.
Suárez grabbed his 3rd league assist in Barca colours after he spotted the run from full-back Jordi Alba, who tucked the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2-1 with 9 minutes to go and see off the game, meaning that the visitors move back up to familiar territory in top spot, with Real Madrid, Atlético and Valencia still to play this weekend.
