Valencia suffered a humiliating 7-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona in the Spanish Cup semi-final first-leg tie at the Camp Nou.
Turkish international star Arda Turan started his sixth game and played the full 90 minutes providing his third assist for the club in the process.
Turan has now started six times making eight appearances in total since making his Barcelona debut against Espanyol last month.
Here are three things we learned about Turan from yesterday’s clash.
1. He can pass!
Turan had already established that he is an accomplished passer of the ball against Malaga. The Turkish international star made 55 passes at a 98 percent accuracy which was higher than any other player in the game.
98.2% – Arda Turan has completed 54 of his 55 passes v Malaga – highest accuracy of all players on pitch. Tiki-taka pic.twitter.com/aVMhkhZx0E
— OptaCan (@OptaCan) January 23, 2016
The main question asked afterwards was whether he could maintain the same level consistently. Turan made 74 passes with a 91.8 percent accuracy against Valencia yesterday – only Iniesta and Jeremy Mathieu had passed with a higher precision.
2. Adds versatility
The Turkish international winger has already played in four different positions for Barcelona. Turan started on the right of midfield against Valencia replacing Ivan Rakitic but has shown that he is more than just a utility player and not just an extravagant version of Pedro when he joined. It is now starting to become clear that Luis Enrique sees Turan as having a far more influential role in his team. The bearded winger has started six out of the eight game he was able to feature in and made two further appearances off the bench. Turan is comfortable playing out wide on the right of midfield as well as further forwards on the wing and can also play on the left. He also provides the Messi and Dani Alves – who likes to get forward – with additional defensive cover which has helped to forge a more balanced side. Barcelona have conceded just five goals in all competitions since Turan made his debut.
3. He can defend!
Turan’s defensive work was widely praised under the stewardship of Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid but it is worth noting he was criticised as being a lazy player at Galatasaray. There were a few question marks as to whether he would fall back into his pre-Atleti mindset after parting ways with Simeone but he has brought his work ethic with him to Barcelona. The bearded winger worked tirelessly making the highest number of interceptions in midfield (3) and also made two successful tackles.
