Pique's goal against Monchengladbach was created for... Messi!

The goal scored by Gerard Pique against Borussia Monchengladbach was straight from Juan Carlos Unzue’s playbook and the origins of it can be found last season. Initially, it was a set play meant for Lionel Messi. The first time it was tried was against Real Sociedad, although it didn’t end in a goal. 

Originally it was meant to be tried from the other corner, on the left, so that Messi could come into the area and shoot with his left foot. With no Messi on the pitch, though, Unzue lightly varied the design and suggested Barça try it from the right. “We had a lot of corners but they were all from the left. We were waiting for one from the right… it arrived in the end,” Luis Enrique explained after the game. 

It was necessary for the corner to be on the right side in Germany because it was for a right footer. There was no left footer on the pitch (other than Alba) to shoot from the other side. Therefore, Unzue took the decision to switch the routine to the other side and to involve Neymar and Luis Suarez. 

The move is not overly complicated to execute. Neymar needs to shape to take a normal corner and then feed a well-paced pass towards the edge of the box, while Suarez needs to time his run well and shoot cleanly to a) avoid being blocked and b) get a shot on goal. Suarez didn’t perfect his shot, but it was good enough to cause Yann Sommer problems. The goalkeeper made the save but couldn’t clear the danger and Pique was able to take advantage of the error. A goal from the chalkboard.