A satisfied pencaire. He would not be the most aesthetic striker in the world. Not the most skilled, the one with the most resources or the most media. Let’s face it: few Catalans had references to Braithwaite before Ramon Planes rolled up his sleeves a few months ago to cover Dembélé’s long absence. The Dane was playing for Leganés when Barça chose him instead of Ángel, the other pencaire who aspired to be a patch before halfway through the season. Braithwaite, transferable in the summer, held on to the team and is now seizing the opportunity. He has four goals in three starts in a week. Stubbornness with legs.
Need to make an effort for Depay? Seeing how Braithwaite is playing, who carries the 9 on his back because there is no ral in the box, one has to wonder if Barça should go and look for Depay in the winter market. One, because it is more a priority to spend the little money available in a plant despite the pleasant irruption of Mingueza. And two, because Depay, who ends his contract in the summer, is not a pure ram. Braithwaite is. And not only is he ruining the Dutch striker’s intentions, but he’s making sense of Koeman’s stubbornness with the 4-2-3-1. With him as a reference, the pieces fit better.
En to dandi. Braithwaite’s sweet moment is also coinciding with Griezmann’s best streak since signing for Barça. The Frenchman has left the fixing role, can move more freely, with and without Messi, and has scored three goals in three games in a row, something he has not done since early 2019, when he was still playing for Atletico Madrid. Plus, it makes them cute. If against Osasuna he punctured the net with a very violent shot from the front, in front of Ferencváros he has defined as a spur, with a lot of class, the classic pass of Jordi Alba in the area.
Blaugranes only at the Camp Nou. Surely there are dozens of anglicisms ending in – ing to explain why Barça have not yet played a single game away from home dressed in their usual colors. However, it is beginning to get heavy for the team not to wear the Barça shirt if it is not at the Camp Nou. In seven trips between League and Champions, the players went black, pink, turquoise green and yellow. If it is difficult to recognize a Barça in which Dembélé wears (upside down) the captain’s armband for more than half an hour, perhaps it would not be enough to think from time to time about the essence of a club that has been 121 years.
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