He F.C. Barcelona, after the fiasco that led to the draw against Eibar, reacted in El Alcoraz, already with Leo messi in the starting eleven, and took a forced victory against the Huesca though he did it for the minimum and exposing himself to his rival could give him a scare in the last minutes.
Two stumbles in a row against theoretically minor rivals for a team of the Catalan team’s entity seemed too many and this was evidenced in Aragonese terrain where it prevailed, although left doubts in his scoring ability, to try to maintain his few options to the title as his coach, Ronald Koeman commented.
The Barcelona team, with the pyrrhic victory, did nothing more than confirm their favoritism against the category’s red lantern, which has only been able to win one game and whose League is against other teams, although, before playing, the erratic The trajectory of the Catalans this campaign made him dream that a victory was possible.
And that trajectory was reflected in both parts of the match, a first being the brilliant team that surpassed its rival from end to end and a second in which he settled for the result and was able to get scalded.
Ronald Koeman’s ensemble exercised a overwhelming dominance of ball possession Already from the beginning of the game, which reached 83.8% in some moments, and being faithful to his game he played and played looking for spaces in the closed defense of his opponent, who practically sheltered himself on the edge of the large area.
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LaLiga Santander: Huesca – Barcelona. Reuters
The Catalan team, with Ousmane Dembélé y Jordi Alba as a can opener on the left side, it generated occasions from the beginning that were addressed to a Pedro González “Pedri” who crashed into the local goal in the first one he had and whose header in the second went slightly high.
The third time was the charm for Barça, who were in no hurry because they found holes in the Huesca wall with some ease, thanks to a cross measured diagonally from Leo Messi to Frenkie de Jong who beat the defense back and opened the scoring at 27.
And it could have been worse for the team of Miguel Angel Sánchez “Michel” if it was not because his goalkeeper, Álvaro Fernández, made two great interventions, first to Dembélé, with a providential exit, and then to Messi in the launch of a direct free kick in the last minutes of the first period.
With the tranquility of going ahead on the scoreboard, the visitors maintained possession in the second half but slowing down the pace of play and also the chances, which led to having the sword of Damocles over their head thinking that their rival could give them a scare.
He Huesca tried it in the final minutes but the clearest chance was by Rafa Mir’s heel strike in the 63rd minute, which Ter Stegen saved and caused little concern.
Datasheet:
0 – S.D. Huesca: Alvaro Fernandez; Pulido (Juan Carlos, m.72), Insua, Siovas, Javi Galán; Mikel Rico (Doumbia, m.65), Mosquera, Seoane (Ferreiro, m.72); Sergio Gómez (Okazaki, m.72), Rafa Mir and Ontiveros.
1 – F.C. Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Dest (Pjanic, m.75), Araújo, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; De Jong, Busquets (Mingueza, m.75); Messi, Pedri, Dembelé; and Braithwaite (Griezmann, m.81).
Goal: 0-1. M.27. De Jong.
Referee: Cuadra Fernández (Balearic Committee). He cautioned local coach Michel and Ontiveros with a yellow card.
Incidents: match corresponding to the seventeenth day of the Santander League played at the El Alcoraz stadium in Huesca behind closed doors. Leo Messi played 750 official matches and 500 in the League with the FC Barcelona shirt.
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